By Joe Coopersmith

MARCH 15, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. NEW YORK RANGERS

BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV:  FanDuel Sports Network          

Steve Mears (play-by-play), Jody Shelley (analyst), Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre (analyst), Dave Maetzold (reporter), Brian Giesenschlag (Host)

Radio:  97.1 The Fan

Bob McElligott (play-by-play), Dylan Tyrer (host)

Rangers to Watch

• C J.T. Miller ranks second on New York in points and third in assists with 16-36-52 in 56 appearances in 2024-25 and has totaled 3-18-21 in 29 career appearances against Columbus.
• LW Artemi Panarin, who has points in seven-straight games (5-5-10), leads his team in goals and points and ranks second in assists with 28-41-69 in 64 outings in 2024-25.  The forward has also notched 14-14-28 in 21 career outings against his former club.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 24-23-7 in 54 all-time meetings vs. New York, including 13-15-1 at home.
• CBJ have won two of the past three games in the series at Nationwide Arena and have picked up points in five of the last seven contests overall (3-2-2).
• The winning team has won by multiple goals in seven of the last eight meetings at Nationwide Arena since Feb. 14, 2020.
• The winning team had recorded four or more goals (including SO goals) in eight of the past nine games and 12 of the last 14 games of the series dating back to Oct. 29, 2021.
• Each team was credited with a shutout in the game on Jan. 18 (Shesterkin-27 saves/Tarasov-26 saves) with  Tarasov registering the fourth shutout in the all-time series for the Blue Jackets.
• The Blue Jackets have recorded the three most recent hat tricks (Artemi Panarin in 5-3 win at NYR on Mar. 20, 2018, Boone Jenner in 5-3 win at CBJ on Oct. 14, 2023, and Adam Fantilli in 7-3 win at NYR on Mar. 9, 2025) and penalty shot attempt (Brandon Saad, unsuccessful in 5-2 win at NYR on Feb. 26, 2017).

This Season (CBJ, 1-1-1)

• Jan. 18, 2025 – at NYR 1 CBJ 0 (SO)
• Feb. 8, 2025 – NYR 4, at CBJ 3
• Mar. 9, 2025 – CBJ 7, at NYR 3
• Mar. 15, 2025 – at Columbus (7pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Rangers

• C Justin Danforth – 4-0-4 in 6 career GP, including goals in the last two contests on Feb. 8 and Mar. 9.
• C Adam Fantilli– 4-1-5 in 5 career GP, including points in consecutive outings (3-1-4) after notching his second career hat trick on Mar. 9.
• F Kent Johnson – 3-1-4 in 10 career GP, including goals in two-straight meetings against NY (2-0-2).
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-3-5 in 9 career GP, registering assists in his past two home contests against the Rangers (1-2-3).
• D Damon Severson – 4-16-20 in 44 career GP, including assists in four of the past five outings overall and the past two home outings (0-2-2).
• G Daniil Tarasov – 2-0-1 with a 1.30 GAA and .956 SV% in 3 career GP, including a 1-0-1 record with a 1.44 GAA and .951 SV% in two appearances in 2024-25.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 15-12-27 in 57 career GP, including points in five of his past seven meetings against the club overall (2-4-6) as well as his past two home appearances (1-1-2).
• LW Dmitri Voronkov – 1-4-5 in 6 career GP, collecting his second career multi-point effort against the club with two assists on Mar. 9.
• D Zach Werenski – 3-15-18 in 25 career GP, including points in two-straight (0-3-3) and six of his last nine outings against the team (1-8-9).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets moved to 5-4-0 since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break after a 4-0 loss to Vegas at home on Thursday.
• Columbus began a stretch of six-of-eight games against Metropolitan Division opponents in Sunday’s win at Madison Square Garden (NYR-2, NJD-2, PIT, NYI).  The only two non-division games are against Vegas (Pacific) on Thursday and Florida (Atlantic) on Mar. 20.
• The team has collected points in 22 of the last 33 contests overall since Dec. 19 (19-11-3, 41 points).  The Jackets rank fifth-T in goals-for per game (3.33), sixth in the NHL in points percentage (.621), seventh-T in wins and ninth-T in points over that stretch.
• Columbus, which opened a four-game homestand on Thursday, boasts the best goals-for per game average (3.94), while also ranking fifth in power play pct. (28.2) and seventh in points pct. (.710) at home this season.
• The club is 20-7-4 at home in 2024-25 (44 points), posting the most points and second-most wins (21, 2016-17) in the first 31 home games of a campaign in franchise history.
• CBJ have earned points in 23 of the past 28 home contests (19-5-4) to lead the NHL in goals-for at home (4.00) and rank third in power play pct. (30.2) and fourth in points pct. (.750) since Oct. 22.
• The club’s 213 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 65 games of a campaign, surpassing the 210 scored in 2021-22.
• The Blue Jackets are averaging a franchise-best 3.28 goals for per game (3.15 in 2021-22), which ranks seventh in the NHL.
• Columbus has had 16 of its games decided after regulation (11 in OT), tied for sixth-most games in the NHL.
• CBJ have scored in all three periods in regulation 23 times this season (17 times at home) after scoring in each period at the NY Rangers on Sunday.  Last season, the club scored in all three periods 20 times (10 times at home).
• Columbus’s 12 games with six or more goals are tied with Washington and Winnipeg for most in the league this season and have set a new club record for a single season (11, 2018-19).
• The club’s 154 goals scored during 5-on-5 play are the second most in the league in 2024-25, trailing only Washington (157).
• The team has scored first in 38 (24-9-5) of the first 65 contests this season.  CBJ are second the NHL in games scoring first (tied, COL) and percentage of games scoring first (58.5 pct.), trailing only Minnesota (39, 59.1 pct.).
• Columbus ranks sixth-T in the league with eight shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ ranks ninth-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (63), fifth-T in second period goals (75) and 11th in third period goals scored (71) in 2024-25.
• The Jackets play their 18^th (7-6-4) of 21 Saturday games when they host the Rangers.  The club has won two-straight Saturday contests and is 6-2-2 in the past 10 games on the day since Nov. 23.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• Five Blue Jackets have reached the 20-goal plateau in 2024-25 (RW Kirill Marchenko – 25, C Adam Fantilli – 21, F Kent Johnson – 21, F Dmitri Voronkov – 20, and D Zach Werenski – 20), which is tied for the most in a season in franchise history (2018-19).
• CBJ lead the league in goals and rank second in goal percentage, third in points and points percentage and fifth-T in assists with 43-118-161, 20.2 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.2 pct. of the team’s points in 65 contests.
• C Adam Fantilli, who collected an assist on Tuesday, notched his second hat trick of the season and career at the NY Rangers on Sunday (3-0-3) to become the fifth player in club history to record multiple hat tricks in a season.  He has recorded points in eight of the past 10 outings (6-5-11) and 13 of the past 18 contests since Jan. 22 (10-9-19).  The 20-year-old leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists (tied) and points as well as leads CBJ forwards in TOI and has collected points in 20 of 27 contests since Jan. 1 (14-13-27, 19:22).  He has already set single-season career highs with 21-21-42 in 65 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner collected an assist on Tuesday and has picked up assists in six of his nine contests this season (0-9-9).
• F Kent Johnson has recorded points in eight of the past 10 outings (5-5-10), 16 of the past 19 contests (9-10-19), 17 of the last 21 contests (10-11-21) and 20 of the last 26 games (11-13-24).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 36 of his 51 games this season (21-24-45) and has set a single-season career high in goals, assists (tied) and points.  He ranks second in the NHL in goals/60 minutes (min. 20 GP; 1.51), trailing only Buffalo’s Tage Thompson (1.98).
• RW Kirill Marchenko has collected points in 11 of his last 16 games (7-6-13), 17 of his past 23 contests (9-11-20), 25 of the last 33 games (15-20-35) and 28 of the past 37 (15-23-38).  The forward ranks third-T in the NHL in plus/minus rating, leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists, points, multi-assist and multi-point efforts in 2024-25 with 25-37-62, +32, nine multi-assist and 15 multi-point outings in 62 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in goals, assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24) and is the first player in franchise history with 20-plus goals in three-straight campaigns to start their career.
• RW Mathieu Olivier, who collected his second multi-goal effort of the season on Tuesday at New Jersey (2-0-2), has registered 5-2-7 in the past eight contests.  He has already set single-season career highs and ranks second in the NHL in hits and penalty minutes with 15-10-25, 120 PIM and 243 hits in 65 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals and 80 penalty minutes in 2024-25.
• LW James van Riemsdyk has recorded 3-2-5 in the past eight contests and has picked up points in 11 of the past 18 contests (6-7-13).  He has also registered 10-11-21 and five multi-point outings in the last 27 contests and is third in the NHL in points/60 minutes during 5v5 play since Jan. 1 (min. 10 GP, 3.45; 8-10-18).
• D Zach Werenski has posted points in four of the six games in March (2-5-7), including three multi-point efforts.  He has also notched points in 21 of his last 30 contests overall since Dec. 23 (9-28-37).  He set a single-season club record for assists by a defenseman and with his first of two assists on Sunday and Rick Nash (258) for first place on the franchise’s all-time assists list.  He is the third active defenseman to lead a franchise in assists (among franchises with a minimum of five seasons), joining Roman Josi (NSH) and Shea Theodore (VGK).
• Werenski, a native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength goals, even strength points and shots on goal and ranks second in goals, assists, points and power play goals (tied) with 20-49-69, 14-31-45 at even strength, five PPG and 227 shots on 26:56 of ice time in 64 contests this season.  He has already set single-season franchise records for goals (tied; Werenski, 20 in 2019-20), assists (Werenski, 46 in 2023-24) and points (Jones, 57 in 2017-18; Werenski, 57 in 2023-24) by a defenseman.  With his next assist, he’ll become the fifth different player in club history with 50 assists in a campaign (Panarin-2x, Gaudreau, Voracek, Whitney).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is six points from 100 for his NHL career (46-48-94, 374 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is eight goals from 200 for his NHL career (192-181-373, 724 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is one game from 200 for his NHL career (69-60-129, 199 GP).
• G Elvis Merzlikins is 10 wins from 100 for his NHL career (90-97-34, 235 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (62 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (24 Games)
• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (9 Games)
• C Cole Sillinger (upper body); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 27 (6 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 278

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS