By Joe Coopersmith

APRIL 1, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. NASHVILLE PREDATORS

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)

Predators to Watch

• LW Filip Forsberg has registered points in six of his last seven contests (3-5-8) and leads the Predators in goals, assists, and points with 28-39-67 in 73 contests in 2024-25.  He has also collected 14-9-23 in 27 career games against the Blue Jackets with points in three of his last four vs. the club (2-1-3).
• C Steven Stamkos, who has notched 23-22-45 in 73 contests in 2024-25, leads the Predators in power play goals (12) and game winning goals (6), while ranking 10^th-T in the league in PPG.  He has recorded 20-20-40 in 34 career games against the Blue Jackets with nine points in his last five against the team (5-4-9).

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 31-57-14 in 102 all-time meetings vs. Nashville, including 22-21-6 at home.
• The home team is 15-3-1 in the last 19 games of the series since Apr. 7, 2018.
• The Jackets have posted points in six of the past eight meetings at Nationwide Arena (5-2-1).
• The Predators have won four consecutive in the series (CBJ; 0-3-1), including the 4-3 OT win at Bridgestone Arena in the first game of the 2024-25 series.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals (including SO goals) in seven of the past nine meetings of the series.
• Four of the past six games of the series have been decided by a single goal dating back to Dec. 30, 2021.
• Columbus has recorded five shutouts in the all-time series with Elvis Merzlikins recording the last team shutout after making 32 saves in a 3-0 win at Nationwide Arena on Feb. 18, 2021.
• The Blue Jackets have notched three of the six hat tricks (MR CBJ: Emil Bemstrom on May 3, 2021 at CBJ) and four of five penalty shot attempts (MR CBJ: Cam Atkinson, unsuccessful attempt on Mar. 30, 2019 at Nashville).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-1)

• Oct. 26, 2024 – at NSH 4, CBJ 3 (OT)
• Apr. 1, 2025 – at Columbus (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Predators

• C Justin Danforth – 1-3-4 in 5 career GP, recording his points over the past 3 meetings.
• C Boone Jenner – 9-3-12 in 23 career GP, including 4-1-5 with two multi-point efforts in his past six contests at Nationwide Arena.
• C Sean Monahan – 5-15-20 in 26 career GP, including four career multi-assist and eight career multi-point outings.
• D Damon Severson – 1-5-6 in 17 career GP, including 1-3-4 in his past seven home appearances.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 11-4-15 in 20 career GP, including 7-1-8 in his past six home outings.
• D Zach Werenski – 3-5-8 in 16 career GP, including a goal in his most recent contest against the club on Oct. 26.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets earned wins in two of their three games last week, picking up shootout victories over the NY Islanders on Mar. 24 (4-3) and Vancouver on Mar. 28 (7-6) before falling 3-2 at Ottawa on Mar. 29.
• Five of the club’s last six games have been decided by a single goal.
• The team has collected points in 25 of the last 40 contests overall since Dec. 19 (21-15-4, 46 points).
• The Jackets are tied for the NHL lead with two three-goal and eight third period comeback victories in 2024-25.
• Six of the club’s 10 remaining contests are against teams currently in a playoff position (Colorado, Toronto, Ottawa-2, Washington-2).
• The club is 21-9-5 at home in 2024-25 (47 points), posting the second-most points and fourth-most wins in the first 35 home games of a campaign in franchise history (25-9-1, 51 pts in 2016-17).
• CBJ rank fifth in the NHL in goals-for per game average (3.69), seventh in goals scored (129), eighth in power play pct. (25.9) and 10th in points pct. at home this season (.671).
• The club’s 228 goals (not including SO goals) are tied for the most through the first 72 games of a campaign (2016-17).
• The Blue Jackets are averaging 3.17 goals for per game, which is the highest average in a single season in franchise history (3.15, 2021-22), and ranks 11th in the NHL in 2024-25.
• Columbus has had 19 of its games decided after regulation (12 in OT), tied for sixth-most games in the NHL.  The club leads the league in wins in the shootout (6) and ranks second-T in shootout contests (7).
• Columbus’s 13 games with six or more goals are tied with Washington for the most in the league this season and have set a new club record for a single season (11, 2018-19).
• The club’s 167 goals scored during 5-on-5 play are the second-most in the league in 2024-25, trailing only Washington (181).
• Columbus ranks fifth-T in the league with nine shorthanded goals in 2024-25.  The nine shorthanded tallies are tied for the fourth-most in a season in club history, trailing 2002-03 (12), 2005-06 (10) and 2016-17 (10).
• CBJ ranks 14th in the NHL in first period goals scored (65), seventh in second period goals (81) and 11th in third period goals scored (78) in 2024-25.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• Five Blue Jackets have reached the 20-goal plateau in 2024-25 (RW Kirill Marchenko – 28, F Kent Johnson – 22, C Adam Fantilli – 22, 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 (tied with Colorado), goal percentage and points percentage and rank fifth in points and ninth in assists with 45-131-176, 19.7 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.6 pct. of the team’s points in 72 contests.  The 45 goals are the second-most by CBJ blueliners in a single season, trailing only the 51 goals recorded in 2017-18.
• D Dante Fabbro registered his second career three-point game with 1-2-3 in Friday’s win over the Canucks and has collected assists in his past two outings (1-3-4).  He has already set a single-season career high in goals and has reached the 20-point plateau (6-14-20, 52 GP) for the second time in his career (3-21-24, 66 GP in 2021-22).
• C Adam Fantilli leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists and points since Jan. 1 with 15-14-29 in 34 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs with 22-22-44 in 72 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner has recorded goals in four consecutive contests (5-1-6), tying the longest goals streak of his career (3x, MR: 4-1-5 from Mar. 12-19, 2018).  He has totaled 5-10-15 in 16 contests since making his season debut on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago.
• F Kent Johnson has recorded 6-5-11 in the past 17 outings and 12-13-25 in the past 33 contests.  The 22-year-old has set a single-season career high in goals, assists (tied) and points with 22-24-46 in 58 outings.  He ranks third in the NHL in goals/60 minutes (min. 20 GP; 1.39), trailing only Buffalo’s Tage Thompson (1.84) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (1.59).
• RW Kirill Marchenko has notched goals in three-straight games (3-1-4) to tie his career-long goal streak (4x).  He has collected 12-12-24 in his past 30 contests and 18-24-42 in the last 44. The forward leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists, points, multi-assist and multi-point efforts in 2024-25 with 29-38-66, +25, nine multi-assist and 16 multi-point outings in 69 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.
• D Denton Mateychuk has collected assists in two-straight games (1-2-3) and has picked up assists in three of his past four contests (1-3-4).
• C Sean Monahan has collected assists in two of his first three games (0-3-3) since returning from a wrist injury on Mar. 24 at the NY Islanders.  He has registered 5-14-19 with six multi-point efforts in his past 12 contests played.  He leads the NHL in assists per 60 minutes and points per 60 minutes at 5v5 play in 2024-25 (2.06/2.95, 9-21-30 in 44 GP) and has totaled 14-30-44 in 44 appearances.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has recorded 7-4-11 in the past 15 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs and ranks second in the NHL in penalty minutes and fourth in hits and set a single-season franchise record in hits with 17-12-29, 125 PIM and 274 hits in 72 games.  He is also one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals and 90 penalty minutes in 2024-25.
• D Zach Werenski has collected assists in back-to-back games (0-3-3) and posted 2-8-10 in 13 contests in March after recording helpers on both Blue Jackets goals at Ottawa.  The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength points (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second in goals (tied), points, even strength goals (tied) and power play goals (tied) and fourth in assists with 20-52-72, 14-33-47 at even strength, five PPG, 12 multi-assist games, 19 multi-point efforts and 261 shots on 27:10 of ice time in 71 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 and has registered top-10 Blue Jackets single season campaigns in multi-point games (4th, tied), assists (5th, tied), multi-assists games (5th, tied) and points (7th).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is five points from 100 for his NHL career (46-49-95, 381 GP).
• D Erik Gudbranson is five games from 800 for his NHL career (34-100-134, 795 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is three goals from 200 for his NHL career (197-181-379, 731 GP).
• G Elvis Merzlikins is eight wins from 100 for his NHL career (92-98-35, 239 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is eight games from 200 for his CBJ career (27-29-56, 192 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (15 Games)
• D Dante Fabbro (unspecified) (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 304

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS