By Joe Coopersmith

MAR. 11, 2025 II PRUDENTIAL CENTER II AT NEW JERSEY DEVILS

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)

Devils to Watch

• LW Jesper Bratt leads the Devils in assists and points (tied) and ranks sixth in the NHL in assists and 14^th-T in points with 17-53-70 in 65 outings.
• C Nico Hischier is tied for the team lead in power play goals and ranks second and third in points with 26-23-49 and 10 PPG in 59 contests.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 29-19-4 in 52 all-time games against the Devils, including 12-9-4 on the road.
• The Blue Jackets have collected points in the last two contests at the Prudential Center dating back to November 24, 2023 (1-0-1) with both games decided by a single goal.
• The Jackets have collected points in three of the past five meetings overall (2-2-1).
• The winning team has recorded four-plus goals in four consecutive meetings and eight of the last 10 since Jan. 8, 2022.
• Three of the past four games in the series have been decided by multiple goals.
• CBJ have killed off 11-of-12 New Jersey power play attempts over the last five meetings (91.6 pct.).

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Dec. 19, 2024 – at CBJ 4, NJD 2
• Mar. 11, 2025 – at New Jersey (7 pm ET)
• Mar. 17, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Devils

• F Zach Aston Reese – 2-7-9 in 22 career GP, including a goal in the first game of the season series.
• RW Yegor Chinakhov – 4-1-5 in 7 career GP, including points in his last three contests against the club (2-1-3) and five of the last six (4-1-5) as well as goal in two of his past three at Prudential Center.
• C Adam Fantilli – 0-2-2 in 5 career GP, recording an assist in his last outing at Prudential Center on Dec. 27, 2023.
• RW Christian Fischer – 3-3-6 in 13 career GP, including points in two of his past three appearances against New Jersey (1-1-2).
• C Boone Jenner – 11-8-19 in 34 career GP, including 4-2-6 in his last nine outings against the club.
• D Ivan Provorov – 5-16-21 in 36 career GP, including a goal in the first meeting of the season series.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 17-19-36 with eight multi-point efforts in 51 career GP, including an assist in his most recent outing at Prudential Center on Dec. 13, 2023.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets earned a 7-3 victory at the NY Rangers on Sunday to improve to 5-2-0 following the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
• Columbus began a stretch of six-of-eight games against Metropolitan Division opponents in Sunday’s win at Madison Square Garden (NYR-2, NJD-2, PIT, NYI).
• The team has collected points in 22 of the last 31 contests overall since Dec. 19 (19-9-3, 41 points).  The Jackets rank third in goals-for per game (3.45), fifth-T in the NHL in points percentage (.661), sixth-T in points, and seventh in wins (tied) over that stretch.
• CBJ have improved their numbers over the past 11 weeks of the season compared to the first 9.5 (Oct. 16-Dec. 18), including goals-for average (3.22 to 3.45), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.94), power play pct. (18.2 to 24.1) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 79.0).  The club sat in eighth place in the division and Wild Card race at 12-15-5 (29 points) on Dec. 18.
• The Jackets, who close out a four-game road trip from Mar. 4-11 on Tuesday, have recorded points in eight of 14 road contests in 2025 (7-6-1).
• Columbus boasts the best goals-for per game average (4.07), while also ranking second in power play pct. (29.4) and sixth in points pct. (.733) this season.
• The club is 20-6-4 at home in 2024-25 (44 points), posting the most points and second-most wins (21, 2016-17) in the first 30 home games of a campaign in franchise history.
• CBJ have earned points in 23 of the past 27 home contests (19-4-4) to lead the NHL in goals-for at home (4.15) and rank second in power play pct. (31.7) and third in points pct. (.778) since Oct. 22.
• The Jackets have allowed three goals or less in 18 of the past 23 contests and rank 11th in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 7 (2.70, 62 goals total).
• The club’s 210 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 63 games of a campaign, surpassing the 206 scored in 2021-22.
• The Blue Jackets are averaging a franchise-best 3.33 goals for per game, which ranks seventh in the NHL.
• Columbus has had 16 of its games decided after regulation (11 in OT), two shy of the league leaders (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Utah).
• CBJ have scored in all three periods in regulation 23 times this season (17 times at home) after scoring in each period at the NY Rangers on Sunday.  Last season, the club scored in all three periods 20 times (10 times at home).
• Columbus’ 12 games with six or more goals are tied with Winnipeg for most in the league this season and now the most in a single season in Blue Jackets history (11, 2018-19).
• The club’s 151 goals scored during 5-on-5 play are tied with Washington for most in the league in 2024-25.
• The team has scored first in 38 (24-9-5) of the first 63 contests this season.  CBJ lead the NHL in games scoring first and percentage of games scoring first (60.3 pct.).
• Columbus ranks fifth-T in the league with eight shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ ranks sixth-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (63), sixth in second period goals (73) and 11th in third period goals scored (70) in 2024-25.
• The Jackets play their 14th (5-7-1) of 17 Tuesday games when they visit the Devils.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• Five Blue Jackets have reached the 20-goal plateau in 2024-25 (RW Kirill Marchenko – 24, C Adam Fantilli – 21, F Kent Johnson – 21, F Dmitri Voronkov – 20, and D Zach Werenski – 20), which is tied for the most in a season in franchise history (2018-19).
• CBJ lead the league in goals and goal percentage and ranks third in points, fourth in points percentage and fifth-T in assists with 43-116-159, 20.5 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.2 pct. of the team’s points in 63 contests.
• C Adam Fantilli notched his second hat trick of the season and career at the NY Rangers on Sunday (3-0-3) to become the fifth player in club history to record multiple hat tricks in a season.  He has recorded points in 12 of the past 16 contests (10-8-18).  He ranks eighth-T in the NHL in goals since Jan. 4 with 14-11-25 in 24 contests.  The 20-year-old leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists (tied) and points as well as leads CBJ forwards in TOI and has collected points in 19 of 25 contests since Jan. 1 (14-12-26, 19:28).  He has already set single-season career highs with 21-20-41 in 63 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner collected an assist on Sunday and has picked up assists in five of his seven contests this season (0-8-8).  He became the second Blue Jacket to record assists in his first four games of a campaign (Nick Foligno; 6 GP from Oct. 9-23, 2014) after posting 0-7-7 in four contests from Feb. 22-Mar. 1.
• F Kent Johnson notched a goal on Sunday and has collected points in seven of the past eight outings (5-4-9).  He has also registered points in 15 of the past 17 contests (9-9-18), 16 of the past 19 contests (10-10-20) and 19 of the last 24 games (11-12-23).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 35 of his 49 games this season (21-23-44) and has set a single-season career high in goals and points.  He ranks second in the NHL in goals/60 minutes (min. 20 GP; 1.57), trailing only Tage Thompson (1.83).
• RW Kirill Marchenko, who collected an assist on Sunday, has recorded points in 10 of his last 14 games (6-6-12), 16 of his past 21 contests (8-11-19), 24 of the last 31 games (14-20-34) and 27 of the past 35 (14-23-37).  The forward, who ranks fourth in the NHL in plus/minus rating, leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists, points, multi-assist and multi-point efforts in 2024-25 with 24-37-61, +33, nine multi-assist and 15 multi-point outings in 60 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in goals, 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 registered points in four of the past six contests (3-2-5) after collecting 1-1-2 in Sunday’s victory.  He has already set single-season career highs and ranks second in the NHL in hits and penalty minutes with 13-10-23, 118 PIM and 234 hits in 63 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals and 80 penalty minutes in 2024-25.
• D Ivan Provorov has totaled 4-3-7 with two multi-point efforts in the past 11 contests.
• LW James van Riemsdyk has recorded points in four of the past six contests (3-2-5) and 11 of the past 16 contests (6-7-13) after picking up an assist on Sunday.  He has also registered 10-11-21 and five multi-point outings in the last 25 contests and leads the NHL in points/60 minutes during 5v5 play since Jan. 1 (min. 10 GP, 3.70; 8-10-18).
• F Dmitri Voronkov picked up his 12^th multi-point effort of the campaign with two assists on Sunday.  He has registered 19-22-41 with 12 multi-point efforts and is +24 in his last 48 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.
• D Zach Werenski has posted multiple points in three of the four games in March (2-4-6) and four of his past seven contests (3-6-9) after registering two assists on Sunday.  He has also notched points in 18 of his last 25 contests overall (9-20-29).  He set a single-season club record for assists by a defenseman and with his first assist of the game passed Rick Nash (258) for first place on the franchise’s all-time assists list.  He is the third active defenseman to lead a franchise in assists (among franchises with a minimum of five seasons), joining Roman Josi (NSH) and Shea Theodore (VGK).
• 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 and shots on goal and ranks second in goals, assists, points and power play goals (tied) with 20-48-68, 14-30-44 at even strength, five PPG and 220 shots on 26:54 of ice time in 63 contests this season.  He has already set single-season franchise records for goals (tied; Werenski, 20 in 2019-20), assists (Werenski, 46 in 2023-24) and points (Jones, 57 in 2017-18; Werenski, 57 in 2023-24) by a defenseman.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is six points from 100 for his NHL career (46-48-94, 372 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is eight goals from 200 for his NHL career (192-180-372, 722 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is three games from 200 for his NHL career (68-60-128, 197 GP).
• G Elvis Merzlikins is 10 wins from 100 for his NHL career (90-95-34, 233 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (60 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (22 Games)
• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (7 Games)
• C Cole Sillinger (upper body); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 27 (4 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 270

COURTESY CBJ COMMUNICATIONS