Scratches:\u00a0Zach Aston-Reese, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Mathieu Olivier (upper body injury),\u00a0Dmitri Voronkov (upper body injury),\u00a0Jake Christiansen,\u00a0Damon Severson (shoulder surgery, out for season)\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:\u00a0The Blue Jackets\u00a0dramatically\u00a0changed up\u00a0the lines for Tuesday\u2019s game, and Bowness said he liked the looks of them, but also noted he might keep reporters guessing. The team was off Wednesday, so\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0see if there are any changes at the team\u2019s morning skate today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This Day in CBJ History<\/p>\n
April 9, 2010: Steve Mason stops 45 shots through 60 minutes to earn a shutout, but Detroit earns a 1-0 victory in a shootout\u00a0in\u00a0Nationwide Arena. Mason becomes the first CBJ goalie to earn a shutout but take a shootout loss.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 9, 2013: Sergei Bobrovsky posts his fourth shutout in a\u00a0month’s time, stopping 30 shots in a 4-0 victory vs. San Jose at Nationwide Arena.\u00a0Mari\u00e1n\u00a0G\u00e1bor\u00edk\u00a0leads the way with a goal and an assist while Matt Calvert, Ryan\u00a0Johansen\u00a0and James Wisniewski also\u00a0score.\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 9, 2014: Columbus clinches the second playoff berth in franchise history with a 3-1 road win over the Dallas Stars.\u00a0The game was rescheduled from March 10 when Stars forward Rich Peverley suffered a cardiac event on the Dallas bench in the first period; the teams played a full 60 minutes, but Columbus started with a 1-0 lead thanks to Nathan Horton\u2019s goal in the original contest.\u00a0Horton did not skate in this game because of injury but was still credited with a goal, while Artem Anisimov and Mark Letestu tallied in the first period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 9, 2016: Scott Hartnell scores on the power play 2:28 into overtime as Columbus posts a 5-4 victory vs. Chicago at Nationwide Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 9, 2017: The Jackets defeat Toronto 3-1 in the final game of the regular season, reaching the 50-win mark for the first time in franchise history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 9, 2022: Jack\u00a0Roslovic\u00a0completes the hat trick with the overtime winner as the Blue Jackets take a 5-4 victory at Detroit.\u00a0Roslovic\u00a0adds an assist for a four-point game, while Zach Werenski has a trio of\u00a0assists\u00a0as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Numbers Game<\/p>\n
Zach Werenski\u00a0has\u00a0moved into\u00a0fourth\u00a0place in CBJ single-season annals with\u00a080\u00a0points\u00a0this year. With 22\u00a0goals and 58\u00a0assists \u2013\u00a0one\u00a0short\u00a0of tying the franchise record \u2013 he is\u00a0tied for\u00a0second\u00a0among NHL defensemen in goals and\u00a0second\u00a0in points.\u00a0He is just the third American-born defensemen to have consecutive 80-point seasons, joining Hall of Famers Brian Leetch and Phil Housley, and just the second active blueliner\u00a0(Cale Makar) to reach 80 points in back-to-back years.\u00a0He leads NHL defensemen\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0CBJ-record\u00a026\u00a0multipoint\u00a0games.\u00a0…\u00a0Denton Mateychuk scored his 13th\u00a0goal of the season Thursday, placing him sixth all-time among CBJ defensemen in a single season. He is just the third CBJ D to reach that mark (Werenski, four times; Seth Jones, once). …\u00a0Adam\u00a0Fantilli\u00a0has\u00a010\u00a0goals in the last\u00a022\u00a0games and posted an 11-15-26\u00a0line in the last\u00a028\u00a0contests. He has set a new career high in points with 56.\u00a0…\u00a0Kirill Marchenko\u00a0is\u00a0second in\u00a0the NHL with six shootout goals and\u00a0has\u00a0six\u00a0points in the last five\u00a0games (1-5-6).\u00a0…\u00a0Charlie Coyle\u00a0has 12\u00a0goals and\u00a031\u00a0points in the past\u00a034\u00a0games, while Mason\u00a0Marchment\u00a0has six points in his last four contests (1-5-6). …\u00a0Jet Greaves is\u00a013-4-3\u00a0in his last\u00a021\u00a0appearances with a 2.37\u00a0GAA,\u00a0as well as\u00a0a\u00a0.920\u00a0save percentage in his last\u00a010\u00a0games.\u00a0…\u00a0Blue\u00a0Jackets defensemen have scored\u00a058\u00a0goals this season, the most in the NHL\u00a0and a new franchise\u00a0record. \u2026\u00a0Columbus\u00a0has scored\u00a0first in 47\u00a0of\u00a078\u00a0games overall,\u00a0tied for first with\u00a0Washington\u00a0for the most in the NHL. … Jenner\u00a0has\u00a0210\u00a0career goals,\u00a0three\u00a0behind Cam Atkinson for second in team history.\u00a0… Coyle (fourth, 407) and Provorov\u00a0(seventh,\u00a0371) are both in the top 10 among active NHLers in consecutive games played. Provorov is set to play in his\u00a0243rd\u00a0consecutive game with the Blue Jackets,\u00a0which would\u00a0tie Jason Chimera\u00a0for\u00a0sceond\u00a0in franchise history.\u00a0…\u00a0Miles Wood\u00a0is\u00a0one goal from 100 and\u00a0four\u00a0points from 200 in his NHL career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Know The Foe: Buffalo\u00a0Sabres<\/p>\n
Head coach: Lindy Ruff (Second season)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.42 (7th) | Scoring defense: 2.99 (12th) | PP: 20.1 percent (18th) | PK: 81.4 percent (9th)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The narrative:\u00a0When\u00a0we last\u00a0saw the\u00a0Sabres, it was January and the team was at the start of the magical run that has led Buffalo to a battle at the top of the Atlantic Division and guaranteed a return to playoff hockey. The team\u2019s NHL-record\u00a0run of 14 straight seasons without a postseason appearance\u00a0is over, and Buffalo is ready to support the\u00a0Sabres\u00a0in what the\u00a0city hopes\u00a0will be a long run this spring.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0fair to say Buffalo will be a sentimental favorite to many given the city\u2019s\u00a0passion\u00a0for hockey and how long\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0been since the\u00a0Sabres\u00a0battled for the\u00a0Stanley\u00a0Cup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scoring leaders:\u00a0Tage Thompson has asserted himself as one of the NHL\u2019s top goal scorers \u2013 and won gold with Team USA at the Olympics \u2013 while posting 38 goals (tied for 12th in the league) and 41 assists for a team-high 79 points. Rasmus Dahlin has cemented himself as one of the league\u2019s top blueliners, posting an 18-53-71 line that places him sixth among NHL defensemen in points.\u00a0Upstate New York native Alex\u00a0Tuch adds 31 goals among 63 points, while Ryan McLeod (13-40-53) and Jack Quinn (19-31-50) have reached the 50-point mark.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In net:\u00a0The\u00a0Sabres\u00a0have gotten quality goaltending from a pair of netminders, as Alex Lyon has started 34 games and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has 33. Lyon is 20-10-4 with a 2.77 GAA and .906 save percentage, while Luukkonen is 21-9-3 with a 2.56 GAA and .909 SV%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
What’s\u00a0new:\u00a0Buffalo started 11-14-4 this year and it looked like it might be another tough season on the eastern shore of Lake Erie, but the promotion of\u00a0former CBJ general manager Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen\u00a0to\u00a0GM on Dec. 15 seems to have been a spur to get things on track. The Sabres are 37-9-4 in their last 50 games, including winning streaks of 10 and eight games, though Buffalo is 3-3-2 in its last eight games once it was assured they\u2019d be playing playoff hockey.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trending:\u00a0The Blue Jackets have won four of the last five in the series, including the first two meetings of the year.\u00a0Miles Wood notched the overtime winner Oct. 28 in the first meeting\u00a0in Buffalo, while Columbus posted a\u00a05-1 victory at home Jan. 3.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former CBJ:\u00a0Joshua Dunne has found a home on the Buffalo fourth\u00a0line\u00a0at times\u00a0this season, playing\u00a033\u00a0games and posting a goal and three assists.\u00a0Danforth signed with Buffalo in the offseason after four seasons in Columbus but went on injured reserve after playing four games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scratches:\u00a0Zach Aston-Reese, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Mathieu Olivier (upper body injury),\u00a0Dmitri Voronkov (upper body injury),\u00a0Jake Christiansen,\u00a0Damon Severson (shoulder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-548549","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\/116373380833725052","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548549","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=548549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}