By Joe Coopersmith

APRIL 3, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. COLORADO AVALANCHE  

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)

Avalanche to Watch

• C Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL in assists and ranks second in points with 30-80-110 in 75 contests in 2024-25 and has totaled 6-17-23 in 20 career games against the Blue Jackets.
• D Cale Makar leads league blueliners in goals, assists and points with 28-57-85 in 75 games this season and has collected 4-8-12 in seven career appearances against CBJ.

All-Time Series

• The Blue Jackets have gone 24-38-6 in 68 all-time games against the Avalanche, including 12-17-4 at home.
• CBJ have won two-straight in the series and have gone 15-9-2 in the last 26 games of the series dating back to Mar. 1, 2012.
• Columbus has recorded points in 10 of the last 14 meetings at Nationwide Arena since Feb. 11, 2011 (7-4-3).
• The winning team has recorded four or more goals in seven-straight games of the series and 11 of the last 12 since Mar. 8, 2018.
• The teams have combined for 70-plus shots in five of the last six games of the all-time series.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Oct. 12, 2024 – CBJ 6, at COL 4
• Apr. 3, 2025 – at Columbus (7:30 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Avalanche

• C Boone Jenner – 7-7-14 in 17 career GP, including points in each of his past six contests (2-4-6) and eight of his last 10 overall (4-7-11) as well as his past three home outings (1-2-3) and four of his last five home contests (2-3-5).
• C Luke Kunin – 3-4-7 in 16 career GP, including two assists in his most recent contest against the club on Dec. 19, 2024.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-3-5 in 3 career GP, including a goal and an assist in each of the last two meetings after recording 1-2-3 on Oct. 12, 2024 at Colorado.
• C Sean Monahan – 10-17-27 in 26 career GP, including assists in his last three contests overall (3-3-6) and three-point efforts in his past two after notching 1-2-3 at Colorado on Oct. 12, 2024 as well as 4-10-14 in his 11 career home appearances against the club.
• C Cole Sillinger – 4-1-5 in 7 career GP, recordings goals in two of his three career home contests.
• D Zach Werenski – 3-5-8 in 16 career GP, including 1-2-3 in the past five games against the Avalanche.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets have won three of their past four contests after downing Nashville 8-4 on Tuesday.  The eight goals scored set a new season high and are the most scored in a single game since Oct. 14, 2021 vs. Arizona (8-2 W).
• Columbus recorded its 14th game with six or more goals, breaking a tie with Washington for the most in the league this season and have set a new club record for a single season (11, 2018-19).
• Five of the club’s last seven games have been decided by a single goal.
• The team has collected points in 26 of the last 41 contests overall since Dec. 19 (22-15-4, 48 points).
• The Jackets are tied for the NHL lead with two three-goal and ranks second-T with eight third period comeback victories in 2024-25.
• Six of the club’s nine remaining contests are against teams currently in a playoff position (Colorado, Toronto, Ottawa-2, Washington-2).
• The club is 22-9-5 at home in 2024-25 (49 points), posting the second-most points and fourth-most wins in the first 36 home games of a campaign in franchise history (26-9-1, 53 pts in 2016-17).
• CBJ rank second in the NHL in goals-for per game average (3.81), sixth in goals scored (137), eighth in power play pct. (26.7) and points pct. at home this season (.681).
• The club’s 236 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 73 games of a campaign in franchise history, surpassing the 231 scored in 2021-22.
• The Blue Jackets are averaging 3.23 goals for per game, which is the highest average in a single season in franchise history (3.15, 2021-22), and ranks 10th in the NHL in 2024-25.
• Columbus has had 19 of its games decided after regulation (12 in OT), tied for sixth-most games in the NHL.  The club leads the league in wins in the shootout (6) and ranks second-T in shootout contests (7).
• The club’s 173 goals scored during 5-on-5 play are the second-most in the league in 2024-25, trailing only Washington (183).
• Columbus ranks fifth-T in the league with nine shorthanded goals in 2024-25.  The nine shorthanded tallies are tied for the fourth-most in a season in club history, trailing 2002-03 (12), 2005-06 (10) and 2016-17 (10).
• CBJ rank 12th in the NHL in first period goals scored (68), fifth in second period goals (85) and 11th in third period goals scored (79) in 2024-25.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• Five Blue Jackets have reached the 20-goal plateau in 2024-25 (RW Kirill Marchenko – 31, F Adam Fantilli – 24, C Kent Johnson – 22, 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 (tied with Colorado) and goal percentage and ranks third in points percentage, fifth in points and seventh-T in assists with 46-135-181, 19.5 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.5 pct. of the team’s points in 73 contests.  The 46 goals are the second-most by CBJ blueliners in a single season, trailing only the 51 goals recorded in 2017-18.
• D Dante Fabbro has collected points in each of his past three outings (2-4-6), including goals and multiple points in each of his last two after recording 1-1-2 in the win over Nashville.  He has already set a single-season career high in goals and has reached the 20-point plateau (7-15-22, 59 GP) for the second time in his career (3-21-24, 66 GP in 2021-22).
• C Adam Fantilli has posted points in three of the last four contests (3-2-5) after notching 2-1-3 on Tuesday against the Predators.   He leads the club in goals and ranks second in points and third in assists since Jan. 1 with 17-15-32 in 35 contests.  The 20-year-old has already set single-season career highs with 24-23-47 in 73 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner has recorded points in five consecutive contests (5-3-8) after collected two assists on Tuesday.  The streak included tying his career best with goals in four-straight outings from Mar. 21-29 (5G).  He has totaled 5-12-17 in 17 contests since making his season debut on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago.
• F Kent Johnson collected his first three-assist game on Tuesday and second career three-point outing (Dec. 14, 2023 at Toronto).  He has recorded 6-8-14 in the past 18 outings and 12-16-28 in the past 34 contests. The 22-year-old has set a single-season career high in goals, assists and points with 22-27-49 in 59 outings.  He is tied with Kirill Marchenko for third in the NHL in goals/60 minutes (min. 20 GP; 1.37), trailing only Buffalo’s Tage Thompson (1.81) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (1.57).
• RW Kirill Marchenko registered his third career hat trick and first career four-point outing with 3-1-4 on Tuesday against Nashville.  He has notched goals in a career-best four-straight games (6-2-8) and has collected 15-13-28 in his past 31 contests and 21-25-46 in the last 44. The forward leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists, points, multi-assist and multi-point efforts in 2024-25 with 31-39-70, +28, nine multi-assist and 16 multi-point outings in 70 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in goals, assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24) and is the first Jacket to record 30-goals in a campaign since Cam Atkinson in 2018-19 (41).
• D Denton Mateychuk has collected assists in three-straight games (1-3-4) and has picked up assists in four of his past five contests (1-4-5).
• C Sean Monahan has collected points in three of his first four games (2-5-7) since returning from a wrist injury on Mar. 24 at the NY Islanders.  He has registered 7-16-23 with seven multi-point efforts in his past 13 contests played dating back to Dec. 19.  He leads the NHL in assists per 60 minutes and points per 60 minutes at 5v5 play in 2024-25 (min. 20 GP) (2.22/3.09, 9-23-32 in 45 GP) and has totaled 16-32-48 in 45 appearances.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has recorded 7-4-11 in the past 16 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs and ranks second in the NHL in penalty minutes and fourth in hits and set a single-season franchise record in hits with 17-12-29, 125 PIM and 276 hits in 73 games.  He is also one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals and 90 penalty minutes in 2024-25.
• D Zach Werenski has collected assists in three-straight games (0-5-5) and posted 2-10-12 in the past 14 contests after registering his second consecutive two assist outing on Tuesday vs. Nashville.  The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength points (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second in goals (tied), points and power play goals (tied) and third-T in assists and even strength goals with 20-54-74, 14-34-48 at even strength, five PPG, 13 multi-assist games, 20 multi-point efforts and 265 shots on 27:04 of ice time in 72 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 and has registered top-10 Blue Jackets single season campaigns in multi-point games (3rd, tied), multi-assists games (3rd, tied), assists (4th) and points (5th, tied).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is five points from 100 for his NHL career (46-49-95, 382 GP).
• D Erik Gudbranson is four games from 800 for his NHL career (34-100-134, 796 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is three goals from 200 for his NHL career (197-183-381, 732 GP).
• G Elvis Merzlikins is seven wins from 100 for his NHL career (93-98-35, 240 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is seven games from 200 for his CBJ career (27-29-56, 193 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (17 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 306

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS