Thursday, March 13th, 2025 – 7:00PM ET
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSN Ohio – Radio: 97.1FM
Vegas Golden Knights (38-19-7, 83 points, 1st Pacific, 3rd West)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (31-25-8, 70 points, 4th Metro, 8th East)
For the first time in 16 days, the Columbus Blue Jackets will play a home game in Nationwide Arena. Their opponent is the Pacific-leading Vegas Golden Knights, with a critical two points on the line to keep pace in the playoff race and potentially pass New Jersey for the M3 seed.
Player to Watch
Christian Fischer
Based on morning rushes, it looks like waiver pickup Christian Fischer is set to make his Blue Jackets debut tonight, in place of the struggling Yegor Chinakhov. Fischer has put up one goal and six assists so far this season in 45 games with the Red Wings, and 130 points in his prior eight seasons in the NHL, mostly with the Arizona Coyotes.
Other Notes
In addition to Fischer drawing in, coach Dean Evason has promoted Boone Jenner to PP1, occupying the netfront spot previously held by Dmitri Voronkov. … Tonight is the first of a four-game homestand for the CBJ, as well as Grateful Dead night! … Despite leading the Pacific division, the Golden Knights are two points from being passed by the Central Division’s 3rd place team, Colorado, and just five points from the West’s 1st Wild Card, Minnesota. The Central is VERY good this year. … Other games of interest tonight: BOS at OTT, EDM at NJ, NYR at MIN. For a more complete breakdown, click here.
Season Series
1/30/2025 – CBJ 2 at VGK 1 (OT)
3/13/2025 – VGK at CBJ
Stats
| Vegas | Columbus | |
| 3.34 (5) | GPG | 3.33 (6) |
| 2.73 (9) | GAPG | 3.31 (27) |
| 29.0% (3) | PP% | 20.1% (20) |
| 76.2% (22) | PK% | 75.4% (24) |
| 51.6% (7) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 47.6% (29) |
| 52.0% (7) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 48.1% (26) |
| 8.8% (15) | 5v5 Shooting % | 10.7% (3) |
| .907 (20) | 5v5 Save % | .909 (18) |
| Tomas Hertl, 27 | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 25 |
| Jack Eichel, 58 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 49 |
| Jack Eichel, 78 | P Leader | Zach Werenski, 69 (nice) |
| Keegan Kolesar and Nicolas Roy, 41 | PIM Leader | Matthieu Olivier, 120 |
| 14-12-4 | Home/Road | 20-6-4 |
| 7-2-1 | Last 10 | 5-4-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Dmitri Voronkov | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
| Kent Johnson | Boone Jenner | Mattieu Olivier |
| James van Riemsdyk | Justin Danforth | Luke Kunin |
| Zach Aston-Reese | Sean Kuraly | Christian Fischer |
| Zach Werenski | Dante Fabbro |
| Denton Mateychuk | Ivan Provorov |
| Jake Christiansen | Damon Severson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Daniil Tarasov |
Vegas Golden Knights
| Victor Olofsson | Jack Eichel | Mark Stone |
| Brandon Saad | Tomas Hertl | Pavel Dorofeyev |
| Reilly Smith | Nicolas Roy | Keegan Kolesar |
| Tanner Pearson | Cole Schwindt | Jonas Rondbjerg |
| Nicolas Hague | Alex Pietrangelo |
| Noah Hanifin | Zach Whitecloud |
| Brayden McNabb | Kaedan Korczak |
| Adin Hill |
| Ilya Samsonov |