By Joe Coopersmith

APRIL 10, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. BUFFALO SABRES

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)

Sabres to Watch

• D Rasmus Dahlin, who has recorded 2-3-5 in the past four contests, leads the team in assists and ranks third-T in points with 15-47-62 in 68 games played this season and has notched 3-13-16 in 15 career games against Columbus.
• C Tage Thompson has recorded goals in five consecutive contests since Mar. 30 (8-0-8) and leads the team in goals and points with 44-27-71 in 71 contests in 2024-25 and has posted 11-6-17 in 12 career appearances vs. CBJ.

All-Time Series

• The Blue Jackets have gone 26-16-4 in 46 all-time games against the Sabres, including 12-8-1 at home.
• CBJ have recorded points in 17 of the last 24 meetings in the series since Apr. 8, 2016 (14-7-3).
• Columbus has won seven of the last 11 games played at Nationwide Arena.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in 13 of the last 17 games of the series, including a 6-4 CBJ win in the 2024-25 series opener on Oct. 17.
• The teams have combined for seven or more goals in nine of the last 12 meetings overall since Feb. 13, 2020 as well as seven of the past eight at Nationwide Arena dating back to Oct. 27, 2018.
• The Jackets have recorded power play goals in four of the past seven outings of the series (4-of-12; 33.3 pct.).
• Each club has recorded three shutouts in the all-time series with CBJ’s Sergei Bobrovsky registering the most recent one with 38 saves in a 4-0 win at Buffalo on Mar. 31, 2019.

This Season (CBJ, 1-1-0)

• Oct. 17, 2024 – at CBJ 6, BUF 4
• Feb. 4, 2025 – at BUF 3, CBJ 2
• Apr. 10, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Sabres

• RW Yegor Chinakhov – 1-5-6 in 8 career GP, including points in three of his career four home contests (1-2-3).
• C Adam Fantilli – 3-1-4 in 4 career GP, notching goals in three of his four career games against Buffalo overall and his lone home contest (Oct. 17, 2024).
• F Boone Jenner – 6-7-13 in 23 career GP, including points in six of his past seven contests against the club (3-6-9, 3 multi-point efforts).
• F Kent Johnson – 3-2-5 in 8 career GP, including points in each of the games of the 2024-25 series (1-1-2).
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 4-2-6 in 7 career GP, recording assists in his past two outings (1-2-3) and points in three of his past four overall (4-2-6).
• C Sean Monahan – 9-13-22 in 23 career GP, including points in four of his past six contests (2-2-4).
• RW Mathieu Olivier – 1-1-2 in 5 career GP, recording his points in the first meeting of the 2024-25 season series on Oct. 17.
• D Ivan Provorov – 6-14-20 in 30 career GP, including assists in three-straight games overall (1-3-4) and five of his past seven against the club (1-6-7) as well as assists in his past two home games (0-2-2) and four of his last five (0-4-4).
• D Damon Severson – 3-13-16 in 33 career GP, including points in five of his past six outings against Buffalo (2-4-6) and five of his past seven home contests (2-3-5).
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 20-11-31 with 7 multi-point efforts in 55 career GP, recording an assist in the most recent outing on Feb. 4.
• F Dmitri Voronkov – 1-1-2 in 4 career GP, including a goal in his lone career home appearance.
• D Zach Werenski – 1-13-14 in 18 career GP, including points in 10 of his last 13 games overall against the team (1-11-12) after collecting two assists on Oct. 17 as well as points in four of his past six home outings (1-4-5).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• CBJ play their second of a three-game homestand against Buffalo on Thursday after a 5-2 win over Ottawa on Tuesday.  The club finishes up the homestand on Saturday against Washington.
• Two of the club’s five remaining contests are against teams currently in a playoff position, with a home-and-home set vs. the Capitals (Apr. 12-13).
• The club’s 244 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 77 games of a campaign in franchise history, surpassing the 243 recorded in 2021-22.
• 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 10^th-T in the NHL in 2024-25.
• The club is 23-10-5 at home in 2024-25 (51 points), posting the third-most points and fourth-most wins in the first 38 home games of a campaign in franchise history (26-10-1, 53 pts in 2016-17).
• With the win on Tuesday, Columbus reached the 50-point mark on home ice for the fifth time in club history (57, 2016-17; 55, 2017-18; 53, 2008-09; 50, 2005-06).
• CBJ rank second in the NHL in goals-for per game average (3.82), third in goals scored (145), eighth in power play pct. (26.4) and 11th in points pct. at home this season (.671).
• The Blue Jackets have had beyond capacity crowds in eight of the past 13 games played at Nationwide Arena since Jan. 25 (17,727 avg.) and have had 13 sellouts in 2024-25.  The club is on pace to average over 17,000 per home game at Nationwide Arena in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2002-04.
• The Jackets are tied for the NHL lead with two three-goal and rank second-T with eight third period comeback victories 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 14 games with six or more goals are the most in the league this season (Washington, 13) and have set a new club record for a single season (11, 2018-19).
• The club’s 180 goals scored during 5-on-5 play are the second-most in the league in 2024-25, trailing only Washington (185).
• 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 10^th-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (71), fifth-T in second period goals (88) and 14^th-T in third period goals scored (81) in 2024-25.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• Five Blue Jackets have reached the 20-goal plateau in 2024-25 (RW Kirill Marchenko – 31, F Adam Fantilli – 25, C Kent Johnson – 22, F Dmitri Voronkov – 21, and D Zach Werenski – 20), which is tied for the most in a season in franchise history (2018-19).
• CBJ have four 50-point scorers in 2024-25 with D Zach Werenski (75 in 76 GP), RW Kirill Marchenko (70 in 74 GP), F Kent Johnson (52 in 63 GP) and F Sean Monahan (50 in 49 GP), which is tied for the third-most in a season in franchise history (2021-22).  The Jackets had a franchise-high five 50-point scorers in the 2009-10 and 2016-17 campaigns.
• Columbus ranks second in the NHL in goals and goal percentage (tied), third-T in points percentage, fifth in points and sixth in assists with 46-141-187, 18.9 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.5 pct. of the team’s points in 77 contests.  The 46 goals are the second-most by CBJ blueliners in a single season, trailing only the 51 goals recorded in 2017-18.
• D Dante Fabbro has collected 2-5-7 with two multi-point efforts in his past seven outings.  He has already set a single-season career high in goals and has reached the 20-point plateau (7-16-23, 63 GP) for the second time in his career (3-21-24, 66 GP in 2021-22).
• C Adam Fantilli notched a goal in Tuesday’s win and has posted 4-2-6 in the last eight contests.  He leads the club in goals and ranks second in points and third in assists since Jan. 1 with 18-15-33 in 39 contests.  The 20-year-old has already set single-season career highs with 25-23-48 in 77 appearances in 2024-25.
• C Boone Jenner has totaled 6-12-18 in 21 contests since making his season debut on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago and is two goals shy (198) from becoming the third player with 200 career goals as a Blue Jacket (Rick Nash-289, Cam Atkinson-213). He leads the NHL in assists per 60 minutes (2.10) and ranks second-T in points per 60 minutes (2.93) at 5v5 play in 2024-25 (min. 20 GP; 4-10-14 in 21 GP).
• F Kent Johnson registered his 11^th multi-point effort of the campaign with two assists on Tuesday.  He has recorded  0-6-6 in the past five outings, 6-11-17 in the past 22 games and 12-19-31 in the past 38 contests.  The 22-year-old has set single-season career highs with 22-30-52 in 63 appearances in 2024-25.
• RW Kirill Marchenko has tallied 6-2-8 in the past eight contests as well as 21-25-46 in the last 48.  The forward leads the club in goals and plus/minus rating and ranks second in assists, points, multi-assist and multi-point efforts in 2024-25 with 31-39-70, +24, nine multi-assist and 16 multi-point outings in 74 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in goals, assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24) and is the first Jacket to record 30-goals in a campaign since Cam Atkinson in 2018-19 (41).  The 24-year-old is the third Blue Jacket to record a 30-goal, 70-point campaign (Rick Nash in 2008-09, Nick Foligno in 2014-15).
• C Sean Monahan , who was announced as the Columbus PWHA as the chapter’s nominee for the Masterton Trophy on Wednesday, tallied a power play goal on Tuesday and has collected 4-5-9 in his first eight contests since returning from a wrist injury on Mar. 24 at the NY Islanders.  He has registered 9-16-25 with seven multi-point efforts in his past 17 games played dating back to Dec. 19.  He ranks second the NHL in assists per 60 minutes and points per 60 minutes (tied) at 5v5 play in 2024-25 (min. 20 GP) (2.04/2.93, 10-23-33 in 49 GP). With his goal on Tuesday, he reached his second-straight – and  seventh of his career – 50-point campaign (18-32-50 in 49 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier recorded his sixth multi-point effort of the campaign with 1-1-2 on Tuesday and has registered 8-5-13 in the past 20 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs and ranks second in the NHL in penalty minutes and hits and set a single-season franchise record in hits with 18-13-31, 134 PIM and 294 hits in 77 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 picked up an assist on Tuesday has collected 0-6-6 in the past seven contests and 2-11-13 in the past 18 games.  The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in shots on goal and ranks second in goals (tied), points, power play goals (tied) and even strength points as well as fourth in assists and even strength goals with 20-55-75, 14-34-48 at even strength, five PPG, 13 multi-assist games, 20 multi-point efforts and 285 shots on 26:58 of ice time in 76 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), points (Jones, 57 in 2017-18; Werenski, 57 in 2023-24) and shots on goal (Jones, 249 in 2017-18) by a defenseman.  He has also registered top-10 Blue Jackets single season campaigns in multi-point games (3rd, tied), multi-assists games (3rd, tied), assists (3rd, tied), points (5th) and shots on goal (6th).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is four points from 100 for his NHL career (47-49-96, 385 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is two goals from 200 for his NHL career (198-184-382, 736 GP).
• G Elvis Merzlikins is six wins from 100 for his NHL career (94-100-35, 244 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is three games from 200 for his CBJ career (28-30-57, 197 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (21 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 310

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS