By Joe Smithfield

APR. 10, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. BUFFALO SABRES

GAME AT A GLANCE

THREE STARS
1^st – J. Greaves, CBJ (39-of-41, W); 2^nd – B. Jenner, CBJ (1-0-1, GWG); 3^rd – R. Dahlin, BUF (1-1-2)

GOAL SCORERS
Columbus: J. van Riemsdyk (15), Z. Aston-Reese (6), PPG -B. Jenner (7)

Buffalo: J. Peterka (25), R. Dahlin (16)

GOALTENDERS
Columbus: J. Greaves (39-of-41 saves in 60:00, W)
Buffalo: J. Reimer (27-of-30 saves in 58:08, L)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Columbus PP:  1-for-1, 3 Shots
Buffalo PP:  0-for-1, 3 Shots

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus (2-1-0) and Buffalo (1-2-0) finished the season series following tonight’s Jackets regulation win with the clubs winning their respective home contests in 2024-25.
• The Jackets improved to 7-4-1 in the past 12 overall matchups against the Sabres and have recorded points in 18 of the past 25 meetings since Apr. 8, 2016 (15-7-3).
• CBJ scored on the power play tonight for the third-straight home game against Buffalo (3-of-7, 42.8 pct.) and for the fifth time in the past eight games played at Nationwide Arena (5-of-13, 38.5 pct.).
• Columbus killed off the lone Buffalo penalty tonight and has killed off all eight of the Sabres power plays in the past four home contests.
• The Jackets completed their ninth third period comeback of the season tonight after trailing 2-1 entering the third frame.  It’s tied for the second-most victories when trailing in the third period in the NHL (Montreal, 10).
• The club also recorded its sixth multi-goal comeback of the campaign (trailed 2-0), which is tied for the fourth-most in NHL in 2024-25.
• CBJ improved to 12-5-2 in the last 19 home games in 2024-25.  The team has recorded points in 20 of the past 26 home contests (16-6-4) as well as in 25 of the last 32 played at home (20-7-5).
• Columbus’ 53 points are the second-most points through the first 39 home games of a campaign, trailing only the 57 points recorded in 2016-17.
• The club has recorded 247 goals (not including SO goals) in 2024-25, the most through 78 games in a single season in franchise history, surpassing the 244 scored in 2021-22.
• CBJ have scored in 151-of-the-232 periods played in regulation this season with 67 multi-goal frames after scoring in the first and twice in the third period tonight.
• Tonight’s attendance was a crowd of 16,406.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES 

• RW Kirill Marchenko (31-40-71) and D Zach Werenski (20-56-76) became the fifth set of Blue Jackets teammates to each post 40-plus assists in a single season after Marchenko’s 40th helper tonight (Gaudreau, 48 & Werenski, 46 in 2023-24; Panarin, 55 & Jones, 41 in 2017-18; Johansen, 45 & Foligno, 42 in 2014-15; Whitney, 52 & Cassels, 48 in 2002-03).
• LW Zach Aston-Reese (6-11-17, 76 GP) scored for the second time in his last four games (2-0-2).
• G Jet Greaves made 39 saves on 41 shots faced tonight (.951 SV%), a season high for the netminder and the fourth-most in his NHL career.  He improved to 3-2-2 in 2024-25 with all three wins in his last four starts.
• C Boone Jenner (7-12-19, 22 GP) scored on the power play and has 6-3-9 in his last 10 games.  He now sits one goal shy of 200 for his NHL career (199-184-382, 737 GP) with only Rick Nash (289) and Cam Atkinson (213) having scored more goals in franchise history.  His power play goal was the 43^rd of his career, surpassing Atkinson for the second-most in club history (Nash, 83).  His tally was also the 24th career go-ahead goal of his career, which surpassed Manny Malhotra for the fifth-most in franchise history (Atkinson, 46; Nash, 44; Bjorkstrand, 29; Umberger, 26).  He improved his career mark against Buffalo to 7-7-14 in 24 career matchups, with points in seven of his past eight games overall (4-6-10, 3 multi-point efforts).
• RW Kent Johnson (22-31-53, 64 GP) collected an assist for assists in consecutive games (0-3-3) and has 0-7-7 in his last six outings.  He improved his career total to 3-3-6 in nine career matchups against Buffalo, with points in all three games of the 2024-25 series (1-2-3).
• RW Kirill Marchenko (31-40-71, 75 GP) registered an assist to tie Ryan Johansen (71 in 2014-15) for the eighth-most points in a single season in Blue Jackets history.  He has now posted 4-3-7 in eight career games against the Sabres, recording assists in his past three outings (1-3-4) and points in four of his last five overall (4-3-7).
• C Sean Monahan (18-33-51, 50 GP) collected an assist tonight for 1-1-2 in two-straight games.  He has registered 9-14-23 in 24 career games against Buffalo, with points in five of his last seven overall (2-3-5) and has 5-6-11 in 12 career home games.
• LW James van Riemsdyk (15-16-31, 67 GP) scored for his first time since Feb. 27 (2-0-2 at DET).  He has notched 21-11-32 in 56 career games against the Sabres, including points in back-to-back meetings (1-1-2).
• D Zach Werenski (20-56-76, 76 GP) assisted for the second game in a row and tied LW Ray Whitney (24-52-76 in 2002-02) for the fourth-most points and tied RW Jakub Voracek (56 in 2021-22) for the second-most assists in a single season in club history.  He has collected 1-14-15 in 19 career contests against Buffalo, including points in 11 of the last 14 games (1-12-13) with 0-3-3 in 2024-25 as well as points in five of his past seven home contests (1-5-6).

BLUE JACKETS POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Dean Evason | G Jet Greaves | F Boone Jenner | F James van Riemsdyk

SABRES POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Lindy Ruff | D Rasmus Dahlin | F Ryan McLeod

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