By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 20, 2025 II UBS ARENA II AT NEW YORK ISLANDERS

BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV:  FanDuel Sports Network

Steve Mears (play-by-play), John Davidson (analyst), Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre (analyst), Dave Maetzold (reporter), Brian Giesenschlag (Host)

Radio:  97.1 The Fan

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

Islanders to Watch

• C Bo Horvat has posted assists in two-straight games (1-2-3) and leads the Islanders in assists and ranks second in goals and points with 14-19-33 in 44 appearances this season.
• LW Anders Lee leads the Islanders in goals and points with 20-16-36 in 45 games this season and has registered 10-12-22 in 37 career outings against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

• Columbus is 25-21-8 in 54 all-time games against the Islanders, including 8-14-3 on the road.
• The Blue Jackets snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with the 2-0 win in the first contest of the 2024-25 season series.
• The winning team has won by multiple goals in four-straight meetings.  Prior to that the winning team had won by a single goal in seven of nine games from Dec. 23, 2019-Mar. 24, 2023.
• The winning team has recorded two goals or less in three of the last six meetings of the series.
• Columbus has recorded all five of its shutouts in the all-time series at Nationwide Arena after Elvis Merzlikins turned aside all 28 shots faced in a 2-0 win in the first game of the season series on Oct. 30.
• The Islanders have recorded all three hat tricks in the all-time series, while neither team has been awarded a penalty shot.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Oct. 30, 2024 – at CBJ 2, NYI 0
• Jan. 20, 2025 – at New York (7:30 pm ET)
• Mar. 24, 2025 – at New York (7:30 pm ET)
• Apr. 17, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Islanders

• C Adam Fantilli – 2-1-3 in 3 career GP, notching his first career 3-point game in his last game at the Islanders on Dec. 7, 2023.
• F Kent Johnson – 2-3-5 in 5 career GP, including two assists in the last contest at UBS Arena on Dec. 7, 2023.
• RW Kevin Labanc – 3-3-6 in 13 career GP, including points in three of his last four contests against the club (2-1-3).
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 1-1-2 in 5 career GP, with his points in the last two outings against the club.
• G Elvis Merzlikins – 2-3-0 with 2.45 GAA and .922 SV% in 5 career GP,
• D Ivan Provorov – 4-9-13 in 35 career GP, including an assist in the first meeting of the season series.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 13-27-40 in 55 career GP, including assists in three of his past four contests (1-4-5) as well as his last two at the NY Islanders (1-2-3).
• D Zach Werenski – 2-11-13 in 21 career GP, including assists two of his past three outings (0-2-2).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus stretched its season-long points streak to seven consecutive games after picking up a point in a 1-0 shootout loss at the NY Rangers on Saturday.  It’s the club’s longest points streak since Jan. 18-29, 2021 (4-0-3).
• The Jackets’ six-game win streak that was snapped on Saturday was tied for the sixth-longest win streak in club history and the first streak of that length since Jan. 11-22, 2020.
• The club has collected points in 12 of the last 14 contests since Dec. 19 (10-2-2).  The Jackets lead the league in points percentage (.786) and power play percentage (37.9) and rank second-T in wins and goals-for per game (3.50) and third in points over that stretch.
• CBJ have improved their numbers over the past month of the season compared to the first 9.5 weeks (Oct. 16-Dec. 18), including goals-for per game (3.22 to 3.50), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.71), power play pct. (18.2 to 37.9) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 81.3).  The club sat in eighth place in the division and Wild Card race at 12-15-5 (29 points) on Dec. 18.
• The Jackets have allowed two goals or less in five-straight contests and rank second in the NHL in goals-against per game (1.20) since Jan. 9. The club’s netminders have combined for a .955 save percentage over that stretch (127-of-133).
• The Jackets reached 50 points on the campaign on Thursday, marking the fifth time in franchise history CBJ have reached the mark in 45 games or less and first since 2019-20 (44 GP).
• CBJ are 16-5-3 (35 points) at Nationwide Arena in 2024-25, posting the second-most wins (tied) and points through the first 24 home games of a campaign in CBJ history (18-5-1, 37 points in 2016-17).
• The team has recorded points in 18 of its last 21 home games (15-3-3; .786 points pct) and leads the NHL in goals-for (4.19), while ranking third in points pct. and power play pct. (32.1) at home since Oct. 22.
• Columbus, which has recorded points in three consecutive road games (2-0-1), play 8-of-9 contests away from home from Jan. 18-Feb. 4.
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.30 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are tied with Carolina for sixth-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 152 goals (not including SO goals) are also tied with the Hurricanes for sixth-most in the league in 2024-25  and tied for the second-most through the first 46 games of a season in franchise history (2018-19), and trailing the 153 posted in 2016-17.
• The Blue Jackets scored in all three periods in Thursday’s win over the Sharks and have accomplished the feat in eight of the last 14 games, including seven of the last nine home contests.  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 19 times this season, including 15 occasions at home.  Last season, the club scored in all three periods 20 times (10 times at home).
• The club has also registered 40 multi-goal frames in 2024-25 after scoring twice in the first period on Thursday.
• CBJ are tied with Winnipeg for the NHL lead with 10 six-goal games this season, most recently recording the feat on Jan. 9 vs. Seattle.  It’s the second time in franchise history that CBJ have scored at least six goals in 10 or more contests in a campaign after setting the club record with 11 occurrences in 2018-19.
• Columbus was the first team to reach 100 even strength goals this season (101), reaching the mark against Seattle on Jan. 9.  The club is tied with Washington for the league lead in goals scored during 5-on-5 play (107).
• The Jackets have scored first in seven of the last nine contests. The club has also scored first in 11 of the last 14 contests and in 28 (18-6-4) of the first 46 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 69.9 percent of their games this season, tied with Minnesota for the second-highest in the league and trailing only Buffalo (62.2 pct.).
• The Blue Jackets have scored a power play goal in 13 of the last 20 games (16-of-50; 32.0 pct.), ranking fourth in the league in PP pct. since Dec. 8.  CBJ also lead the league in PP percentage at home over that same stretch (39.3 pct; 11-of-28).
• CBJ rank fourth in the NHL in first period goals scored (48), 10th-T in second period goals (48) and eighth-T in third period goals scored (55) in 2024-25.
• The Jackets play their fourth (3-0-0) of six Monday games when they visit the Islanders.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners have combined for 9-31-40 in the last 14 games.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in points and point percentage, third in goals percentage and sixth in assists with 30-85-115, 19.7 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.3 pct. of the team’s points in 45 contests.
• D Dante Fabbro leads the NHL in blocked shots since Dec. 31 (34 in 9 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli had recorded points in a career-high seven-straight games (4-4-8) prior to Saturday’s game at the Rangers.  It was the second-longest point streak by a Blue Jacket before age-21, trailing only Rick Nash (8 GP in 2003-04).
• F Kent Johnson registered the game-winning goal in regulation/SO in three of the club’s six victories during the win streak.  He has collected points in four of the last seven games overall (2-3-5).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 20 of his 32 games this season (12-14-26) and has already surpassed his season totals from 2023-24 (6-10-16, 42 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko had his six-game points streak (2-5-7) snapped on Saturday.  It was one shy of his career record (4-9-13, Dec. 14-27, 2024).  He has registered points in 14 of his last 17 games (8-14-22) and 17 of the last 21 (8-17-25).  The forward ranks 11th-T in the league in points since Nov. 21 with 12-21-33 in 28 contests.  He is tied for the NHL lead in plus/minus rating as well as leads the club in goals, multi-assist and multi-point efforts and ranks second in assists and points with 18-31-49, +28, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 46 contests and has already set single-season career highs in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24).
• G Elvis Merzlikins ranks third-T in the NHL in wins since Dec. 19 (7-1-1, 2.93 GAA).
• RW Mathieu Olivier has already set single-season career highs in goals and points (5-10-15, 66 GP in 2022-23) and ranks third in the NHL in penalty minutes and seventh in hits with 10-7-17, 83 PIM and 161 hits in 46 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 50 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• C Cole Sillinger has posted 7-16-23 in 44 outings in 2024-25 and sits three assists shy of tying his single-season career high set in 2023-24 (77 GP).
• G Daniil Tarasov turned aside all 26 shots faced in regulation and overtime on Saturday at the NY Rangers to register his first career shutout.  He is 1-1-1 with a .961 SV% (49-of-51) in his last two starts.
• LW James van Riemsdyk notched two goals in Thursday’s win for his second multi-goal and fourth multi-point effort of the campaign.  He has collected points in three of the last five contests (2-3-5) and has 4-4-8 with three multi-point outings in the past eight contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has notched points in 11 of the last 16 contests (10-8-18).  The forward has registered 16-13-29 with nine multi-point efforts and is +22 in his last 31 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks second-T in the NHL in plus/minus and sixth-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski has collected points in seven of the last nine contests (4-8-12).  He has picked up six multi-point efforts in the last 12 games (4-15-19).  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP and ranks fourth in shots on goal as well as leads league blueliners in goals (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second in points and third in assists with 15-36-51 and 178 shots on 26:44 of ice time in 45 contests this season.  He also leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists, and points and is sixth among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 11-26-37 in 27 contests.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• HC Dean Evason is three games from 300 for his NHL HC career (169-94-34, 297 GC).
• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 355 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is 10 games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 90 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is five games from 100 for his NHL career (23-27-50, 95 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is five assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-195-268, 660 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is three points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (39-58-97, 264 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (46 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (43 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (25 Games)
• F Justin Danforth (lower body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 10 (18 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 7 (5 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 188

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS