By Joe Coopersmith

APR. 5, 2025 II SCOTIABANK ARENA II AT TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

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)

Maple Leafs to Watch

• RW Mitch Marner, who has points in six consecutive games (3-7-10), ranks third in the NHL in assists and fourth-T in points with 24-69-93 in 74 contests in 2024-25 and has totaled 8-18-26 in 21 career games against CBJ.
• C Auston Matthews has notched assists in five of his last six outings (2-6-8), sits one goal from his ninth consecutive 30-goal campaign (29-40-69, 60 GP) and has totaled 14-9-23 in 17 career appearances vs. Columbus.
• RW William Nylander, who has recorded nine multi-goal efforts and ranks second in the league in goals with 42-38-80 in in 75 outings in 2024-25, has collected 8-10-18 in 21 career appearances against CBJ.

All-Time Series

• The Blue Jackets have gone 21-19-1 in 41 all-time games against the Maple Leafs, including 12-8-1 on the road.
• Columbus has earned wins in five of the past seven meetings since Feb. 11, 2023 and 15 of the last 26 games of the series since Apr. 8, 2015 (15-11-0).
• CBJ have also won two-straight at Scotiabank Arena and 12 of the last 17 at Toronto (12-5-0).
• Five of the past eight meetings in the series have been decided by multiple goals.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in seven consecutive as well as 16 of the last 17 and 24 of the last 28 meetings.  The winning team has also scored six goals in three of the past five contests of the series.
• The Blue Jackets have posted two of the three shutouts in the all-time series with Sergei Bobrovsky posting the most recent one for Columbus with 35 saves in a 5-0 win at Nationwide Arena on Apr. 5, 2015.

This Season (CBJ, 2-0-0)

• Oct. 22, 2024 – at CBJ 6, TOR 2
• Jan. 22, 2025 – CBJ 5, at TOR 1
• Apr. 5, 2025 – at Toronto (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Maple Leafs

• RW Justin Danforth – 3-4-7 in 8 career GP, registering the points in four of his last five contests, including goals in three of them after collecting 1-2-3 in the first meeting of the 2024-25 season series.
• C Adam Fantilli – 4-1-5 in 5 career GP, recording points in three of his past four outings, including his first career hat trick in his most recent outing against the Leafs on Jan. 22, 2025.
• F Boone Jenner – 5-8-13 in 24 career GP, including assists in two of his past three contests at Scotiabank Arena (1-2-3).
• F Kent Johnson – 4-4-8 with points in 5 of 7 career GP, including assists in all four career outings at Scotiabank Arena (3-4-7, 2 multi-point efforts).
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-3-5 in 8 career GP, including assists in both games of the 2024-25 season series (1-2-3).
• C Sean Monahan – 7-11-18 in 27 career GP, including goals in two of his past three games against the club (2-1-3) after notching 1-1-2 in the 2024-25 series opener on Oct. 22.
• RW Mathieu Olivier – 2-2-4 in 5 career GP, recording his points in the last three meetings, including two goals in the Oct. 22 contest at Nationwide Arena and an assist on Jan. 22 at Scotiabank Arena.
• D Ivan Provorov – 3-9-12 in 23 career GP, including assists in three-straight meetings (0-3-3) and four of the past five against the club (0-5-5).
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 8-4-12 in 26 career GP, including goals in both games of the 2024-25 season series.
• D Zach Werenski – 0-15-15 in 16 career GP, including multiple assists in three of his last six contests (0-8-8) as well as assists in each of his past four outings at Scotiabank Arena (0-5-5).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets, who fell 7-3 to Colorado on Tuesday, have earned wins in three of their last five games, picking up shootout victories over the NY Islanders on Mar. 24 (4-3) and Vancouver on Mar. 28 (7-6) and a 8-4 win over Nashville on Tuesday.
• Five of the club’s last eight games have been decided by a single goal.
• The team has collected points in 26 of the last 42 contests overall since Dec. 19 (22-16-4, 48 points).
• The Jackets are tied for the NHL lead with two three-goal and rank second-T with eight third period comeback victories in 2024-25.
• Five of the club’s eight remaining contests are against teams currently in a playoff position (Toronto, Ottawa-2, Washington-2).
• The club is 22-10-5 at home in 2024-25 (49 points), posting the fourth-most wins and points in the first 37 home games of a campaign in franchise history (26-10-1, 53 pts in 2016-17).
• CBJ rank second in the NHL in goals-for per game average (3.78), fourth-T in goals scored (140), eighth in power play pct. (25.8) and 10th in points pct. at home this season (.662).
• The club’s 239 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 74 games of a campaign in franchise history, surpassing the 236 recorded 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 is tied with Edmonton for 10th-highest 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).
• CBJ’s 14 games with six or more goals are the most in the league this season and have set a new club record for a single season (11, 2018-19).
• The club’s 176 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 ranks 11^th-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (69), fourth-T in second period goals (87) and 11^th-T in third period goals scored (79) in 2024-25.
• The Blue Jackets play their 11^th of 12 back-to-back sets of the campaign (fifth road-road back-to-back) when they visit Toronto on Saturday and Ottawa on Sunday.  The club has recorded points in seven of its 10 first games of the back-to-back set (5-3-2), including picking up points in six-straight (4-0-2).

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 goal percentage (tied with Seattle) and rank second in goals, third in points percentage, fourth in points and eighth in assists with 46-137-183, 19.3 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.5 pct. of the team’s points in 74 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 assists in each of his past four outings (2-5-7), including two multi-point efforts.  He has already set a single-season career high in goals and has reached the 20-point plateau (7-16-23, 60 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 five contests (3-2-5), including 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 36 contests.  The 20-year-old has already set single-season career highs with 24-23-47 in 74 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner notched a goal on Thursday to stretch his points streak to six consecutive contests (6-3-9) and tying for the longest stretch with a point in his career (3x, MR: Jan. 8-21, 2022).  He has totaled 6-12-18 in 18 contests since making his season debut on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago and is three goals shy from becoming the third player with 200 career goals as a Blue Jacket (Rick Nash-289, Cam Atkinson-213).
• F Kent Johnson has collected assists in consecutive games (0-4-4), including his first three-assist effort and second career three-point outing (Dec. 14, 2023 at Toronto) on Tuesday vs. Nashville.  He has recorded 6-9-15 in the past 19 games and 12-17-29 in the past 35 contests. The 22-year-old has set a single-season career high in goals, assists and points with 22-28-50 in 60 appearances in 2024-25.  He is tied with RW Kirill Marchenko for fourth in the NHL in goals/60 minutes (min. 20 GP; 1.35), trailing only Buffalo’s Tage Thompson (1.81), Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (1.54) and Montreal’s Cole Caufield (1.38).
• RW Kirill Marchenko had his career-best four-game goals streak (6-2-8) snapped on Thursday.  The stretch included his third career hat trick and first career four-point outing with 3-1-4 on Tuesday against Nashville.  The winger has collected 15-13-28 in his past 32 contests and 21-25-46 in the last 45. The forward leads the club in goals and plus/minus rating and ranks second in assists, points, multi-assist and multi-point efforts in 2024-25 with 31-39-70, +26, nine multi-assist and 16 multi-point outings in 71 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 had his three-game assists streak (1-3-4) snapped on Thursday.  He has picked up assists in four of his past six contests (1-4-5).
• C Sean Monahan has collected points in four of his first five games (3-5-8) since returning from a wrist injury on Mar. 24 at the NY Islanders.  He has registered 8-16-24 with seven multi-point efforts in his past 14 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) (2.18/3.12, 10-23-33 in 46 GP) and is one point shy of his second-straight, and seventh of his career, 50-point campaign (17-32-49 in 46 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier has recorded 7-4-11 in the past 17 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs and ranks second in the NHL in penalty minutes and third-T in hits and set a single-season franchise record in hits with 17-12-29, 127 PIM and 280 hits in 74 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 of the past four contests (0-5-5) and posted 2-10-12 in the past 15 games.  The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in shots on goal and ranks second in goals (tied), points, power play goals (tied) and even strength points 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 269 shots on 27:04 of ice time in 73 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 four points from 100 for his NHL career (47-49-96, 383 GP).
• D Erik Gudbranson is three games from 800 for his NHL career (34-100-134, 797 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is two goals from 200 for his NHL career (198-184-382, 733 GP).
• G Elvis Merzlikins is seven wins from 100 for his NHL career (93-99-35, 241 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is six games from 200 for his CBJ career (27-29-56, 194 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (18 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 307

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS