By Joe Coopersmith

Senators to Watch

«  RW Claude Giroux, who has notched 13-26-39 in 39 career appearances against CBJ, ranks second on Ottawa in assists and points and third in goals with 18-36-54 in 63 outings.

«  C Tim Stutzle leads the Senators in assists and points with 15-44-59 in 63 games and has picked up points in three consecutive contests (1-2-3).

«  LW Brady Tkachuk leads the team in goals and power play goals with 27-25-52 and seven power play goals in 62 appearances.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 18-18-4 in 40 all-time meetings vs. Ottawa, including 11-7-2 at home.

«  CBJ have won two of the last three games in the series and have picked up points in 11 of the last 15 meetings dating back to Mar. 17, 2018 (9-4-2).

«  The club has also recorded points in eight of the past nine games played at Nationwide Arena (7-1-1) with wins in two-straight and points in three consecutive (2-0-1).

«  The Blue Jackets and Senators have each recorded three shutouts in the all-time series with now Senators goaltender Joonas Korpisalo earning the most recent one while with CBJ with 25 saves in a 1-0 win at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 25, 2019.

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in five-straight and eight of the last 10 meetings overall.

«  CBJ have scored a power play goal in four of the past six games of the series (5-of-15; 33.3 pct.).

This Season (CBJ, 1-1-0)

«  Dec. 1, 2023 – at CBJ 4, OTT 2

«  Feb. 13, 2024 – at OTT 6, CBJ 3

«  Mar. 14, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Senators

«  C Johnny Gaudreau – 6-20-26 in 28 career GP, including assists in each of his last three outings (0-5-5) and 3-10-13 in his past 13 appearances against Ottawa overall as well as multiple assists in two-straight home games (0-4-4), assists in five consecutive home outings (1-8-9) and points in each of his past eight outings at home (2-10-12).

«  C Boone Jenner – 7-4-11 in 22 career GP, including goals in each of his last two home games and three appearances overall against the club.

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 1-3-4 in 5 career GP, including 1-1-2 in two career home outings vs. Ottawa.

«  D Ivan Provorov – 3-7-10 in 20 career GP, including an assist in the first meeting of the season series on Dec. 1.

«  D Zach Werenski – 4-11-15 in 15 career GP, including assists in each of his last six games overall (0-8-8) and points in eight of his last nine (2-9-11) as well as assists in his past four home games (0-5-5) and points in his last five home outings (2-5-7).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus moved to 3-3-0 in its last six games and 6-7-0 in the past 13 since Feb. 17 after falling 3-0 at Montreal on Tuesday.
• Tuesday’s game at Montreal kicked off a stretch of four games in six days through Mar. 17.  It’s the second-straight week of four games over a six-day period for the club (2-2-0 last week).
• The club is in a stretch of 9-of-13 games played at Nationwide Arena from Feb. 23-Mar. 17, including a three-game homestand over four days from Mar. 14-17.  CBJ will then hit the road for a five-game road trip from Mar. 19-28.
• The Blue Jackets rank 13th-T in the NHL in goals-per-game during the month of March, averaging 3.17 goals over the past six contests (19 goals total).
• CBJ rank 10th-T in the league in penalty kill percentage since Feb. 21 (83.3 pct.), having killed off 25 of the past 30 opponent power play opportunities over that span.
• Columbus, which posted 98 shot attempts, including 41 on goal at Montreal on Tuesday, has recorded 503 shots on goal over the last 15 contests and ranks fourth in the NHL in shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (33.6).
• CBJ have had 15 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the 10th-most in the league.
• CBJ have scored 11 even strength goals over their last five games and rank eighth in the NHL with 141 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus, which recorded three first period goals for the fourth time this season vs. Edmonton on Mar. 7, ranks eighth-T in the league with 63 first period goals.
• CBJ rank sixth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (tied, 17.04) and blocked shots (1,121) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners have combined for 13-41-54 in the last 27 contests since Jan. 1 as well as 21-86-107 over the past 50 contests.  They rank seventh-T among NHL defensive units in assists and 12th in points with 26-117-143 in 65 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (37.7 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (28.6 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 30-37-67 in 65 games this season to lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals and rank third-T in points and fifth in assists.  The Blue Jackets are one of two teams in the league (Minnesota) to have two rookies with 26 or more points in 2023-24 (Dmitri Voronkov-31, Adam Fantilli-27).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov, who left Tuesday’s game with an upper body injury, has collected 5-5-10 in his last 18 contests played.  He has also registered 6-6-12 with three multi-point efforts in his last 21 games and has totaled 13-11-24 over his last 36 contests.
• C Adam Fantilli, who suffered a calf laceration on Jan. 28 and is expected to miss eight weeks, ranks sixth-T among NHL rookies in goals, ninth-T in assists and 10th in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings despite missing the last 16 games due to the injury.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau has registered points in 11 of his last 18 games (3-13-16).  The winger, who leads the club in assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 10-35-45, nine multi-assist and 11 multi-point efforts in 65 contests.  He has also recorded 9-30-39 with 10 multi-point outings in his last 48 contests after collecting 1-5-6 in the first 17 games of the season.  In his second season with the club, he already ranks eighth all-time in multi-assist outings (23) and is three games shy of tying Artemi Panarin for seventh.
• D Erik Gudbranson has collected 1-1-2 in his last five games and has set single-season career highs in assists and points with 4-15-19 in 61 appearances.
• C Boone Jenner has posted 6-5-11 in the last 15 games. The forward, who is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played, skated in his 700^th career game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 28.  He also ranks third on the franchise’s all-time lists in goals and points with 189-169-358 in 707 contests.  The CBJ captain, who skated in his first NHL All-Star Game in his 11^th NHL season on Feb. 3, leads the club in goals with 19-10-29 in 50 outings and sits one goal shy of his third consecutive – and fourth career – 20-goal campaign.
• RW Kirill Marchenko, who missed Tuesday’s game due to illness, has registered 2-5-7 in the last 13 contests.  He has recorded 17-15-32 in 61 appearances this season and has already set single-season career highs in assists and points after posting 21-4-25 in 59 games during his 2022-23 rookie campaign.
• LW Alex Nylander, who has recorded 5-2-7 in his first nine games with the Blue Jackets, has registered points in four of his last seven games (5-2-7), including his first career hat trick on Mar. 4 vs. Vegas.  He became the second player in Blue Jackets history to record five goals in his first seven games with the club, joining Antoine Vermette (2009).
• D Ivan Provorov ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists with 5-23-28 and 115 blocked shots, while averaging 22:10 TOI in 65 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has recorded points in five of the last eight outings (3-2-5) and has also posted 3-4-7 in the last 12 contests.  With 11-14-25 in 60 games this season, he sits one assist from tying his single-season career high set in his rookie campaign in 2021-22 (16-15-31 in 79 GP).
• G Daniil Tarasov turned aside all 19 shots faced in relief at Montreal on Tuesday three days after tying his single-game career high for saves after stopping 47-of-49 shots faced (.959 SV%) against Nashville on Mar. 9.  He has turned aside 222-of-236 shots faced (.941 SV%), while allowing three goals or less in each of his last six starts to rank second in the NHL in save percentage and sixth in goals-against average (2.09) since Feb. 21 (min. 5 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier had his career-high five game points streak (2-4-6) snapped on Tuesday at Montreal.  He has 10-14-24 in 61 games and has set single-season career highs in assists, points and games played.  The 24-year-old also sits one goal shy of tying his career high set in 2021-22.
• F Dmitri Voronkov leads NHL rookies in goals (tied), power play goals and shots on goal and ranks third-T in points since Jan. 15 with 10-1-11 and four PPG in 22 contests.  He is tied for second among NHL rookies in goals (Chicago’s Connor Bedard; 20) and ranks fifth-T in points with 17-14-31 in 59 appearances.  He’s also tied with Rick Nash (17, 2002-03) for the third-most goals by a rookie in franchise history, trailing only Kirill Marchenko (21, 2022-23) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (20, 2017-18).
• D Zach Werenski has collected assists in four of his last seven games (0-5-5).  He became the third player – and first defenseman – to record 200 career assists as a Blue Jacket, joining Rick Nash (258) and David Vyborny (204) with an assist at Pittsburgh on Mar. 5.  He has registered 3-8-11 in the last 16 games and has posted points in 11 of the past 19 outings (3-10-13).  He ranks 12th among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.64) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 4-34-38 on 24:18 TOI in 53 contests this season.  The 26-year-old has reached the 30-assist mark for the fourth time in his career with his 34 helpers the third-most in his career, trailing only 36 in 2016-17 and 37 in 2021-22.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Johnny Gaudreau is 13 assists from 500 for his NHL career (241-487-728, 747 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is three games from 600 for his NHL career (70-175-245, 597 GP).
• D Damon Severson is three games from 700 for his NHL career (64-218-282, 697 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (83-200-283, 469 GP) is five assists from surpassing RW David Vyborny (113-204-317, 543 GP) for second-most in franchise history.

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Patrik Laine (clavicle fracture-Dec. 14; NHL Player Assistance Program-Jan. 28); 17 games (for injury)
• C Adam Fantilli (calf laceration on Jan. 28); expected to miss 8 weeks (16 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out indefinitely (7 games)
• LW Justin Danforth (concussion); (2 games)
• RW Kirill Marchenko (illness); is day-to-day (1 game)
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury on Mar. 12); is day-to-day
• C Sean Kuraly (lower body injury on Mar. 12); is week-to-week

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 208

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