With points in 21 of the last 25 home games, Columbus hopes to keep the mojo going at Nationwide Arena
The Blue Jackets got back to action on Saturday after a two-week break, and they knew they had to take care of business against a Chicago team that’s well out of the playoff race.
And that’s exactly what Columbus did, leading 1-0 after the first period, 3-1 after the second and then holding on to take a 5-1 victory in front of another sellout crowd in Nationwide Arena.
As far as returns go, it wasn’t necessarily the prettiest game, but the Blue Jackets got the job done.
“I think we were working,” forward Kent Johnson said. “We had the work ethic. I think we’ve had that pretty much the whole year, but I think guys can sharpen up. Everyone had some plays they felt a little rusty on, so I’m excited to keep going. It’s fun to get back out there and be with the guys.”
One reason the game against the Blackhawks was so important was that of the 26 games Columbus has on the other side of the 4 Nations break until the end of the season, only three of them will be against teams that are out of the playoff race.
Chicago was one of them, but things pick up tonight as a Dallas team third in the NHL in points percentage comes to Nationwide Arena tonight.
“If we want to get to where we want to go, we have to play better than that,” Zach Werenski said after the win over Chicago. “I think it was a little bit to be expected. After the first period, I thought we were moving well. I thought in the second, they took it to us a little bit, but that’s just part of the break. It’s important we got two points, but now we know we have to do a little better moving forward.”
One of the major storylines going into the game were the returns of captain Boone Jenner, top-line wing Kirill Marchenko and top-pair defenseman Dante Fabbro, and those players seemed to seamlessly work their way back into the lineup. Veteran wing Joseph LaBate also made his first NHL appearance since March 2017 and finished with a fight and a plus-1 rating.
Head coach: Peter DeBoer (third season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.30 (T-4th) | Scoring defense: 2.51 (T-3rd) | PP: 20.6 percent (21st) | PK: 85.0 percent (2nd)
The narrative: The Stars have built a consistent winner, making the postseason in five of the last six years, winning the Central Division a season ago and earning consecutive trips to the Western Conference Final. Getting over the hump and winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1998 is the last hurdle to clear, and the Stars might just have the team to do it this season.
Team leaders: In the midst of a bit of a career renaissance, Matt Duchene leads the Stars with 59 points including 23 goals and 36 assists. Jason Robertson is tied for the team lead in goals with 23 and is next with 54 points, while Wyatt Johnston is one of the top young players in the league as the 21-year-old center has 17 goals and 50 points on the season. Roope Hintz adds 22 goals among his 38 points.
It also helps to have one of the top goaltenders in the league, and Jake Oettinger is second in the NHL with 27 wins while posting a 27-12-2 record, 2.37 GAA and .912 save percentage. Backup Casey DeSmith (10-6-0, 2.47, .913) has posted almost identical numbers.
What’s new: Robertson (14-12-26) and Duchene (9-17-26) are tied for fourth in the NHL in points since the calendar flipped to 2025, with Robertson coming off a hat trick Sunday vs. the Islanders. The Stars were dealt a blow of adversity as top defenseman Miro Heiskanen suffered a lower-body injury just before the break that required surgery, leaving him out for an extended period of time. He joins Tyler Seguin and Nils Lundkvist on the injured list, but the Stars haven’t seemed to notice, going 8-1-1 in the last 10.
Trending: Dallas swept the two-game season series a year ago and made it a third straight win vs. Columbus with a 5-3 triumph Feb. 2.
Former CBJ: Duchene is on his fifth team but has settled in nicely in Dallas, posting 48 goals and 124 points in 137 games with the Stars the past two years.
Scratches: Jordan Harris, Jack Johnson
Injured reserve, Injured/Non-Roster list: Kevin Labanc (shoulder), Sean Monahan (upper body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Erik Gudbranson (upper body)
Roster Report: The Blue Jackets look as though they’ll use the same skater lineup as Saturday’s victory vs. Chicago.
The Blue Jackets have points in 21 of the last 25 home games (17-4-4). … Coming off leading the 4 Nations Face-Off with six points, Zach Werenski has a 15-37-452 line in his last 41 games and has 30 points (7-23-30) in his past 22, plus a 22-game home point streak (14-27-41), tied for the third-longest by a defenseman in NHL history. With two assists Saturday, he tied Rick Nash for the most multi-assist games in team history with 39, and his 256 career assists are two behind Nash for the CBJ franchise record. His average ice time of 26:49 leads all NHL players, and he’s second among league defensemen in goals (18) and second in points (62) on the season. His 46 points at home this year tie Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon for the most in the NHL. … Kirill Marchenko has an 11-18-29 line in his last 25 games and 40 points in his last 35 (15-25-40). He is tied for second in the NHL with a plus-32 rating. … Kent Johnson has 14 points (8-6-14) in the past 13 games and is third in the NHL in goals scored per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. … Adam Fantilli has a 9-9-18 line in the last 19 games. … James van Riemsdyk has notched a 7-9-16 line in the last 19 games. … Columbus is second in the NHL with 132 goals at 5-on-5 and first in goals per game at home (3.96), and their 3.25 goals per game are ninth in the league. … Blue Jackets defensemen have 38 goals this season, the most in the NHL, and 143 points, good for third place. … Ivan Provorov is two assists from 200 in his NHL career, while Johnson is three points from 100.
Feb. 25, 2011: Matt Calvert notches his first career hat trick and the fourth natural hat trick in CBJ history, as well as becoming the second rookie in team history with a hat trick, scoring three goals as the Blue Jackets down Phoenix by a 5-3 score in Nationwide Arena.
Feb. 25, 2016: Nick Foligno earns his second hat trick with the Blue Jackets as Columbus romps to a 6-1 home win over New Jersey.
Feb. 25, 2017: Joonas Korpisalo earns his first career shutout, stopping 24 shots in a 7-0 win over the New York Islanders at Nationwide.
Feb. 25, 2018: The Blue Jackets reacquire forward Mark Letestu in a trade with Nashville, sending a 2018 fourth-round pick to the Preds to add the versatile forward.
Feb. 25, 2019: Days after making notable trades with Ottawa to add forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, the Blue Jackets swing a pair of deals to add depth pieces, acquiring defenseman Adam McQuaid from the Rangers and goalie Keith Kinkaid from the Devils.
Feb. 25, 2023: Boone Jenner notches an assist to pass David Vyborny and move into fourth place in team history with 318 points in a 6-5 win vs. Edmonton. Jack Roslovic and Kirill Marchenko each score two goals in the victory.
Feb. 25, 2024: Elvis Merzlikins makes 38 saves and Dmitri Voronkov has a goal and an assist as the Blue Jackets take a 4-2 win vs. the New York Rangers at Nationwide Arena.
