By StephanieLee Elliott

Pascal Vincent CBJ HC Postgame News Conference, Regular Season Finale CBJ 6 Carolina 3 April 16, 2024.mp3

GAME AT A GLANCE

THREE STARS 1^st – Z. Werenski, CBJ (2-2-4); 2^nd – L. Del Bel Belluz, CBJ (1-0-1); 3^rd – T. Teravainen, CAR (2-0-2)

GOAL SCORERS
Columbus: L. Del Bel Belluz (1), Z. Werenski (10), J. Malatesta (2), J. Gaudreau (12), A. Nylander (11), Z. Werenski (11)

Carolina: J. Kotkaniemi (12), T. Teravainen (24), PPG – T. Teravainen (25)

GOALTENDERS
Columbus: J. Greaves (38 saves, W)
Carolina: S. Martin (19 saves, L)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Columbus PP:  0-for-2, 3 shots
Carolina PP:  1-for-5, 16 shots

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets ended the 2023-24 campaign 27-43-12 following tonight’s victory over the Hurricanes.
• The Blue Jackets improved to 13-9-1 in season finales in franchise history and 12-8-3 in home finales in franchise history.
• CBJ have now won four of their last five home finales.
• The home team in the series against Carolina has won six of the last eight games dating back to Feb. 25, 2022.
• The winning team in the series has recorded four-plus goals in nine of the last 11 meetings since Oct. 23, 2022.
• CBJ blueliners recorded 2-5-7 tonight and recorded 13-25-38 in the final 14 contests and ended with 39-148-187 in 82 games this season.
• CBJ rookies posted 2-1-3 tonight and combined for 34-44-78 in 82 contests in 2023-24.
• Columbus scored three first period goals tonight and scored at least one first period goal in nine of the last 13 games (15 total) and 79 first-period goals this season.
• The Jackets scored the first goal of the game tonight and scored the first goal of the game in 10 of the final 14 games as well as 12 in the past 17 and 45 times total in 2023-24 – the fourth-most in a single season in franchise history.
• CBJ had a crowd of 17,289 tonight in the season finale against the Hurricanes. The club averaged 17,016 per game over the 41 home contests in 2023-24, marking the highest average at Nationwide Arena since 2003-04 (17,369).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES_­

• D Zach Werenski notched his third career four-point effort and second of the season with two goals and two assists, giving him 7-12-19 in his final 17 games and 7-17-24 in the final 24 contests.  With the second assist on Luca Del Bel Belluz’s opening goal, he set a new franchise record for the most assists by a defenseman in a single season.  He also notched his 300^th career NHL point (90-212-302 in 486 GP) with his goal in the first period, becoming the sixth player in Blue Jackets history with 300 career points, joining Rick Nash (547), Cam Atkinson (402), Boone Jenner (364), Nick Foligno (334) and David Vyborny (317).  He improved to 6-7-13 in 27 career games vs. Carolina, including points in four of his last five home appearances against the club (4-3-7).
• C Luca Del Bel Belluz notched his first career NHL goal in his debut tonight, becoming the eighth player in club history to score in his debut and fifth at home.
• LW James Malatesta scored a goal in his second consecutive game (2-1-3) and finished with 2-2-4 in 11 contests since making his NHL debut on Mar. 26 at Arizona.
• RW Justin Danforth recorded an assist in his second-straight outing (0-4-4), giving him 10-16-26 in 71 appearances this season.
• RW Johnny Gaudreau scored a goal to give him points in five of his final eight games (1-5-6) and 21 of his last 34 contests (5-26-31).  He notched his eighth 60-point campaign with 12-48-60 in 81 games in 2023-24.
• C Alexandre Texier tallied an assist and has collected 1-1-2 in the last two games and 1-5-6 in the final 10 outings (12-19-31 in 78 GP).  He improved to 2-4-6 in 13 career games against the Hurricanes with 1-3-4 in his past six contests vs. the club
• D Erik Gudbranson recorded his fifth multi-assist effort of the campaign with two assists, giving him 0-3-3 in the last two contests and 6-20-26 in 78 games this season.
• RW Alex Nylander scored a goal and recorded 3-1-4 in his last seven appearances and 11-4-15 in 23 games with the Blue Jackets this season.
• RW Kirill Marchenko registered an assist, giving him 6-4-10 in his past 13 outings (23-19-42 in 78 GP).  He now has points in three of his six career games vs. Carolina (4-1-5).
• D Ivan Provorov recorded an assist to finish the 2023-24 campaign with 5-27-32 in 82 contests.
• RW Mathieu Olivier notched his second career multi-assist effort (1-2-3 on Feb. 18, 2023 at DAL) with two assists (overall, 5-7-12 in 54 games this season.
• C Sean Kuraly registered an assist and has collected 9-9-18 in 62 contests in the 2023-24 campaign.
• LW Mikael Pyyhtia recorded an assist to give him 0-2-2 in 17 appearances this season.

BLUE JACKETS POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Pascal Vincent | F Luca Del Bel Belluz | F James Malatesta | D Zach Werenski

HURRIANCES POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Rod Brind’Amour | F Maxime Comtois | F Bradly Nadeau

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS