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\u00a0were off\u00a0Friday\u00a0so\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0have to see at the team\u2019s morning skate if any changes to the lineup are coming.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This Day in CBJ History\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 11, 2015: Cam Atkinson scores the deciding goal in a shootout as the Blue Jackets take a 5-4 win at the New York Islanders in what\u00a0was to be the final\u00a0regular season game played at Nassau Coliseum to extend their\u00a0then-club record regulation unbeaten streak to 13 games.\u00a0Columbus rallies from third-period deficits of 3-1 and 4-3, with Scott Hartnell tying the game with 1:35 to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 11, 2021: The Blue Jackets\u00a0acquire\u00a0a 2021 first-round\u00a0selection\u00a0and 2022 fourth-round pick from Toronto in exchange for captain Nick Foligno.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Numbers Game\u00a0\u00a0<\/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\u00a0third\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…\u00a0With 13 goals,\u00a0Denton Mateychuk\u00a0is\u00a0sixth 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\u00a023\u00a0games and posted an 11-15-26\u00a0line in the last\u00a029\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\u00a0six\u00a0games (1-5-6).\u00a0He is the fifth CBJ player with consecutive 25-goal seasons.\u00a0…\u00a0Charlie Coyle\u00a0has 12\u00a0goals and\u00a031\u00a0points in the past\u00a035\u00a0games, while Mason\u00a0Marchment\u00a0has six points in his last\u00a0five\u00a0contests (1-5-6). …\u00a0Jet Greaves is\u00a013-5-3\u00a0in his last\u00a021\u00a0appearances with a 2.44\u00a0GAA,\u00a0as well as\u00a0a\u00a0.913\u00a0save percentage in his last\u00a011\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\u00a079\u00a0games overall,\u00a0tied for\u00a0second behind\u00a0Washington\u00a0for the most in the NHL. … Jenner\u00a0has\u00a0210\u00a0career goals,\u00a0three\u00a0behind Cam Atkinson for second in team history.\u00a0… Coyle (fourth, 408) and Provorov\u00a0(seventh,\u00a0372) are both in the top 10 among active NHLers in consecutive games played. Provorov is set to play in his\u00a0244th\u00a0consecutive game with the Blue Jackets,\u00a0which would\u00a0pass\u00a0Jason Chimera\u00a0for\u00a0second\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:\u00a0Montreal Canadiens\u00a0<\/p>\n
Head coach: Martin St. Louis (Fifth season)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.43 (7th) | Scoring defense: 3.06\u00a0(16th) | PP: 23.2\u00a0percent (11th) | PK: 78.1\u00a0percent (20th)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The narrative: Boosted by an underrated captain in Nick Suzuki and\u00a0stocked with\u00a0young offensive talents like Juraj\u00a0Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, Montreal followed three straight\u00a0last-place\u00a0finishes in the Atlantic Division by edging out the Blue Jackets for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot a year ago.\u00a0They\u2019ve\u00a0been even better this season, rising to second in the Atlantic Division and clinching a playoff spot, much to the delight of\u00a0one of the most passionate cities in the NHL.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scoring leaders: Suzuki\u00a0has set a career high in scoring, posting a 28-70-98 line that places him tied for seventh in the league in points and tied for third in assists. Caufield has\u00a0had a magical season, placing second in the league with a career-high\u00a050\u00a0goals among his\u00a087\u00a0points. Just 22, Hutson won the Calder Trophy a year ago and\u00a0is\u00a0tied for fifth\u00a0this year among league defensemen in\u00a0scoring with\u00a075\u00a0points (12\u00a0goals,\u00a063\u00a0assists).\u00a0Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, has a\u00a030-41-71\u00a0line, while rookie Ivan Demidov\u00a0leads\u00a0league rookies with\u00a061\u00a0points (18\u00a0goals,\u00a043\u00a0assists).\u00a0<\/p>\n
In net:\u00a0With the struggles of\u00a0Sam\u00a0Montembeault, Montreal has turned to a pair of youngsters in net in Ohio State product Jakub Dobe\u0161\u00a0and rookie Jacob Fowler.\u00a0Dobe\u0161\u00a0leads the team with\u00a040\u00a0starts and is 29-8-4 with a 2.69\u00a0GAA and .904\u00a0save percentage, while the 21-year-old Fowler\u00a0is\u00a08-6-2 with a 2.52 GAA and .904\u00a0save percentage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What’s\u00a0new:\u00a0For much of the season, the\u00a0Canadiens were one of the top-scoring teams in the league but one of the worst defensively, but the young squad has figured out how to keep the puck out of the\u00a0net of\u00a0late. Montreal has won 10 of the last 11,\u00a0allowing just 21 goals (1.91 per game) in that span, while Dobe\u0161 has won seven straight starts and allowed two goals or less in\u00a0eight of his last 11 starts. Montreal is rounding into form heading into the postseason, and Centre Bell should be rocking when the playoffs begin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trending: The\u00a0teams have split the\u00a0previous\u00a0two games, with the Blue Jackets winning\u00a0a 4-3 final in a shootout\u00a0Nov. 17 before Montreal took a 2-1 win at home March 26.\u00a0Columbus has lost five\u00a0straight\u00a0in Centre Bell over the last three seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former CBJ: Now in his sixth season in Montreal, Josh Anderson has a\u00a013-9-22\u00a0line in\u00a070\u00a0games,\u00a0while Alexandre Texier joined the team midseason and has eight goals and 19 points in\u00a040\u00a0contests.\u00a0Patrik\u00a0Laine\u00a0has\u00a0played just five games, none since October since suffering an injury early in the campaign, while St. Louis served as a CBJ coaching consultant during the 2018-19 season.<\/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":550138,"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-550137","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\/116384941030109446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550137","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=550137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}