The Blue Jackets' record is now 21-19-7 with 49 points. They're three points clear of the last-place New York Rangers in the Metro.
Charlie Coyle(10-PPG), Kirill Marchenko(17), Zach Werenski(18-PPG), and Kent Johnson(5) scored the goals for the Blue Jackets, while Elvis Merzļikins played well in a 4-1 CBJ win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. The win was Merzļikins first since a December 4th win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Columbus played a fairly clean game against Vancouver, minus the pesky power play goal they gave up, but they're headed in the right direction, and that's a start.
Elvis, after the game about being able to play, said, "I'm really excited. I mean nothing against Dean, I mean, his decisions were his decisions. I'm mature enough, so I'm obviously happy that we have a new coach because it's new energy right now."
HC Rick Bowness: "I want these guys to start to understand, we have a good team here, and we do. And we have to keep pushing. That’s what we’re gonna do."
Team Notes Per CBJ PR
- Columbus (1-1-0) and Vancouver (1-1-0) concluded the season series with both teams winning their respective home games. The home team has won 10-straight games as well as 11 of the past 12 in the series
- The Blue Jackets won their third consecutive game overall and second home game of a stretch of six-of-seven at Nationwide Arena from Jan. 13-28.
- The club has earned points in four-straight home games (3-0-1) and five of the last six at Nationwide Arena since Dec. 28, 2025 (4-1-1)
- Columbus finished 100 percent on the power play tonight for the second time this season on multiple attempts (2-for-2 on Oct. 21 at Dallas) and have scored on the man-advantage in three-straight games (5-of-9, 55.5 pct.). It also marked the second time in the last three games and the fifth time this season the team has notched multiple PPG in a game.
- The Blue Jackets scored first for the 27th time this season, 15th time at Nationwide Arena, and are 17-6-4 when doing so (10-4-1 at home).
- CBJ scored in all three periods for the 15th time this season.
Final Stats
CBJ APPPlayer Stats
- Charlie Coyle scored his 10th goal of the season. He also had 8 shots on goal and scored for the third-straight game (4-1-5) with his power play tally in the first period to sit one goal shy of 200 for his career (199-316-515, 997 GP). He registered eight shots on goal tonight to tie his single-game career high (8 on Feb. 27, 2018, vs. St. Louis). His goal gives him 9-10-19 in 34 career matchups against Vancouver, who has 6-7-13 in 17 career home contests with 3-5-8 in his last eight at home.
- Kirill Marchenko scored his 17th of the season and picked up his 23rd assist. Marchenko posted his seventh multi-point performance of the season with a goal and assist and has now picked up points in three-straight (1-4-5) and 10 of the last 12 games (7-7-14). He extended his points streak against the Canucks to five-straight games (5-4-9) with 3-2-5 in the 2025-26 series and his career totals to 7-4-11 in seven career contests.
- Zach Werenski scored his 18th goal of the season while on the power play. He scored for the second straight game (2-2-4) with his power-play goal and has points in three consecutive games (2-3-5). He has points in each of his past 16 contests at Nationwide Arena (12-18-30, 11 multi-point outings), for the second-longest home points streak in club history, trailing his 22-game streak from Nov. 1, 2024 – Feb. 22, 2025. He improved his career totals against Vancouver to 4-5-9 in 15 career games with points in five of the past seven games vs. the Canucks (2-3-5) as well as points in his last three (2-1-3) at Nationwide Arena.
- Kent Johnson scored his 5th of the season and had an assist. He also had 17:36 of ice time.
- Adam Fantilli recorded his 18th assist.
- Boone Jenner collected his 16th assist. Jenner notched the 200th assist in his NHL career (207-200-407, 774 GP) to become the fourth player in franchise history to reach the milestone (Werenski, Nash, and Vyborny). He improved his career mark against Vancouver to 3-7-10 in 21 career games with 3-5-8 in 11 career outings at Nationwide Arena with 2-3-5 in his last three at home.
- Damon Severson recorded his 15th assist.
Team Stats
- The Jackets power play went 2/2.
- The Columbus PK stopped 1 of 2 Canucks power plays.
- Columbus won 47.1% of the faceoffs - 24/51
- The Blue Jackets had 19 hits.
Up Next: Columbus travels to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins on Saturday night.
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