Scratches:\u00a0Danton Heinen,\u00a0Mason\u00a0Marchment (lower body), Jake Christiansen,\u00a0Dante Fabbro (lower body)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Injured Reserve: D Brendan Smith (knee surgery, out three to four months as of Jan. 8)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roster Report: The Blue Jackets added Garland in a trade Friday and he is expected to make his CBJ debut, while Werenski skated Friday and could return after missing three games.\u00a0Marchment\u00a0and Fabbro were also described as day-to-day by general manger Don Waddell on Friday and could return, but we’ll see how the team lines up at its morning skate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This Day in CBJ History<\/p>\n
March 7, 2007: David Vyborny scores a power-play goal in overtime and the Blue Jackets down Los Angeles by a 3-2 score in Nationwide Arena.\u00a0Vyborny finishes with two goals and an assist, while Geoff Platt also scores.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 7, 2009: Rick Nash becomes the first player since Montreal\u2019s Maurice \u201cRocket\u201d Richard in 1947-48 to record an unassisted hat trick as the Jackets set a franchise record for goals in a game in an 8-2 win at Detroit.\u00a0R.J. Umberger\u00a0adds\u00a0two goals and an assist while Jason Williams, Andrew\u00a0Murray\u00a0and Raffi Torres also score.\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 7, 2013: The Blue Jackets win their third game in a row \u2013 all in an overtime or shootout \u2013 as Matt Calvert tallies 4:03 into the extra frame to give Columbus a 2-1 home win vs. Vancouver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 7, 2017: Sergei Bobrovsky becomes the second CBJ goalie, joining Steve Mason, to record three straight shutouts when he stops all 33 shots in a\u00a02-0\u00a0win vs. New Jersey at Nationwide Arena.\u00a0Columbus shuts out the Devils for the second time in three days, with Oliver\u00a0Bjorkstrand\u00a0and Cam Atkinson scoring in the third period, as the Blue Jackets\u00a0improve\u00a0to 42-17-6.\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 7, 2022:\u00a0Zach Werenski becomes the franchise’s all-time leader in points by a defenseman (224) with an assist vs. Toronto, surpassing Seth Jones (223). Oliver\u00a0Bjorkstrand\u00a0scores his 20th\u00a0goal of the season in a 5-4 loss to the Maple\u00a0Leafs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 7, 2025: A quiet trade deadline passes for the Blue Jackets, who make\u00a0just\u00a0one deal,\u00a0acquiring\u00a0forward Luke Kunin from San Jose for a fourth-round draft pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Numbers Game<\/p>\n
Denton Mateychuk is set to play in his 100th career game. … Despite missing the last three\u00a0games, Zach Werenski is the only NHL defenseman with at least 20 goals (20) and 60 points (65) on the season, tying for second among league blueliners in goals and placing third in points Werenski has a career-best nine-game point streak (2-11-13), and points in 22 of his last 24 games (11-24-35) as well as 33 of his last 38 (16-38-54). He leads NHL defensemen in multipoint games (21, tied for 10th overall in NHL) and is the fourth active NHL defenseman with three-plus 20-goal seasons. \u2026 Kirill Marchenko (4-7-11) has points in eight of the last nine games. … Charlie Coyle has 10 goals and 22 points in the past 17 games as well as a 6-11-17 line in the last 11 contests, tying him for sixth in the NHL in points in that span. … Adam Fantilli saw a four-game goal streak snapped Thursday but has posted a 5-7-12 line in the last 11 games. … Mathieu Olivier had his third two-goal game of the season Thursday and has seven goals in the last 10 games. He is set to play in his 299th career NHL game tonight. … Ivan Provorov tied a career high with three points (one goal, two assists) Thursday. … Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 45 goals this season, the most in the NHL. \u2026 Columbus has scored the first goal in 24 of the last 30 contests and lead the league by scoring first in 39 of 61 games overall. … The Blue Jackets are 5-1 in shootouts this year. … Miles Wood and Danton Heinen are each one goal away from 100 in their NHL careers, while Marchenko is three away. … Boone Jenner has 203 career assists, one behind David Vyborny for third most in team history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Know The Foe: Utah Mammoth<\/p>\n
Head coach: Andr\u00e9 Tourigny (Fifth season)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.16\u00a0(14th) | Scoring defense: 2.73\u00a0(4th) | PP: 17.2\u00a0percent (25th) | PK:\u00a078.0\u00a0percent (21st)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The narrative: Now in their second year in Utah, the Mammoth\u00a0have\u00a0just one playoff appearance in the past 13 seasons dating back to their time in Arizona. After increasing their point total in each of the past three seasons, Utah\u00a0is on the brink of returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, holding a wild card spot and a six-point lead on its closest competitors. With a strong young core, the energy around the franchise in Utah is strong given the investment by owner Ryan Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scoring leaders:\u00a0Clayton Keller has become one of the most underrated scorers in the league, averaging 84 points the past three seasons, and the U.S.\u00a0gold medalist\u00a0leads the Mammoth with\u00a061 points on 19\u00a0goals and\u00a042\u00a0assists. Nick Schmaltz is right behind with a\u00a024-34-58\u00a0line, while 22-year-old Dylan Guenther has a team-high 28\u00a0goals among his\u00a053\u00a0points. Mikhail Sergachev (10-32-42)\u00a0was out for the last game but\u00a0leads\u00a0the defense, while JJ Peterka has\u00a021\u00a0goals in his first season in Utah.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In net: Karel\u00a0Vejmelka\u00a0has\u00a0established\u00a0himself as the Mammoth\u2019s No. 1, leading the NHL with\u00a048 starts and\u00a029\u00a0wins against 16\u00a0losses and two OT setbacks along with a 2.61\u00a0GAA and .900\u00a0save percentage. Vitek\u00a0Vane\u010d\u011bk\u00a0is the backup and is\u00a04-9-2\u00a0this season.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
What’s\u00a0new:\u00a0The Mammoth have hit another gear since the calendar flipped to 2026, posting a 15-6-1 record and keeping teams to just 2.41 goals per game in that span\u00a0and getting standout play from Keller (28 points, plus-20), Schmaltz (25 points, plus-22) and Guenther (21 points).\u00a0They\u2019ll\u00a0come to Columbus on a two-game winning streak, having won the first two games of a five-game road trip\u00a0at\u00a0Washington and Philadelphia.\u00a0Utah also was an active participant at the trade deadline,\u00a0acquiring\u00a0defenseman MacKenzie Weegar from Calgary.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trending: All three games thus far between the squads since the franchise\u2019s move to Utah have been 3-2 overtime finals won by the road team.\u00a0Columbus did the honor in the first matchup of the season Jan. 11 in Salt Lake City, with Dmitri Voronkov scoring in the extra frame on the power play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former CBJ: The well-traveled Ian Cole is on his ninth team, and his second\u00a0year with\u00a0Utah has yielded a 2-14-16\u00a0line and plus-19\u00a0rating. Kevin Stenlund has played in 61 games this year in a bottom-six role, notching four goals among 13 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scratches:\u00a0Danton Heinen,\u00a0Mason\u00a0Marchment (lower body), Jake Christiansen,\u00a0Dante Fabbro (lower body)\u00a0 Injured Reserve: D Brendan Smith (knee surgery, out three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5,4,51,5290,232,5291,5289],"class_list":{"0":"post-490675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-hockey-club","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-utah","11":"tag-utah-hc","12":"tag-utah-hockey-club","13":"tag-utahhc","14":"tag-utahhockeyclub"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116186441811430623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}