Scratches: Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Jake Christiansen,\u00a0Damon Severson (upper body injury, week to week)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Injured Reserve: D Brendan Smith (knee surgery, out three to four months as of Jan. 8)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roster Report:\u00a0Bowness said Friday that Severson\u00a0will be out for a while with an injury suffered in Thursday night\u2019s game vs. Montreal.\u00a0Merzlikins was the first goalie off Friday and could start this evening, as both\u00a0netminders\u00a0will\u00a0likely see\u00a0action in the back-to-back.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This Day in CBJ History\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 28, 2012:\u00a02011 second-round pick Boone Jenner signs his entry level contract with the Blue Jackets. Jenner would go on to become the team captain and play the most games (797) and seasons (13) in CBJ history through Thursday’s game.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 28, 2013: Cam Atkinson\u00a0scores\u00a010 seconds into a game at Edmonton, tying Rick Nash\u2019s CBJ record for the fastest goal at the start of a game. Columbus would drop a 6-4 final to the Oilers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 28, 2023: Kirill Marchenko notches his 20th\u00a0goal of the season, tallying in a 6-2 loss vs. the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. With the goal, Marchenko ties the CBJ rookie record for goals in a season, set in 2017-18 by Pierre-Luc Dubois.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 28, 2024: The club recognizes longtime play-by-play announcer Jeff Rimer with a ceremony prior to the start of a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arena. Rimer, who retired at the end of the 2023-24 season, spent 20 years as\u00a0the\u00a0Blue Jackets\u2019\u00a0TV voice to conclude a broadcasting career that spanned six decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Numbers Game\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Columbus is\u00a020-4-4 since Jan. 11 and leads the NHL in points percentage (.786) in that span. …\u00a0Zach Werenski\u00a0has\u00a0moved into\u00a0fifth place in CBJ single-season annals with 77\u00a0points\u00a0this year. With 21\u00a0goals and 56\u00a0assists \u2013\u00a0three\u00a0short\u00a0of tying the franchise record \u2013 he is third among NHL defensemen in goals and second in points.\u00a0Werenski has points in 28\u00a0of his last 35\u00a0games (12-35-47) as well as 39\u00a0of the last 49\u00a0(17-49-66). He leads NHL defensemen in multipoint games (25, tied for\u00a0eighth\u00a0overall in NHL)\u00a0and\u00a0has tied\u00a0Artemi Panarin\u2019s team record set in 2018-19. …\u00a0Adam\u00a0Fantilli\u00a0has eight goals in the last 16\u00a0games and posted a 9-14-23\u00a0line in the last\u00a022\u00a0games.\u00a0He\u00a0has points in seven of the last\u00a0nine\u00a0games (3-6-9). …\u00a0Kirill Marchenko\u00a0has\u00a0a\u00a07-11-18\u00a0line in the last\u00a020\u00a0games, is\u00a0second in\u00a0the NHL with six shootout goals and\u00a0has\u00a0scored on\u00a010 of 15 career shootout\u00a0attempts, the best mark\u00a0among all active NHLers and second best in league history\u00a0(minimum 10 attempts).\u00a0…\u00a0Charlie Coyle\u00a0has 11\u00a0goals and\u00a030\u00a0points in the past\u00a028\u00a0games.\u00a0…\u00a0Jet Greaves is\u00a012-2-2 in his last 17\u00a0appearances with a 2.23\u00a0GAA, while Elvis\u00a0Merzlikins\u00a0is\u00a08-2-2 in his last 13\u00a0with a 2.50\u00a0GAA.\u00a0Greaves has a 1.66\u00a0GAA and\u00a0.929\u00a0save percentage in his last\u00a0six\u00a0games as well.\u00a0…\u00a0Mathieu Olivier has\u00a011\u00a0goals in the last\u00a021\u00a0games, tying him for eighth in the NHL since Jan.\u00a026.\u00a0\u2026\u00a0Blue\u00a0Jackets defensemen have scored\u00a054\u00a0goals this season, the most in the NHL\u00a0and a new franchise\u00a0record. \u2026\u00a0Columbus\u00a0has scored\u00a0first in 43\u00a0of\u00a072\u00a0games overall,\u00a0one behind\u00a0Washington\u00a0for the most in the NHL. …\u00a0 The Blue Jackets are 6-1 in shootouts this year. … Boone Jenner\u00a0has\u00a0209 career goals, four behind Cam Atkinson for second in team history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Know The Foe:\u00a0San Jose Sharks\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Head coach:\u00a0Ryan Warsofsky\u00a0(Second\u00a0season)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.00\u00a0(18th) | Scoring defense:\u00a03.57\u00a0(31st) | PP:\u00a019.8\u00a0percent (18th) | PK:\u00a079.0\u00a0percent (16th)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The narrative: The Sharks made the playoffs all but two seasons from 1998-2019 but have paid the piper since, missing the postseason six straight years. They\u2019ve been dreadful the past three seasons, totaling just 61 wins \u2013 four less than Boston had in 2022-23 alone \u2013 but the draft capital accumulated has started to pay off. Boosted by the ascension to stardom of 2024 first overall pick Macklin\u00a0Celebrini, the Sharks have spent much of the season in the playoff race, but they enter today\u2019s game six points back of the final wild card spot. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Scoring leaders:\u00a0Celebrini clearly had talent when he was taken first overall, but even the Sharks have to be thrilled with the astronomical leap he\u2019s taken this year, as the 19-year-old was named to the Canadian Olympic team in the midst of a season in which his 35-61-96 line has him fourth in the league in points. Fellow young standout Will Smith, who just turned 21 after going fourth overall in the 2023 draft, adds a 21-26-47 line in 57 games. Alexander Wennberg\u00a0(14-31-45), Tyler Toffoli (18-26-44)\u00a0and Wiliam Eklund (12-31-43) follow in scoring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In net:\u00a0A first-round pick in 2020 by Nashville, youngster Yaroslav Askarov\u00a0leads the team with 41 starts, with the talented Russian posting a 19-17-3 record, 3.52 GAA and .887 save percentage. Ohio native Alex Nedeljkovic is\u00a013-13-4\u00a0with a\u00a03.00\u00a0GAA and .893\u00a0SV%, and\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a06-1-3 all-time vs. Columbus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
What’s new: With all the young talent on hand, San Jose has been a fun team to watch this season, but the Sharks\u2019 playoff hopes are on life support as the team has lost six in a row after Thursday\u2019s 2-1 overtime loss at St. Louis. San Jose has allowed at least five goals in four of those six games, as defense has been the team\u2019s Achilles\u2019 heel all season. With Celebrini, Smith and Eklund leading the way, the Sharks are set up for future success, but it will take a rally to play postseason hockey this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trending:\u00a0San Jose took a\u00a05-2 victory in the season series opener Jan. 6, but the Blue Jackets have won four in a row at Nationwide Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former CBJ:\u00a0Now in his 12th\u00a0NHL season,\u00a0Wennberg signed a three-year contract extension\u00a0in January and seems to have found a home in his second campaign in San Jose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scratches: Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Jake Christiansen,\u00a0Damon Severson (upper body injury, week to week)\u00a0 Injured Reserve: D Brendan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-526960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116304838924119783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526960","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=526960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}