The CBJ Writer

First and foremost, tonight is Military Appreciation Night 2025 for the Columbus Blue Jackets; thank you to all of those who served, are currently serving, and all their families!   This game would go from 0 to 100 from the opening faceoff. 3:25 would see the first goal of the game as a solid Avalanche rush toward Elvis Merzlikins would pay off for the visiting team. N, MacKinnon would pop his thirty-first goal of the season between Elvis's padded legs. A, Lehkonen would add assist seventeen on the primary while D. Toews would add his thirty-second on the secondary. Sean Monahan would even the odds with goal seventeen of his season at 6:35! Dante Fabbro would add assist sixteen to his season on the primary while Dimitri Voronkov would add his twenty-third on the secondary. Unfortunately, this game wouldn't make it to the first intermission tied as the Avalancehh would go up 2-1 late, at 18:05, the goal credited to B. Nelson would become his twenty-fourth this season. C, Maker ...

 It's hard to believe that after tonight, we'll be within single digits of games remaining in the 2024-25 Columbus Blue Jackets regular season. The Blue Jackets would look to capitalize on the second night of the Predators' back-to-back. They lost at the Flyers last night 2-1. The Predators have been eliminated from the 2025 NHL Playoffs, but the Blue Jackets are still very much alive. Tonight would be a high-scoring game, so let's recap because that cannon got a workout tonight, 5th Line! It would only take seventy-five seconds for the cannon to go boom tonight at home. See, I told ya it got a workout! Kirill Marchenko would sink goal twenty-nine just 1:15 into period one. The only assist on this goal would go to Zach Werenski, his twenty-third this season. I love it when our goals leader and assist/points leader combine for good, giving us a 1-0 lead in this case! At 16:34, Adam Fantilli would add goal twenty-three of his season to the score sheet. Denton Mateychuk wo...

After last night's 2025 Kids Takeover Game at Nationwide Arena, which ended with a 7-6 victory in a shootout against the Vancouver Canucks, the Blue Jackets would look to snatch more points tonight. This game at the Ottawa Senators has two important components: Win points for ourselves and keep points from the Senators who hold the 1st Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. A Senators' charge on net at 7:24 would give the home team an early 1-0 lead, thanks to R, Greig's twelfth goal this season. T, Chabot would add his twenty-ninth assist this season on the primary, while S, Pinto would add his thirteenth on the secondary. Seconds later, Blue Jackets' Captain, Boone Jenter, would add his fifth goal this season at 7:55. Zach Werenski would continue his team lead in assists, adding his fifty-first on this goal primary assist. The secondary would go to Denton Mateychuk, his sixth in a season that has seen him improve leaps and bounds. Sadly, the Senators would break the ...

This was a wild game. Period one would see three goals, none of which would belong to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Vancouver Canucks would score two powerplay goals and one at even strength. The first would come at 8:51 and belong to L. Karlsson, making his second goal of the season. The primary assist on this goal would be number sixteen this season for K. Sherwood, and the secondary assist would be number twenty-six this season for C. Garland. Less than two minutes later, at 10:35, B. Boesser would pop one past Elvis Merzlikins to gain goal twenty-four of his season. Q. Hghes would add his fifty-third assist this season on the primary while P. Sutter would add his eighteenth assist this season on the secondary. This second goal was the only Canucks goal this period not on the powerplay advantage. The third goal of this period would be the final for this twenty-minute block. It would belong to J. Debrusk and would become goal twenty-four of his season. B. Boeser would add assist num...

It's been a rough few games for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but, this morning, the team got some great news. Forward Sean Monahan and defenseman Erik Gudbrandson would rejoin the team tonight in New York at the Islanders. Sean Monahan has been absent since the start of the year after having surgery to repair a wrist injury while Erik Gudbranson barely played at all this season, going out just a few games in and requiring shoulder surgery and a lengthy recovery period. It's so good to hear their names announced during play, and having them back tonight, I think, added a jolt to this talented but struggling team. Let's recap some hockey, 5th Line! Period one wouldn't go the Blue Jackets way, but, before you lose faith, be a life-long fan and stick around and don't get discouraged. That said, we have to get through this period to get to the good stuff, okay? The Islanders would get on the board first with a goal at 13:16 from P. Engvall, and this would become goal six o...

The last time the Blue Jackets went to Pittsburgh they came home with their first road win there in 15 games, spanning years. Tonight, they'd be in search of any points they could add to their 71 this season as many teams remain in the hunt for those two coveted Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference. Tonight would be a back-to-back after they lost in overtime last night, but gained a point, against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. The final score was 1-0. Tonight would also show Elvis Merzzlikins starting in his first back-to-back games situation since 2020. With a lot on the line, let's recap a high-scoring game.  The Penguins would prove early on that they had no problems invading Elvis Merzlikins' space. Even with his acrobatic saves early into this game, the Penguins would still score twice. The first goal would come from E. Malkin as he'd scored his fourteenth goal this season at the 5:28 mark. The primary assist would become number eleven t...