By Joe Coopersmith

FEB. 6, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. UTAH HOCKEY CLUB

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)

Hockey Club Players to Watch

• C Clayton Keller leads Utah in goals (tied), assists and points with 18-39-57 in 52 contests in 2024-25 and has posted 2-9-11 in 13 career games against the Blue Jackets.
• D Mikhail Sergachev, who has collected 2-12-14 in 22 career appearances against Columbus, ranks second in the NHL in TOI/GP (25:45) and leads Utah blueliners with 10-24-34 in 48 appearances.

All-Time Series

• Columbus is 1-0-0 against Utah after earning tying the game with two third period goals before winning in overtime at Delta Center in the first ever meeting on Jan. 31.
• The teams play their two-game season series over a seven day stretch.
• CBJ finished 0-of-2 on the power play and 2-of-3 on the penalty kill in the first meeting.
• The Jackets had seven different players record a point in the victory at Utah.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Jan. 31, 2025 – CBJ 3, at UTA 2 (OT)
• Feb. 6, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Utah

• F Kent Johnson – 1-0-1 in 1 career GP, notching the tying goal with 8:18 left in regulation.
• G Daniil Tarasov – 1-0-0, .941 SV% in 1 career GP, turning aside 32-of-34 shots faced in the OT win at Utah on Jan. 31.
• D Zach Werenski – 1-1-2 in 1 career GP, including notching the overtime winner in the first ever meeting on Jan. 31.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus split a four-game road trip, earning overtime wins at Vegas (2-1 on Jan. 30) and Utah (3-2 on Jan. 31) before falling at Dallas (5-3 on Feb. 2) and Buffalo (3-2 on Feb. 4).
• Tuesday’s game at Buffalo closed out a stretch of eight-of-nine games played away from Nationwide Arena from Jan. 18-Feb. 4.  The club played in four different time zones on just completed trip (PT/MT/CT/ET) with Sunday’s game at Dallas the last time leaving the Eastern Time Zone in 2024-25.  The Jackets are 5-4-1 in road contests played in 2025.
• CBJ return home for four-straight games around the 4 Nations Face-Off break (Feb. 6-8, Feb. 22-25).  The club has won five-straight home contests marking the longest home win streak since Jan. 14-Feb. 7, 2020 (6-straight).
• Columbus boasts the best goals-for per game average in the league at home (4.04), while also ranking second-T in total goals (101), fourth in power play pct. (29.0) and fifth in points pct. this season (.740). CBJ have earned points in 19 of the past 22 at NWA (16-3-3) with the club leading the NHL in goals-for at home (4.14) and ranking second in points pct. (.795) and power play pct. (31.5) since Oct. 22.
• The Blue Jackets finished January with a 10-3-1 record (21 pts, .750 points pct.), tying for second in the league in points percentage in the month (Washington, .786).  The club also registered the most wins (tied, 2014) and points and the second-highest points percentage in a January in franchise history, trailing only the .818 points pct. recorded in January 2020 (9-2-0).
• The team has collected points in 16 of the last 22 contests overall since Dec. 19 (14-6-2, 30 points).  The Jackets rank third-T in the league in goals-for/game (3.27), fifth in wins (tied) and points percentage (.682) and sixth in points over that stretch.
• CBJ have improved their numbers over the past six weeks of the season compared to the first 9.5 (Oct. 16-Dec. 18), including goals-for per game (3.22 to 3.27), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.82), power play pct. (18.2 to 27.9) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 79.6).  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 three goals or less in 12 of the past 14 contests and rank fifth in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 7 (2.36, 33 goals total).
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.24 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are the eighth-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 175 goals (not including SO goals) are the third-most through the first 54 games of a season in franchise history, trailing 2018-19 (177) and 2021-22 (176).
• 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).
• The Blue Jackets have posted the third-most games with six or more goals season (10), trailing only Florida and Winnipeg (11).  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 scored all five of its goals over the last two games at even strength and leads the league in goals scored during 5-on-5 play (124).
• The club has scored first in five of the last eight games and 12 of the last 17 contests.  The team has also scored first in 16 of the last 22 contests and in 33 (20-9-4) of the first 54 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 61.1 percent of their games this season and trail only Buffalo (64.2 pct.) for the highest percentage in the league.
• Columbus ranks sixth-T in the league with six shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ rank fourth in the NHL in first period goals scored (55), 11^h-T in second period goals (55) and ninth-T in third period goals scored (61) in 2024-25.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners have combined for 14-44-58 in the last 22 games.  The team leads the league lead in goals and points (tied, Colorado) and ranks second in points percentage, third in goal percentage and sixth in assists with 35-98-133, 20.0 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.2 pct. of the team’s points in 54 contests.
• D Dante Fabbro leads Columbus in blocked shots in 2024-25 (96) and the NHL in blocked shots and ranks second in blocks/60 minutes (min. 5 GP) since Dec. 31 with 55 blocks and 9.49 blocks/60 in 16 games.
• C Adam Fantilli, who has posted points in four of the past six outings (2-3-5), including three-straight from Jan. 30-Feb. 2 (1-2-3).  The 20-year-old leads the team in goals, ranks second in points and second among club forwards in average ice time, while collecting points in 12 of 16 contests since Jan. 1 (8-8-16, 19:29).  He has set single-season career highs in goals, assists, points and games played with 15-16-31 in 54 appearances in 2024-25.
• F Kent Johnson has recorded points in a career-high eight-straight games (4-5-9), while tying Zach Werenski (Nov. 15-Dec. 1) for the longest point streak by a Blue Jacket in 2024-25 after notching a goal at Buffalo.  He has also registered points in nine of the past 10 contests (5-6-11) and 12 of the last 15 games (6-8-14).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 28 of his 40 games this season (16-19-35) and has tied his single-season career high in goals (16-24-40, 79 GP in 2022-23).
• RW Kirill Marchenko was placed on Injured Reserve on Monday with a broken jaw suffered at Dallas on Sunday.  He recorded points in six of his last seven games (3-3-6), 12 of the last 14 contests (5-8-13), 20 of the last 24 games (11-17-28) and 23 of the last 28 (11-20-31).  The forward leads the NHL in plus/minus rating as well as leads the club in goals, multi-assist and multi-point (tied) efforts and ranks second in assists and points in 2024-25 with 21-34-55, +31, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 53 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24) and is the first player in franchise history with 20-plus goals in three-straight campaigns to start their career.
• G Elvis Merzlikins has posted a 5-3-0 record with a 2.27 GAA and .919 SV% (205-of-223) in the last eight games since Jan. 9 and is 10-4-1 dating back to Dec. 19.
• 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 hits with 10-8-18, 97 PIM and 195 hits in 54 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 60 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• D Ivan Provorov has notched goals in back-to-back games (2-1-3) after registering his second multi-point effort of the campaign with 1-1-2 at Buffalo on Tuesday.  He has collected 2-3-5 in the past seven contests since Jan. 22.
• LW James van Riemsdyk has collected assists in three-straight (0-3-3) and points in six of the past seven contests (2-5-7).  He ranks second on the team in goals (tied) and assists and third in points since Jan. 1 with 6-9-15 and four multi-point outings in 16 contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has recorded points in five of the last eight games (2-3-5) and 16 of the last 24 contests (12-11-23).  The forward has registered 18-16-34 with nine multi-point efforts and is +20 in his last 39 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks third-T in the NHL in plus/minus and ninth-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski, who missed Tuesday’s game at Buffalo due to an upper body injury, has collected points in 12 of his last 16 contests (6-12-18).  The 27-year old was named the NHL’s Third Star for January after leading the NHL in TOI (28:01, min. 4 GP) and league defensemen in goals (tied), shots on goal as well as even-strength goals and points with 6-11-17, 6-10-16 at even strength and 52 shots on goal in 14 contests.  He has set the franchise record for points by a defenseman in a single month three-straight months with 16 in each November and December before finishing with 17 in January.  He leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists (tied) and points and is seventh-T among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 13-30-43 in 35 contests.
•  Werenski, a native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength goals, even strength points (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second in goals, assists, and power play goals (tied), and third in points with 17-40-57, 12-25-37 at even strength and five PPG and 200 shots on 26:48 of ice time in 53 contests this season. He’s already matched the franchise’s record for points by a defenseman in a single season, set 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 CBJ record for goals by a blueliner with 20 in 2019-20.
• Werenski has recorded points in a club-record 19-straight home games (13-23-36), tying John Van Boxmeer (19 GP in 1981-82) for the fifth-longest by a defenseman in NHL history. The list is topped by Bobby Orr (25 GP in 1974- 75), Paul Coffey (23 GP in 1985-86), Phil Housley (22 GP in 1991-92) and Orr (21 GP in 1970-71).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 363 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is two games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 98 GP).
• F Kent Johnson is six points from 100 for his NHL career (38-56-94 in 170 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is 10 games from 200 for his NHL career (65-57-122, 190 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is two assists from 200 for his NHL career (75-198-273, 668 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (252 in 539 GP) is seven assists from surpassing Rick Nash (258 in 675 GP) for the most in franchise history

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (54 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (51 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (33 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (13 Games)
• RW Kirill Marchenko (jaw); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 3 (1 Game)
• D Dante Fabbro (upper body) (1 Game)
• D Zach Werenski (upper body) (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 229

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS