By Joe Coopersmith

APRIL 12, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. WASHINGTON CAPITALS

BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV:  ABC, ESPN+        

Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Ray Ferraro (analyst), Emily Kaplan (reporter)

Radio:  93.3 The Bus

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

Capitals to Watch

• C Dylan Strome, who has points in six-straight contests (3-6-9), leads the Capitals in assists, points and power play points with 26-51-77 and 32 PPP in 78 games and has registered 5-10-15 in 22 career games against the Blue Jackets.
• LW Alex Ovechkin became the NHL’s all-time goals leader (895) on Sunday and ranks fourth-T in the league in goals with 42-28-70 in 62 contests in 2024-25 and has totaled 26-16-42 in 49 career appearances against Columbus.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 19-26-11 in 56 all-time meetings vs. the Capitals, including 10-12-6 at home.
• The Jackets have registered points in 12 of the last 21 meetings against Washington dating back to Feb. 26, 2018 (8-9-4).
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in eight of the 13 games of the series since Nov. 12, 2021.
• Washington has won three-straight overtime games at Nationwide Arena (4-3 on Jan. 31, 2023, 3-2 on Dec. 21, 2023 and 2-1 on Dec. 12, 2024).
• CBJ have killed off 12-of-14 Washington power play chances over the last eight games in the series (85.7 pct.).
• The Blue Jackets own four of the seven shutouts in the all-time series with the most recent CBJ shutout posted by Joonas Korpisalo (30 saves) in a 3-0 victory at Nationwide Arena on Dec. 16, 2019.

This Season (CBJ, 0-1-1)

• Nov. 2, 2024 – at WSH 7, CBJ 2
• Dec. 12, 2024 – WSH 2, at CBJ 1 (OT)
• Apr. 12, 2025 – at Columbus (12:30 pm ET)
• Apr. 13, 2025 – at Washington (6 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Capitals

• LW Zach Aston-Reese – 4-3-7 in 18 career GP, including points in his last two of three contests against the team (1-1-2).
• C Boone Jenner – 3-9-12 in 33 career GP, including 2-4-6 in his past nine outings vs. Washington.
• C Sean Monahan – 8-7-15 with three multi-point outings in 22 career GP, including 1-3-4 in his past five contests overall and 2-3-5 in his last seven home contests.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 15-17-32 with eight multi-point efforts in 51 career GP, including 3-1-4 in his last six games.
• D Zach Werenski – 3-6-9 in 23 career GP, including points in three of his past five home contests (1-2-3) after scoring a goal in the most recent meeting on Dec. 12.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• CBJ have won the first two contests of their three-game homestand, earning a 5-2 win over Ottawa on Tuesday and 3-2 victory over Buffalo on Thursday.  The club finishes up the homestand Saturday afternoon against Washington.
• Columbus plays its fourth home-and-home set of the season against Washington on Saturday (Nationwide Arena) and Sunday (Capital One Arena).  The club also played home-and-home series against Boston from Dec. 27-28 (1-1-0), Detroit from Feb. 27-Mar. 1 (2-0-0) and Ottawa from Apr. 6-8 (1-1-0).
• The Jackets also play their 12^th and final back-to-back set of the campaign when the battle the top team in the Eastern Conference.  CBJ are 5-4-2 in the first game of a back-to-back and have picked up points in six of the past seven first contests (4-1-2).
• The club’s 247 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 78 games of a campaign in franchise history, surpassing the 244 recorded in 2021-22.
• The Blue Jackets are averaging 3.17 goals for per game, which is the highest average in a single season in franchise history (3.15, 2021-22), and ranks 11th in the NHL in 2024-25.
• The club is 24-10-5 at home in 2024-25 (53 points), posting the second-most points and fourth-most wins in the first 39 home games of a campaign in franchise history (28-10-1, 57 pts in 2016-17).
• With the win on Tuesday, Columbus reached the 50-point mark on home ice for the fifth time in club history (57, 2016-17; 55, 2017-18; 53, 2008-09; 50, 2005-06).
• CBJ have set a single-season franchise record for most goals scored at home with 148 goals.  The club ranks second in the NHL in goals-for per game average (3.79) and goals scored (148), seventh in power play pct. (27.2) and ninth in points pct. at home this season (.679).
• The Jackets rank second-T in the NHL with nine third period comeback victories (Montreal, 10) in 2024-25 and fourth-T with six multi-goal comeback wins (4 two-goal and 2 three-goal).
• 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).
• Columbus’s 14 games with six or more goals are the most in the league this season (Washington, 13) and have set a new club record for a single season (11, 2018-19).
• The club’s 182 goals scored during 5-on-5 play are the second-most in the league in 2024-25, trailing only Washington (187).
• 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 ninth-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (72), fifth-T in second period goals (88) and 13th-T in third period goals scored (83) 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 – 25, C Kent Johnson – 22, F Dmitri Voronkov – 21, and D Zach Werenski – 20), which is tied for the most in a season in franchise history (2018-19).
• CBJ have four 50-point scorers in 2024-25 with D Zach Werenski (76 in 77 GP), RW Kirill Marchenko (71 in 75 GP), F Kent Johnson (53 in 64 GP) and F Sean Monahan (51 in 50 GP), which is tied for the third-most in a season in franchise history (2021-22).  The Jackets had a franchise-high five 50-point scorers in the 2009-10 and 2016-17 campaigns.
• Columbus ranks second in the NHL in goals, third in goal percentage, fourth in points percentage, fifth in points and seventh-T in assists with 46-143-189, 18.6 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.4 pct. of the team’s points in 78 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 2-5-7 with two multi-point efforts in his past eight outings.  He has already set a single-season career high in goals and has reached the 20-point plateau (7-16-23, 64 GP) for the second time in his career (3-21-24, 66 GP in 2021-22).
• C Adam Fantilli leads the club in goals and ranks second in points and third in assists since Jan. 1 with 18-15-33 in 40 contests.  The 20-year-old has already set single-season career highs with 25-23-48 in 78 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner notched the game-winning goal on Thursday and has totaled 7-12-19 in 22 contests since making his season debut on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago.  He sits one goal shy (199) from becoming the third player with 200 career goals as a Blue Jacket (Rick Nash-289, Cam Atkinson-213).  He ranks fourth in the NHL in assists per 60 minutes (1.99) and sixth-T in points per 60 minutes (2.79) at 5v5 play in 2024-25 (min. 20 GP; 4-10-14 in 22 GP).
• F Kent Johnson has collected assists in consecutive games (0-3-3) and has recorded  0-7-7 in the past six outings, 6-12-18 in the past 23 games and 12-20-32 in the past 39 contests.  The 22-year-old has set single-season career highs with 22-31-53 in 64 appearances in 2024-25.
• RW Kirill Marchenko, who registered an assist on Thursday, has tallied 6-3-9 in the past nine contests as well as 21-26-47 in the last 49.  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 31-40-71, +23, nine multi-assist and 16 multi-point outings in 75 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).  The 24-year-old is also the third Blue Jacket to record a 30-goal, 70-point campaign (Rick Nash in 2008-09, Nick Foligno in 2014-15).
• C Sean Monahan , who was announced as the Columbus PWHA as the chapter’s nominee for the Masterton Trophy on Wednesday, has recorded points in both games of the homestand (1-1-2) and has collected 4-6-10 in his first nine contests since returning from a wrist injury on Mar. 24 at the NY Islanders.  He has registered 9-17-26 with seven multi-point efforts in his past 18 games played dating back to Dec. 19.  He ranks second-T in the NHL in assists per 60 minutes and third in points per 60 minutes at 5v5 play in 2024-25 (min. 20 GP) (2.00/2.87, 10-23-33 in 50 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier recorded his sixth multi-point effort of the campaign with 1-1-2 on Tuesday and has registered 8-5-13 in the past 21 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs and ranks second in the NHL in penalty minutes and hits and set a single-season franchise record in hits with 18-13-31, 134 PIM and 300 hits in 78 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 posted assists in consecutive games (0-2-2) and has collected 0-7-7 in the past eight contests and 2-12-14 in the past 19 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, points, power play goals (tied) and even strength points as well as fourth in assists and even strength goals with 20-56-76, 14-35-49 at even strength, five PPG, 13 multi-assist games, 20 multi-point efforts and 286 shots on 26:56 of ice time in 77 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), points (Jones, 57 in 2017-18; Werenski, 57 in 2023-24) and shots on goal (Jones, 249 in 2017-18) by a defenseman.  He has also registered top-10 Blue Jackets single season campaigns in assists (2nd, tied), multi-point games (3rd, tied), multi-assists games (3rd, tied), points (4th, tied) and shots on goal (5th, tied).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is three points from 100 for his NHL career (48-49-97, 386 GP).
• D Dante Fabbro is five points from 100 for his NHL career (23-72-95, 373 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is one goal from 200 for his NHL career (199-184-383, 737 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is two games from 200 for his CBJ career (28-30-58, 198 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (22 Games)
• G Elvis Merzlikins (upper body) (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 312

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS