By Joe Coopersmith

FEB. 22, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

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)

Blackhawks to Watch

• C Connor Bedard, who captured the 2023-24 Calder Trophy as the league’s best first year player, leads Chicago in assists and points in 2024-25 with 16-33-49 in 55 games.
• C Teuvo Teravainen ranks second on the club in assists and points in 2024-25 with 12-28-40 in 55 games and has tallied 8-15-23 in 33 career contests against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 41-46-15 in 102 all-time meetings vs. Chicago, including 21-21-9 at home.
• The Jackets have won four-straight meetings in the series overall, including two consecutive at Nationwide Arena since Dec. 31, 2022
• CBJ are 5-1-0 in the last six against the Hawks since Feb. 17, 2022.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in nine-straight meetings and 11 of the last 13 in the series overall since Feb. 11, 2021.
• The teams have combined for seven or more goals in seven of the past nine games of the series.
• The winning team has won by three or more goals in each of the past six outings.
• The club has scored a power play goal in four of the last six games of the series (4-of-17; 23.5 pct.).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

• Dec. 1, 2024 – CBJ 6, at CHI 3
• Feb. 22, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Blackhawks

• D Dante Fabbro – 2-5-7 in 20 career GP, including a goal in the first meeting of the season series.
• C Boone Jenner – 7-4-11 in 21 career GP, including goals in his last four-straight games played against the Hawks (5-2-7) and points in seven of the past nine matchups (7-3-10) as well as goals in his last two at Nationwide Arena (3-0-3).
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 4-1-5 in 5 career GP, notching goals in four of five games against the club (4-1-5) as well as both career games at Nationwide Arena (2-1-3).
• D Ivan Provorov – 4-3-7 in 15 career GP, including points in three of his last four appearances against Chicago (2-1-3) after scoring a goal in the first meeting of the season series.
• D Damon Severson – 2-14-16 with four multi-point efforts in 16 career GP, including collecting three assists in the first meeting of the season series on Dec. 1.
• C Cole Sillinger – 2-4-6 in 6 career GP, including points in his past three games against the team (2-3-5).
• F Dmitri Voronkov – 2-0-2 in 3 career GP, scoring in the first game of the season series as well as his lone meeting at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 22, 2023.
• D Zach Werenski – 2-14-16 in 17 career GP, including multi-assists in each of his last four games overall (0-10-10) and assists in his each of past five games overall (0-11-11).

COUNTDOWN TO STADIUM SERIES

• CBJ are one week away from playing in the first outdoor game in franchise history and the 43^rd in NHL regular season history.  The club hosts the Detroit Red Wings at historic Ohio Stadium, home of the 2024 College Football Playoff National Champions, THE Ohio State Buckeyes, on Saturday, Mar. 1 (6pm).
• Six current Blue Jackets have taken part in an outdoor game; LW Zach Aston-Reese, D Dante Fabbro, D Jack Johnson, C Sean Monahan, D Ivan Provorov and LW James van Riemsdyk, while HC Dean Evason has coached in two outdoor games (1 as HC, 1 as AC).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• CBJ return to action following the 4 Nations Face-Off break with two-straight home games vs. Chicago on Saturday and Dallas on Tuesday.  It’s part of a stretch of four-consecutive played at Nationwide Arena from Feb. 6-25.
• Columbus fell 4-3 to the NY Rangers in its final game before the break on Feb. 8.  Despite the regulation loss, the club has recorded points in 12 of the past 14 home contests (9-2-3) as well as 17 of the last 20 played at Nationwide Arena (13-3-4).
• Columbus boasts the best goals-for per game average in the league at home (3.93), while also ranking third in total goals (106), fourth in power play pct. (28.1) and seventh-T in points pct. this season (.704).
• CBJ have earned points in 20 of the past 24 at NWA (16-4-4) to lead the NHL in goals-for at home (4.00) and rank third in points pct. (tied, .750) and power play pct. (30.4) since Oct. 22.
• The club is 17-6-4 at home in 2024-25, posting the second-most wins (tied) and points in the first 27 home games of a campaign in franchise history.
• The team has collected points in 17 of the last 24 contests overall since Dec. 19 (14-7-3, 31 points).  The Jackets rank sixth-T in the NHL in points percentage (.646), eighth in goals-for per game (3.21) and 10^th in power play percentage (26.7) 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-against average (3.63 to 2.88), power play pct. (18.2 to 26.7) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 80.8).  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 13 of the past 16 contests and rank sixth-T in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 7 (2.50, 40 goals total).
• The club’s 180 goals (not including SO goals) is tied for the second-most through the first 56 games of a season in franchise history (2016-2017, 2018-19), and three shy of the 183 scored in 2021-22.
• 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 is tied with Washington for the league lead in goals scored during 5-on-5 play (128).
• The club has scored first in 34 (20-9-5) of the first 56 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 61.8 percent of its games this season, tied with Minnesota for second-best percentage and trailing only Buffalo (62.9 pct.).
• Columbus ranks fifth-T in the league with seven shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ ranks fifth in the NHL in first period goals scored (58), 12^th-T in second period goals (57) and 13th in third period goals scored (61) in 2024-25.  The club is one of five teams with 55-plus goals in all three periods (Dallas, Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington).
• The Jackets play their 16th of 21 Saturday games of the season and have recorded points in seven of the past nine dating back to Nov. 23 (4-2-3).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• The team leads the league lead in goals and goal percentage and ranks second in points and points percentage as well as sixth in assists with 36-103-139, 20.0 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.7 pct. of the team’s points in 56 contests.
• D Dante Fabbro, who has missed the past three games with an upper body injury, leads the NHL in blocked shots and ranks second in blocks/60 minutes (min. 6 GP) since Dec. 31 with 55 blocks and 9.49 blocks/60 in 16 games and leads Columbus in blocked shots in 2024-25 (96).
• C Adam Fantilli collected an assist on Feb. 8 vs. the Rangers and has recorded points in six of the past nine contests (4-5-9).  The 20-year-old ranks third among NHL forwards in TOI in February (23:38, 4 GP).  He leads the club in goals and ranks second in points as well as leads CBJ forwards in TOI and has collected points in 13 of 18 contests since Jan. 1 (8-9-17, 20:11).  He has set single-season career highs with 15-17-32 in 56 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner was activated off Injured Reserve (shoulder) on Friday afternoon.  He is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played and ranks third in goals and points with 192-172-364 in 715 career games.  He posted three-straight 20-goal seasons heading into 2024-25.
• F Kent Johnson has registered points in nine of the past 10 contests (5-5-10), 10 of the past 12 contests (6-6-12) and 13 of the last 17 games (7-8-15).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 29 of his 42 games this season (17-19-36) and has set a single-season career high in goals (16-24-40, 79 GP in 2022-23).
• RW Kirill Marchenko has missed the last three games with a broken jaw suffered on Feb. 2 at Dallas.  He has recorded points in six of his last seven games (3-3-6), 12 of his past 14 contests (5-8-13), 20 of the last 24 games (11-17-28) and 23 of the past 28 (11-20-31).  The forward is tied for the NHL lead 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.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has already set single-season career highs in goals, points and hits (5-10-15, 66 GP in 2022-23) and ranks second-T in the NHL in hits and third in PIM with 10-8-18, 99 PIM and 205 hits in 56 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 70 PIM and 125 hits in 2024-25.
• D Ivan Provorov notched goals in a career-high three consecutive games (3-1-4) from Feb. 2-6.  He has collected 3-3-6 in the past nine contests since Jan. 22 to raise his season totals to 6-19-25 in 56 outings.
• LW James van Riemsdyk notched a goal against the Rangers and has collected points in seven of the past nine contests (3-5-8).  He ranks second-T on the team in goals and assists and third in points since Jan. 1 with 7-9-16 and four multi-point outings in 18 contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has registered 18-16-34 with nine multi-point efforts and is +20 in his last 41 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks sixth-T in the NHL in plus/minus and 11th-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski, represented the United States at the recently completed 4 Nations Face-Off and led the tournament in assists and points with 0-6-6 in four games.  He became the first defenseman in NHL International Tournament history to lead all players outright in points – Canadian blueliners Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin were part of a three-way tie at the 1976 Canada Cup.
• Werenski has registered points in 14 of his last 18 contests (6-14-20) after picking up an assist against the Rangers on Feb. 8.  He extended his franchise record home points streak to 21-straight games (13-25-38) to become the fourth different defenseman in NHL history to post a run of that length with the assist against New York.  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).
• Werenski, a native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, leads the NHL in TOI/GP (min. 10 GP) as well as leads league blueliners in even strength goals, even strength points and shots on goal and ranks second in goals, assists and points and power play goals (tied) with 17-42-59, 12-26-38 at even strength, five PPG and 203 shots on 26:53 of ice time in 55 contests this season.  He has set a new franchise for points by a defenseman in a single season, surpassing the record 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.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is eight points from 100 for his NHL career (46-46-92, 365 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is eight goals from 200 for his NHL career (192-172-364, 715 GP).
• F Kent Johnson is five points from 100 for his NHL career (39-56-95 in 172 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 (76-198-274, 670 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (254 in 541 GP) is five assists from surpassing Rick Nash (258 in 675 GP) for the most in franchise history.

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) (56 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (53 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (35 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (15 Games)
• RW Kirill Marchenko (broken jaw); (3 Games)
• D Dante Fabbro (upper body) (3 Games)
• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 241

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS