By Joe Coopersmith

APRIL 6, 2025 II CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE II AT OTTAWA SENATORS 

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)

Senators to Watch

• D Jake Sanderson has notched goals in three-straight (3-1-4) and four of the past five contests (4-1-5) and leads club blueliners in goals, assists and points with 11-52-53 in 75 contests in 2024-25 and has totaled 1-3-4 in six career outings against CBJ.
• C Tim Stutzle leads the Senators in assists and points and ranks third in goals with 21-51-72 in 76 games this season and has notched 5-1-6 in 10 career outings against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 18-19-5 in 42 all-time meetings vs. Ottawa, including 7-12-2 on the road.
• CBJ have recorded points in three of the last five meetings (2-2-1) and 12 of the last 17 games of the series dating back to Mar. 17, 2018 (9-5-3).
• The winning team had scored four or more goals in five-straight meetings prior to Ottawa 3-2 wins in the past two games of the series (one in SO).
• The winning team had also scored four-plus goals in six consecutive at Canadian Tire Centre prior to the Senators’ 3-2 victory on March 29.
• CBJ have scored a power play goal in five of the past eight games of the series (6-of-19; 31.6 pct.).
• The Blue Jackets and Senators have each recorded three shutouts in the all-time series with goaltender Joonas Korpisalo earning the most recent one for CBJ with 25 saves in a 1-0 win at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 25, 2019.

This Season (CBJ, 0-1-0)

• Mar. 29, 2025 – at OTT 3, CBJ 2
• Apr. 6, 2025 – at Ottawa (5 p.m. ET)
• Apr. 8, 2025 – at Columbus (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Senators

• C Boone Jenner – 9-4-13 in 24 career GP, including goals in each of his last five games against the club since Apr. 2, 2023 (5-0-5) and seven points in his last eight overall (5-2-7) as well as goals in his past two at Canadian Tire Centre.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-3-5 in 7 career GP, including points in each of the past three contests at Canadian Tire Centre (1-2-3).
• C Sean Monahan – 6-12-18 in 29 career GP, including assists in three of his past four contests at Ottawa (0-4-4).
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 17-17-34 with 8 multi-point efforts in 44 career GP, including 3-3-6 in his past eight outings overall and 2-1-3 in his past four at Ottawa.
• D Zach Werenski – 4-14-18 in 17 career GP, including assists in each of his last eight games overall (0-11-11) and points in 10 of his last 11 (2-12-14) as well as a point in seven of his eight career away games (2-8-10) after collecting two assists on March 29.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets fell in the first game of a road back-to-back set, 5-0 at Toronto on Saturday.
• Four of the club’s seven remaining contests are against teams currently in a playoff position with home-and-home sets against Ottawa (Apr. 6-8) and Washington (Apr. 12-13).
• 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.
• 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 11th 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 237 recorded in 2021-22.
• The Blue Jackets are averaging 3.19 goals for per game, which is the highest average in a single season in franchise history (3.15, 2021-22), and is the 10th-highest average 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 (185).
• 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 12th in the NHL in first period goals scored (69), fifth in second period goals (87) and 13th-T in third period goals scored (79) in 2024-25.
• The Blue Jackets conclude their 11^th of 12 back-to-back sets of the campaign (fifth road-road back-to-back) when they visit Ottawa on Sunday.
• Columbus plays its sixth (3-3-0) of seven Sunday contests of the season when it visits Ottawa.

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).
• The club also has three 50-point scorers (Werenski, Marchenko, K. Johnson) for the first time since 2021-22 (4) and tied for the fourth-most in a season in club history (5, 2009-10 and 2016-17).
• CBJ lead the league in goal percentage and rank second in goals, third-T in points percentage, fourth-T in points and eighth-T in assists with 46-137-183, 19.3 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.5 pct. of the team’s points in 75 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 four of his past five 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, 61 GP) for the second time in his career (3-21-24, 66 GP in 2021-22).
• C Adam Fantilli has posted 3-2-5 in the last six contests.   He leads the club in goals and ranks second in points and third in assists since Jan. 1 with 17-15-32 in 37 contests.  The 20-year-old has already set single-season career highs with 24-23-47 in 75 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner had his points streak snapped at six games (6-3-9) on Saturday.  It was tied for his longest career points streak (3x, MR: Jan. 8-21, 2022).  He has totaled 6-12-18 in 19 contests since making his season debut on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago and is two 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 recorded 6-9-15 in the past 20 games and 12-17-29 in the past 36 contests. The 22-year-old has set a single-season career high in goals, assists and points with 22-28-50 in 61 appearances in 2024-25.
• RW Kirill Marchenko has tallied 6-2-8 in the past six contests as well as 21-25-46 in the last 46.  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, +25, nine multi-assist and 16 multi-point outings in 72 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 picked up assists in four of his past seven contests (1-4-5).
• C Sean Monahan has collected points in four of his first six 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 15 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) (2.13/3.06, 10-23-33 in 47 GP) and is one point shy of his second-straight, and seventh of his career, 50-point campaign (17-32-49 in 47 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier has recorded 7-4-11 in the past 18 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, 132 PIM and 283 hits in 75 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 0-5-5 in the past five contests and posted 2-10-12 in the past 16 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, third-T in even strength goals and fourth in assists with 20-54-74, 14-34-48 at even strength, five PPG, 13 multi-assist games, 20 multi-point efforts and 274 shots on 27:01 of ice time in 74 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), points (5th, tied) and shots on goal (6th).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is four points from 100 for his NHL career (47-49-96, 384 GP).
• D Erik Gudbranson is two games from 800 for his NHL career (34-100-134, 798 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is two goals from 200 for his NHL career (198-184-382, 734 GP).
• G Elvis Merzlikins is seven wins from 100 for his NHL career (93-100-35, 242 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is five games from 200 for his CBJ career (27-29-56, 195 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (19 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 308

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS