By Joe Coopersmith

APRIL 17, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS NEW YORK ISLANDERS

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)

Islanders to Watch

• D Noah Dobson is tied for the Islanders lead in assists and leads club blueliners in goals, assists and points with 10-29-39 in 70 contests this season and has totaled 1-7-8 in 15 career contests against the Blue Jackets.
• C Bo Horvat, who has posted points in four of his last six games (3-2-5), leads the Islanders in assists (tied) and points and ranks second in goals with 28-29-57 in 80 outings in 2024-25 and has totaled 12-10-22 in 22 career appearances against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

• Columbus is 26-22-8 in 56 all-time games against the Islanders, including 17-7-5 at home.
• The winning team won by multiple goals in five-straight meetings prior to the Blue Jackets’ 4-3 SO win at the NY Islanders on Mar. 24.
• The winning team has earned 2-0 shutout victories in two of the past three meetings at Nationwide Arena.
• The Jackets have scored a power play goal in two of the last three games they’ve been awarded a PP opportunity (did not have an attempt on Oct. 30, 2024), converting on 2-of-6 chances (33.3 pct.).  The club is also 9-of-26 on the advantage in the past 11 home  contests when awarded an attempt (34.6 pct.).
• The Islanders have recorded all three hat tricks in the all-time series, while neither team has been awarded a penalty shot.

This Season (CBJ, 2-1-0)

• Oct. 30, 2024 – at CBJ 2, NYI 0
• Jan. 20, 2025 – at NYI 3, CBJ 1
• Mar. 24, 2025 – CBJ 4 at NYI 3 (SO)
• Apr. 17, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Islanders

• C Adam Fantilli – 3-1-4 in 5 career GP, including a goal in the most recent meeting on Mar. 24.
• C Boone Jenner – 7-8-15 in 31 career GP, including 2-1-3 in his past four contests against the Islanders after scoring a goal in the Mar. 24 contest.
• F Kent Johnson – 3-3-6 in 7 career GP, including points in two of his last three contests against the club (1-2-3) as well as 2-1-3 in three career home games.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-2-4 in 7 career GP, with points in two-straight (1-1-2) and three of his past four against NY after notching a goal on Mar. 24.
• C Sean Monahan – 6-10-16 in 19 career GP, including 2-5-7 with three multi-point efforts in his past five appearances against New York.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 13-27-40 in 57 career GP, including 1-4-5 in his last five of six contests overall and 1-7-8 in his past nine outings at home.
• D Zach Werenski – 2-11-13 in 23 career GP, including 2-4-6 in his 11 career home appearances.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• CBJ stretched their win streak to five-straight games with a 3-0 victory at Philadelphia on Tuesday.  It’s the second longest win streak of the campaign, trailing a six-game win streak from January 4-16.
• The club has outscored the opposition 22 (4.40) to five (1.00), while converting on 3-of-10 (30.0 pct.) on the power play and 11-of-12 (91.7 pct.) on the penalty kill during the streak.
• The team has improved its season totals by 12 wins and 21 points compared to 2023-24 (27-43-12, 66 pts.), posting the largest positive change in the NHL in wins and points from the past campaign.
• The club has scored 261 goals in 2024-25 to set a new single-season franchise record for most goals scored in a season (258, 2021-22).
• The Blue Jackets are averaging 3.22 goals for per game, which is the highest average in a single season in franchise history (3.15, 2021-22), and ranks ninth in the NHL in 2024-25.
• The club is 25-10-5 (55 points) at home in 2024-25 and is two points shy from tying the single-season franchise record for most regular season points at home (28-12-1, 57 pts in 2016-17).
• CBJ have set a single-season franchise record for most goals scored at home with 155 goals.  The club ranks second in the NHL in goals-for per game average (3.88) and goals scored (tied), seventh in power play pct. (26.6) and eighth-T in points pct. at home this season (.688).
• Columbus has had 19 of its games decided after regulation (12 in OT), tied for ninth-most games in the NHL.  The club leads the league in wins in the shootout (6, tied) and ranks second-T in shootout contests (7).
• Columbus’s 15 games with six or more goals are the most in the league this season (Tampa Bay and Washington, 13) and have set a new club record for a single season (11, 2018-19).
• The club’s 195 goals scored during 5-on-5 play are the most in the league in 2024-25 (Washington, 189) and the most in a single season in club history (187, 2018-19).
• 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 seventh-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (76), fourth in second period goals (94) and 14th-T in third period goals scored (87) in 2024-25.
• The team ranks ninth in the NHL in blocked shots blocked shots/60 minutes (16.00) and 10^th in blocked shots (1,312).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• Five Blue Jackets have reached the 20-goal plateau in 2024-25 (RW Kirill Marchenko – 31, F Adam Fantilli – 30, C Kent Johnson – 24, F Dmitri Voronkov – 22, and D Zach Werenski – 22), which is tied for the most in a season in franchise history (2018-19).
• CBJ also have five 50-point scorers in 2024-25 with D Zach Werenski (80 in 80 GP), RW Kirill Marchenko (73 in 78 GP), F Kent Johnson (57 in 67 GP), F Sean Monahan (56 in 53 GP) and C Adam Fantilli (53 in 81 GP), which is tied for the most in a season in franchise history (2009-10, 2016-17).
• The Jackets have two 30-goal scorers in a campaign (Marchenko – 31, Fantilli – 30) for the second time in club history (2015-16; Saad – 31, Jenner – 30).
• Columbus ranks second in the NHL in goals and goal percentage (tied), fourth in points and points percentage, and fifth in assists with 49-149-198, 18.8 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.4 pct. of the team’s points in 81 contests.  The 49 goals are the second-most by CBJ blueliners in a single season, trailing only the 51 goals recorded in 2017-18.
• D Dante Fabbro posted the game-winning goal on Tuesday and has collected 3-6-9 with two multi-point efforts in his past 11 outings.  He leads the club in blocked shots (131) and ranks second among CBJ blueliners in goals. He has set single-season career highs in goals and points  and has reached the 20-point plateau (8-17-25, 67 GP) for the second time in his career (3-21-24, 66 GP in 2021-22).
• C Adam Fantilli stretched his goal streak to three-straight games (5-0-5) with a third period tally on Tuesday.  He is tied with David Pastrnak for the NHL lead in goals in the month of April with 8-1-9 in nine contests.  He also ranks eighth-T in the league in goals, leads the club in goals and ranks second in points and fourth-T in assists since Jan. 1 with 23-15-38 in 43 contests.  The 20-year-old leads the club in multi-goal games and ranks second in goals, while setting career highs with 30-23-53 in 81 appearances in 2024-25.
• G Jet Greaves, who was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week on Monday (3-0-0, .968 SV%) earned his second shutout in the past three contests after turning aside all 29 shots faced in the victory on Tuesday.  He is 4-0-0 with a 0.75 GAA, .976 SV% and two shutouts since being added to the roster on emergency recall on Apr. 10.
• C Boone Jenner has totaled 7-12-19 in 25 contests since making his season debut on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago.  He sits one goal shy (199) from becoming the third player with 200 career goals as a Blue Jacket (Rick Nash-289, Cam Atkinson-213).
• F Kent Johnson stretched his points streak to five consecutive outings (2-5-7) with a power play goal on Tuesday.  He has recorded 2-9-11 in the past nine outings, 8-14-22 in the past 26 games and 14-22-36 in the past 42 contests.  The 22-year-old has set single-season career highs with 24-33-57 in 67 appearances in 2024-25.
• RW Kirill Marchenko, who has assists in three of the last four games (0-3-3), has tallied 6-5-11 in the past 12 contests as well as 21-28-49 in the last 52.  The forward leads the club in goals and plus/minus rating and ranks second in assists, points and multi-point efforts in 2024-25 with 32-41-77, +28, nine multi-assist and 17 multi-point outings in 78 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in goals, assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24).  The 24-year-old is also the third Blue Jacket to record a 30-goal, 70-point campaign (Rick Nash in 2008-09, Nick Foligno in 2014-15).
• D Denton Mateychuk ranks second-T among NHL rookie blueliners in goals, assists and points with 4-9-13 in 44 contests in 2024-25.
• C Sean Monahan, who was announced as the Columbus PWHA as the chapter’s nominee for the Masterton Memorial Trophy on April 9, has recorded points in five-straight (2-5-7) after collecting two assists on Tuesday.  He has registered 5-10-15 in 12 contests since returning from a wrist injury on Mar. 24 at the NY Islanders.  He has also registered 10-21-31 with nine multi-point efforts in his past 21 games dating back to Dec. 19.   He has tallied 19-37-56 in 53 contests this season, posting the second-most assists in his career (48, 2018-19).
• RW Mathieu Olivier has recorded 1-2-3 in the last five outings and 8-6-14 in the past 24 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 18-14-32, 139 PIM and 305 hits in 81 games.
• LW James van Riemsdyk has collected points in three of his past four games (2-3-5), including his second three-point outing of the campaign on Saturday (1-2-3).  He has totaled 12-14-26 in 39 games since Jan. 1.
• D Zach Werenski has posted points in five-straight games (2-4-6) and has collected 2-9-11 in the past 11 contests and 4-14-18 in the past 22 games after recording two assists on Tuesday.  The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in shots on goal and even strength goals (tied) and ranks second in goals, points, power play goals (tied) and even strength points as well as fourth in assists with 22-58-80, 16-36-52 at even strength, five PPG, 14 multi-assist games, 21 multi-point efforts and 295 shots on 26:47 of ice time in 80 contests this season.  He has already set single-season franchise records for goals (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 assists (2nd), multi-assists games (2nd, tied), multi-point games (3rd), points (3rd) and shots on goal (4th, tied).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is three points from 100 for his NHL career (48-49-97, 389 GP).
• D Dante Fabbro is three points from 100 for his NHL career (24-73-97, 376 GP).
• F Boone Jenner is one goal from 200 for his NHL career (199-184-383, 740 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Kevin Labanc (shoulder); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 21 (25 Games)
• G Elvis Merzlikins (upper body) (4 Games)
• D Jake Christiansen (upper body) (3 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 321

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS