By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 23, 2025 II LENOVO CENTER II AT CAROLINA HURRICANES

BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV*:  FanDuel Sports Network             

Steve Mears (play-by-play), Jody Shelley (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)

* Game will be simulcast on the following stations (markets):  CW 53 (Columbus), WKRC 12.2 CW (Cincinnati), WUAB 43.1 CW (Cleveland), WKEF 22.3 MyTV (Dayton), WQCW 30.1 CW (Charleston, WV/Huntington, WV/Portsmouth, OH), WKYT 27.2 CW (Lexington, KY), WAVE 3.2 Bounce (Louisville, KY).    

Hurricanes to Watch

• C Sebastian Aho ranks second on Carolina in goals (tied), assists and points with 14-32-46 in 48 games and has notched 15-16-31 in 36 career contests against the Jackets, including 2-3-5 in the first three games of the 2024-25 season series.
• C Martin Necas, with points in four of his last five contests (1-5-6), leads the Hurricanes in assists and points with 16-38-54 in 48 contests in 2024-25 and has recorded 4-14-18 in 24 career outings against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 29-29-5 in 63 all-time games against Carolina, including 13-15-3 on the road.
• The home team has won five-straight in the series and nine of the last 11 since Feb. 25, 2022.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in four consecutive outings (including SO goals) and 12 of the last 14 meetings dating back to Oct. 23, 2021.
• The winning team has also won by multiple goals in 10 of the last 14 contests, including nine times by three-plus goals.
• The Jackets have killed off 17-of-19 Hurricanes power play attempts in the last eight games at Lenovo Center (89.5 pct.).
• The Blue Jackets own four of the seven shutouts in the all-time series with Elvis Merzlikins (31 saves in 6-0 win at Carolina on Jan. 13, 2022) posting the most recent CBJ shutout.
• CBJ have also posted all four hat tricks (MR: Marchenko, Jan. 7, 2023) and lone penalty shot attempt (Atkinson goal on Feb. 8, 2021) in the series.

This Season (CBJ, 2-1-0)

• Nov. 23, 2024 – at CBJ 5, CAR 4 (SO)
• Dec. 15, 2024 – at CAR 4, CBJ 1
• Dec. 31, 2024 – at CBJ 4, CAR 3 (SO)
• Jan. 23, 2025 – at Carolina (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Hurricanes

• C Kent Johnson – 0-4-4 in 5 career GP, including two assists in the first meeting of the season series.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 8-2-10 in 9 career GP, including points in four-straight overall (4-2-6) after scoring twice on Dec. 31 as well as points in two of his three career outings at Carolina (1-1-2).
• D Ivan Provorov – 5-8-13 in 32 career GP, including assists in two of his last four outings against the club (0-2-2).
• F Dmitri Voronkov – 3-1-4 in 6 career GP, recording goals in all three games of the 2024-25 season series, including 1-1-2 in the most recent meeting on Dec. 31.
• D Zach Werenski – 6-9-15 in 30 career GP, including assists in three of the last four overall (2-4-6) as well as five of his last eight (2-6-8).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus won for the seventh time, while picking up points in eight of the past nine contests (7-1-1) with a 5-1 victory at Toronto on Wednesday.  The club’s seven-game points streak from Jan. 4-18 was the longest since Jan. 18-29, 2021 (4-0-3) and six-game win streak (Jan. 4-16) was the longest dating back to Jan. 11-22, 2020.
• The club has collected points in 13 of the last 16 contests since Dec. 19 (11-3-2).  The Jackets rank second in the league in wins (tied) and power play percentage (36.4), third in points and points percentage (.750), fifth in goals-for per game (3.44) and 11th-T in goals-against per game (2.63) 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 3.44), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.63), power play pct. (18.2 to 36.4) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 81.1).  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 six of the past seven contests and trail only Washington (1.17, 6 GP) in goals-against per game since Jan. 9 (1.43, 10 goals total). The club’s netminders have combined for a .947 save percentage over that stretch (177-of-187).
• The Jackets reached 50 points on the campaign on Jan. 16, marking the fifth time in franchise history CBJ 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 collected points in four of its last five road contests (3-1-1), completes the first of two four-game road trips over a nine-contest stretch from Jan. 18-Feb. 4.  The lone home game during that time will be played on Saturday against Los Angeles.
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.29 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are tied 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 158 goals (not including SO goals) are tied for the most through the first 48 games of a season in franchise history (2016-17).
• The Blue Jackets scored in all three periods at Toronto and have scored in all three periods in regulation in nine of the last 16 games (seven of the last nine home contests).  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 20 times this season, including 15 occasions at home.  Last season, the club scored in all three periods 20 times (10 times at home).
• 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 (110).
• The Jackets have scored first in nine of the last 11 contests after jumping out to a 4-0 lead at Toronto on Wednesday. The club has also scored first in 13 of the last 16 contests and in 30 (19-7-4) of the first 48 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 62.5 percent of their games this season, trailing only Buffalo (63.8 pct.) for the highest percentage in the league.
• The Blue Jackets, who were held without a power play attempt at Toronto on Wednesday, have scored a power play goal in 14 of the last 22 games (17-of-54; 31.5 pct.) to rank third in the league in PP pct. since Dec. 8.  CBJ lead the league in PP percentage at home over that same stretch (39.3 pct; 11-of-28).
• Columbus has denied opponents on 10-of-11 power play attempts over the last five contests (90.9 pct.).  The club, which finished 3-of-3 at Toronto, also scored its sixth shorthanded goal of the campaign (4th-most in NHL).
• CBJ rank third-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (50), 10th-T in second period goals (50) and sixth-T in third period goals scored (57) in 2024-25.  They are one of three teams to record 50-plus goals in all three periods this season (Tampa Bay, Washington).
• The Jackets play their 10th (5-3-1) of 19 Thursday games of the season when they visit the Hurricanes.  The club has won two-straight Thursday contests and is 3-1-1 in its last five played on the day.
• Columbus completes its seventh of 12 back-to-back sets of the season at Carolina on Thursday.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners collected three assists on Wednesday and have combined for 9-34-43 in the last 16 games.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in points and point percentage, third in goals percentage and seventh in assists with 30-88-118, 19.0 pct. of the club’s goals and 27.9 pct. of the team’s points in 47 contests.
• C Luca Del Bel Belluz notched his second multi-point effort of the campaign with 1-1-2 at Toronto on Wednesday.  He has registered 3-3-6 in eight career games since making his NHL debut in the 2023-24 season finale against Carolina on Apr. 16.
• D Dante Fabbro leads the NHL in blocked shots and ranks third in blocks/60 minutes (min. 5 GP) since Dec. 31 with 40 blocks and 9.64 blocks/60 in 11 games.
• C Adam Fantilli (20-years, 102-days) became the fourth-youngest Blue Jacket to record a hat trick after notching the first of his career with three goals at Toronto on Wednesday.  He has recorded points in eight of his last 10 contests (7-4-11) after also posting the second-longest point streak by a CBJ player before age-21 (4-4-8 from Jan. 2-16), trailing only Rick Nash (8 GP in 2003-04).  He has set a new single-season career high in goals and sits one point shy of his rookie totals in 2023-24 (12-15-27 in 49 GP) with 14-12-26 in 48 appearances in 2024-25.
• F Kent Johnson collected an assist on Wednesday and has points in two-straight (1-1-2) and three of the past four (2-2-4).  He has also registered points in six of the last nine games overall (3-4-7).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 22 of his 34 games this season (13-15-28) and has already surpassed his season totals from 2023-24 (6-10-16, 42 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko has recorded assists in two-straight games (0-2-2) and has registered points in eight of the last nine contests (2-7-9), 16 of the last 19 games (8-16-24) and 19 of the last 23 (8-19-27).  The forward ranks second in the league in plus/minus rating and 10th-T in points since Nov. 21 with 12-23-35 and +23 in 30 contests.  He also ranks leads the NHL 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 in 2024-25 with 18-33-51, +28, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 48 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24) and sits two goals shy from becoming the first player in franchise history with 20-plus goals in three-straight campaigns to start their career.
• G Elvis Merzlikins turned aside 28-of-29 shots faced at Toronto on Wednesday to improve to 8-2-1 in his last 11 starts since Dec. 19.  He ranks third-T in the league in wins over that stretch.
• RW Mathieu Olivier, who posted an assist on Wednesday, has already set single-season career highs in goals and points (5-10-15, 66 GP in 2022-23) and ranks second in the NHL in PIM and sixth in hits with 10-8-18, 88 PIM and 171 hits in 48 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 50 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• G Daniil Tarasov turned aside all 26 shots faced in regulation and overtime on Jan. 18 at the NY Rangers to register his first career shutout.  He is 1-0-1 with a .961 SV% (49-of-51) in his last two starts.
• LW James van Riemsdyk recorded a goal on Wednesday and has collected 5-4-9 with three multi-point outings in the past 10 contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has collected assists in two-straight and has points in 13 of the last 18 contests (10-10-20).  The forward has registered 16-15-31 with nine multi-point efforts and is +21 in his last 33 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks third in the NHL in plus/minus and seventh-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski collected an assist on Wednesday and has recorded points in eight of the last 11 contests (4-9-13).  He has also picked up six multi-point efforts in the last 14 games (4-16-20).  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength goals and points and shots on goal, ranks second in goals, points and power play goals (tied) and third-T in assists with 15-37-52 and 181 shots on 26:46 of ice time in 47 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 11-27-38 in 30 contests.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• HC Dean Evason is one game from 300 for his NHL HC career (170-95-34, 299 GC).
• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 357 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is eight games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 92 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is three games from 100 for his NHL career (26-27-53, 97 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is four assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-196-269, 662 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is three points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (39-58-97, 265 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (48 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (45 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (27 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (7 Games)
• D Denton Mateychuk (illness); (2 Games)
• C Cole Sillinger (upper body); (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 199

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS