By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 30, 2025 II T-MOBILE ARENA II AT VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

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:  93.3 The Bus

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

Golden Knights to Watch

• C Jack Eichel, who has recorded points in seven-straight contests (5-5-10), leads the Golden Knights in assists and points with 16-48-64 in 50 appearances and has totaled 11-11-22 in 20 career outings against CBJ.
• D Shea Theodore, who has recorded 2-9-11 in the past nine contests, ranks second-T among NHL blueliners in assists and fourth in points with 6-38-44 in 50 contests.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 6-5-1 in 12 all-time meetings vs. Vegas, including 2-4-0 on the road.
• CBJ have recorded points in three of the last five games of the series (2-1-1).
• The home team has won three-straight and has recorded points in six-straight meetings of the series (5-0-1) dating back to Nov. 20, 2021.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in four of the last five games of the series.
• The Blue Jackets own both of the shutouts in the series with Sergei Bobrovsky turning aside 28 shots in a 1-0 win at Columbus on Dec. 17, 2018 and Elvis Merzlikins stopping 27 shots in a 3-0 win at Vegas on Jan. 11, 2020.
• Columbus owns two of the three hat tricks in the all-time series with Alex Nylander notching the most recent with his first career hat trick in a 6-3 CBJ win at Nationwide Arena on Mar. 4, 2024.

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

• Jan. 30, 2025 – at Vegas (10 pm ET)
• Mar. 13, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Golden Knights

• C Sean Kuraly – 1-3-4 in 10 career GP, including an assist in his most recent game vs. the club on Mar. 4, 2024.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 1-3-4 in 3 career GP, recording assists in all three appearances against the Golden Knights as well as two contests at T-Mobile Arena (1-2-3).
• G Elvis Merzlikins – 2-1-0 with 2.36 GAA and .921 SV% in 3 career GP, including a 1.53 GAA and .952 SV% in two career appearances at T-Mobile Arena (1-1-0).
• C Cole Sillinger – 3-1-4 in 6 career GP, notching his first career hat trick against Vegas on Mar. 3, 2022 (3-0-3).
• D Zach Werenski – 1-6-7 in 10 career GP, including assists in his last four games against the Golden Knights (0-5-5) as well as two-straight road contests (0-3-3) and three of his past four at T-Mobile Arena (0-4-4).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus earned a 3-2 overtime victory over Los Angeles on Jan. 25.  The club has registered points in nine of the past 11 contests since Jan. 4 (8-2-1), including posting a season-high six-game win streak from Jan. 4-16 and seven-game point streak from Jan. 4-18 (6-0-1).
• The club has also collected points in 14 of the last 18 contests since Dec. 19 (12-4-2).  The Jackets rank second in the league in goals-for-per game (tied, 3.44) and power play pct. (33.3), third-T in points percentage (.722) and fourth-T in wins and points over that stretch.
• CBJ have improved their numbers over the past five weeks of the season compared to the first 9.5 (Oct. 16-Dec. 18), including goals-for per game (3.22 to 3.44), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.83), power play pct. (18.2 to 33.3) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 80.5).  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 seven of the past nine contests and rank fifth in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 9 (2.11, 19 goals total).
• The Blue Jackets have won a season-high five consecutive home games and have recorded wins in five-straight contests at Nationwide Arena for the first time since the 2019-20 season (6-straight from Jan. 14-Feb. 7, 2020).
• CBJ are 17-5-3 (37 points) at Nationwide Arena in 2024-25, posting the most points (tied) and second-most wins through the first 25 home games of a campaign in CBJ history (18-6-1, 37 points in 2016-17).  The club leads the league in goals-for per game (4.04) and ranks third in power play pct. (29.0) and sixth in points pct. (.740) at home in 2024-25.
• The team has recorded points in 19 of its last 22 home games (16-3-3; .795 points pct) and leads the NHL in goals-for (4.14), while ranking third in points pct. and power play pct. (31.5) at home since Oct. 22.
• Columbus, which is 3-2-1 in its six road games in 2025, kicks off its second of two four-game road trips over a nine-game stretch from Jan. 18-Feb. 4 on Thursday at Vegas.  The club will also visit Utah (Jan. 31), Dallas (Feb. 2) and Buffalo (Feb. 4) in a trip that will play in all four time zones.  It’s the last time the Jackets leave the Eastern Time Zone this season.
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.30 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are the seventh-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 165 goals (not including SO goals) are the second-most through the first 50 games of a season in franchise history, trailing only 2016-17 (167).
• The Blue Jackets have scored in all three periods in regulation in nine of the last 18 games (seven of the last 10 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 Florida and Winnipeg for the NHL lead with 10 six-goal games this season.  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 leads the league in goals scored during 5-on-5 play with 116.
• The Jackets have scored first four-straight and in 11 of the last 13 contests. The club has also scored first in 15 of the last 18 contests and in 32 (20-8-4) of the first 50 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in a league-high 64.0 percent of their games this season.
• The Blue Jackets have scored a power play goal in 14 of the last 24 games (17-of-57; 29.8 pct.) to rank fifth in the league in PP pct. since Dec. 8.  CBJ rank second in the NHL in PP percentage at home over that same stretch (37.9 pct; 11-of-29).
• Columbus ranks fourth in the league with six shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ rank third in the NHL in first period goals scored (53), 12th-T in second period goals (52) and seventh-T in third period goals scored (58) in 2024-25.  They are one of four teams to record 50-plus goals in all three periods this season (Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington).
• The team plays its 11^th of 19 Thursday games when it visits Vegas.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners notched 2-2-4 in the win over Los Angeles and have combined for 11-39-50 in the last 18 games.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in points and point percentage, third in goals percentage and fifth-T in assists with 32-93-125, 19.4 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.2 pct. of the team’s points in 50 contests.
• C Luca Del Bel Belluz has collected assists in three-straight games (1-3-4).  He has registered 3-5-8 in 10 career games since making his NHL debut in the 2023-24 season finale against Carolina on Apr. 16, posting the second-most points by a Blue Jackets player through their first 10 NHL contests (Werenski, 2-8-10).
• D Dante Fabbro leads the NHL in blocked shots and ranks second in blocks/60 minutes (min. 5 GP) since Dec. 31 with 47 blocks and 9.61 blocks/60 in 13 games.
• C Adam Fantilli posted multiple points in the back-to-back games at Toronto on Jan. 22 (3-0-3, 1^st career hat trick) and Carolina on Jan. 23 (0-2-2, 1^st career multi-assist outing).  He has recorded points in nine of the last 12 contests (7-6-13) to lead the club in goals and rank second in points since Jan. 1.  He has set single-season career highs in goals and points with 14-14-28 in 50 appearances in 2024-25.
• F Kent Johnson stretched his points streak to four-straight games (2-3-5), including assists in each of the past three contests (1-3-4), with a helper against the Kings.  He has recorded points in five of the past six contests (3-4-7) and eight of the last 11 games (4-6-10).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 24 of his 36 games this season (14-17-31) and sits two goals shy of tying in single-season career high (16-24-40, 79 GP in 2022-23).
• RW Kirill Marchenko notched his second career OT winner with his team-leading 20^th goal of the season on Jan. 25 vs. Los Angeles.  He has recorded points in four-straight games (2-2-4), 10 of the last 11 contests (4-7-11), 18 of the last 21 games (10-16-26) and 21 of the last 25 (10-19-29).  The forward leads the league in plus/minus rating and ranks 12th-T in points since Nov. 21 with 14-23-37 and +24 in 32 contests.  He is also tied for the league 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 in 2024-25 with 20-33-53, +29, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 50 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24) became the first player in franchise history with 20-plus goals in three-straight campaigns to start their career.
• G Elvis Merzlikins turned aside 31-of-33 shots faced vs. Los Angeles on Saturday to improve to 9-2-1 in his last 12 starts since Dec. 19.  He also has posted a 4-1-0 record with a 1.80 GAA and .934 SV% (128-of-137) in the last five games since Jan. 9.
• 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 PIM and fourth in hits with 10-8-18, 90 PIM and 177 hits in 50 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 60 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• LW James van Riemsdyk has posted points in three-straight games (2-2-4) after collecting an assist against the Kings.  He ranks second on the team in goals and third in points in January with 6-6-12 and four multi-point outings in 12 contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has recorded points in three of the last four games (1-2-3) and in 14 of the last 20 contests (11-10-21).  The forward has registered 17-15-32 with nine multi-point efforts and is +20 in his last 35 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks fourth-T in the NHL in plus/minus and eighth-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski has recorded points in three-straight contests (1-2-3) and in 10 of the last 13 contests (5-10-15) after scoring against Los Angeles.  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength goals (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second in goals, assists (tied), power play goals (tied) and even strength points and third in points with 16-38-54, 11-23-34 ES and five PPG and 189 shots on 26:47 of ice time in 50 contests this season.  He also leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists and points and is eighth among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 12-28-40 in 32 contests.  His 54 points are the third-most by a CBJ defenseman in a season in franchise history, trailing only the 57 points recorded by Seth Jones in 2017-18 (16-41-57 in 78 GP) and matched by Werenski in 2023-24 (11-46-57 in 70 GP).  He also owns the franchise record for goals by a blueliner with 20 in 2019-20.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 359 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is six games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 94 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is one game from 100 for his NHL career (26-29-55, 99 GP).
• F Kent Johnson is 10 points from 100 for his NHL career (36-54-90 in 166 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is 13 games from 200 for his NHL career (64-56-120, 187 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is three assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-197-270, 664 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; (50 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (47 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (29 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (9 Games)
• C Cole Sillinger (upper body); (3 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 210

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS