By Skip Coopersmith

Sabres to Watch

«  D Rasmus Dahlin leads the Sabres in assists and points (tied) with 7-18-25 in 31 appearances and ranks ninth-T among all NHL blueliners in scoring this season.

«  C Casey Mittelstadt is tied for the team lead in points and ranks second in assists with 8-17-25 in 32 contests and has collected five multi-point efforts, including 2-1-3 on Dec. 15 at Vegas.

«  C Tage Thompson, who has recorded 10-4-14 in eight career games against the Blue Jackets, has totaled 92-85-177 in 179 contests dating back to 2021-22 (7-8-15 in 23 GP in 2023-24).

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 24-14-3 in 41 all-time meetings vs. the Sabres, including 13-7-2 on the road.

«  CBJ have recorded points in six-straight games at KeyBank Center since Mar. 31, 2019 (4-0-2).  The club is 9-3-2 in its last 14 contests at Buffalo dating back to Oct. 10, 2013.

«  The Blue Jackets have recorded points in eight of their last 10 against the Sabres overall (6-2-2) and 14 of the past 19 (12-5-2).

«  Three of the last five games played at Buffalo have been decided in overtime (CBJ; 1-2).

«  CBJ are 2-of-3 on the power play in the last two visits to KeyBank Center.

«  Columbus has won six of the nine season series dating back to 2013-14.

«  Each team has recorded three shutouts and one hat trick in the all-time series.  Sergei Bobrovsky (38 saves) earned the most recent shutout in the series in a 4-0 win at Buffalo on Mar. 31, 2019.  Each team recorded its hat trick in the 2022-23 season with now Buffalo forward Eric Robinson scored three goals in the most recent meeting at Buffalo in a 5-3 CBJ win on Feb. 28, 2023.

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

«  Dec. 19, 2023 – at Buffalo (7 p.m. ET)

«  Dec. 30, 2023 – at Buffalo (5 p.m. ET)

«  Feb. 23, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Sabres

«  D Nick Blankenburg – 0-2-2 in 1 career GP, collecting his second career multi-point game in the clubs’ most recent meeting at Buffalo on Feb. 28, 2023.

«  RW Yegor Chinakhov – 0-2-2 in 4 career GP, registering assists in each of his last two games against the Sabres.

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 9-8-17 with points in 11 of 16 career GP, including 3-3-6 with two multi-point efforts in his last five visits to KeyBank Center.

«  D Ivan Provorov – 5-9-14 in 25 career GP, including 2-6-8 in his last 11 contests vs. Buffalo overall and 3-3-6 in his last eight at KeyBank Center.

«  D Zach Werenski – 1-9-10 in 15 career GP, recording points in each of his past four against the club (1-3-4) and eight of his last 10 (1-7-8).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets moved to 6-6-1 in the last 13 games overall following a 6-3 loss to the Devils on Saturday.
• The team is currently in a stretch of nine-of-13 games played at home from Nov. 27-Dec. 23.  The four road games are all one-game trips (Dec. 3 at Boston, Dec. 7 at NY Islanders, Dec. 14 at Toronto and Dec. 19 at Buffalo).
• CBJ played 30 games in the first 60 days of the season.  Following the game against the Panthers on Dec. 10, the club plays just eight times over the final 21 days of the month of December.
• The Blue Jackets have scored the first goal of the game in nine of the last 13 and 11 of the past 16 games this season.
• CBJ have played 13 one-goal games this season with another five contests as two goal finishes thanks to the addition of empty net goals (MR: Nov. 29 vs. Montreal).
• CBJ killed off 1-of-2 New Jersey power play chances on Saturday and have denied their opponents a power play goal in 17 of the last 25 games, killing off 55-of-64 opponent power play chances since Oct. 28 (85.9 pct.).
• The Blue Jackets rank seventh in the NHL in penalty kill percentage this season at 84.3 pct. (75-of-89) and rank fourth in the league in penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20 (85.9 pct.), killing off 67-of-78 opponent power play chances over the last 29 games.
• CBJ have scored a power play goal in two-straight games (2-of-6; 33.3 pct.) and are now 8-for-30 on the man advantage over the last 13 games (26.7 pct.) to rank sixth in the NHL in power play percentage since Nov. 22.
• Columbus is third-T in the NHL with 68 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• The Blue Jackets rank sixth in the NHL with 34 first period goals and seventh-T in first period goal differential (+7).
• Columbus set a franchise record with 38 blocked shots in Thursday’s overtime victory at Toronto.  The club has combined for 402 blocked shots over the past 21 games since Nov. 6 and leads the NHL in blocked shots (611) and ranks third in blocked shots-per-60 minutes (18.89).
• Blue Jackets blueliners registered seven assists in Thursday’s win at Toronto and another two on Saturday and have combined for 5-33-38 over the past 16 contests.  They rank second-T among NHL defensive units in assists and sixth in points with 10-65-75 in 32 games this season.  The club also leads the League in assists percentage (41.4 pct.) and ranks third-T in points percentage (29.6 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class each recorded an assist on Saturday (Fantilli, Jiricek, Voronkov) and has combined for 15-26-41 in 32 games this season and ranks second in the league among teams’ rookies in goals and points and third in assists.  The Blue Jackets are the only team in the league to have two rookies with 15 or more points in 2023-24 (Fantilli-17, Voronkov-16).
• The Blue Jackets play their fourth of 16 Tuesday games this season when they visit the Sabres.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov notched a goal for a career-high fourth-straight game (5-2-7) on Saturday.  He has tallied 7-3-10 in the past 10 outings.
• F Justin Danforth has registered 1-2-3 in the past four games and has already set single-season career highs in assists and points (tied) with 7-7-14 in 32 outings this season.
• C Adam Fantilli has posted 3-2-5 over the past six contests, including his first career two-goal/three-point game with 2-1-3 on Dec. 7 at the NY Islanders.  The 2023 third overall pick, who has registered 4-2-6 in the last eight games, ranks second-T among NHL rookies in points, third-T in goals and eighth-T in assists with 8-9-17 in 32 appearances this season.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau has recorded points in two-straight games (1-1-2) and became the second-fastest active American born player to record 700 career points (236-464-699 in 714 GP) with an assist on Saturday.  He has registered 4-7-11 with three multi-point outings in his last 15 contests.
• D David Jiricek has collected assists in two consecutive games (0-3-3), including his first career multi-point outing with two assists on Thursday.  He now ranks fourth among rookie NHL blueliners in assists and points with 1-7-8 in 27 contests.
• C Kent Johnson posted his first career two-goal/three-point game, including the OT winner, on Thursday at Toronto.  He has totaled 2-4-6 with two multi-point efforts in the past five contests.
• RW Kirill Marchenko became the second Blue Jacket to record 10 goals this season with a goal on Saturday and has now  collected 2-2-4 in the last four contests and 6-3-9 in his past 13 games.  He ranks second on the club in goals and points (tied) with 10-8-18 in 30 contests this season.  He has already set a new career high in assists after posting 21-4-24 in 59 contests during his 2022-23 rookie campaign.
• D Ivan Provorov collected his second multi-assist game of the season with two assists on Thursday.  He ranks second on the team in assists and time-on-ice with 2-15-17 and 23:02 TOI in 32 contests.
• LW Dmitri Voronkov has registered points in three of his last four games (1-3-4) after registering an assist on Saturday.  He has recorded 3-4-7 in the last 10 games and ranks fourth-T among NHL rookies in points and seventh in assists with 6-10-16 in 26 games this season.
• D Zach Werenski registered his fourth multi-point effort of the season with two assists on Thursday and has collected assists in six of his last nine games (0-8-8).  He leads the club in assists, points and time on ice with 1-22-23 and 24:23 TOI in 30 contests this season.  He ranks seventh among league blueliners in assists and second-T among all NHL skaters in even-strength assists (18), trailing only Vancouver’s Filip Hronek (19).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Johnny Gaudreau is nine points from 100 for his Blue Jackets career (26-65-91, 112 GP).
• G Spencer Martin is one game from 50 for his NHL career (16-24-6, 49 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is 12 assists from 200 for his NHL career (80-188-268, 446 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle) is on Injured Reserve on Nov. 13 (4-to-6 Weeks); 17 games
• D Damon Severson (oblique) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 19 (Approx. 6 Weeks); 13 games
• D Adam Boqvist (shoulder strain) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 5 (Approx. 4 Weeks); 5 games
• C Boone Jenner (fractured jaw) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 9 (Approx. 6 Weeks); 4 games
• F Patrik Laine (clavicle fracture) (Approx. 6 Weeks); 1 game

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 103

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS