Thursday, April 10, 2025 – 7:00 PM EDT
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s site: Die By The Blade
Buffalo Sabres (35-36-6, 76 points, 7th Atlantic, 13th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (35-33-9, 79 points, 6th Metro, 12th East)
The Blue Jackets need a win to avoid elimination. In their way are the traditional Wednesday Night Rivals.
Players to Watch
Sean Monahan, Mathieu Olivier, Adam Fantilli
The Blue Jackets have already had five players hit the 20 goal mark: Kirill Marchenko, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, and Zach Werenski. Sean Monahan and Mathieu Olivier sit at 18 goals a piece, so there’s a solid chance that either can hit that mark in these last five games. Fantilli sits at 48 points, 2 away from the 50 point mark, which has already been met this season by Werenski, Marchenko, Johnson, and Monahan.
Jackets Notes
Sean Monahan was announced yesterday as the Blue Jackets’ nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. He was selected by the Columbus chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. The full body of the PHWA will vote on the winner, and Monahan is a strong favorite given both his off-ice tragedy and on-ice success … Montreal sits at 87 points and the Jackets are at 79, with the Rangers, Wings, and Islanders in between. As a result, it needs to be regulation wins from this point forward to stave off elimination. One more regulation win from Montreal or regulation loss from Columbus eliminates the Jackets.
The Other Bench
There was both good and bad in the last Sabres game, where they shut out the Carolina Hurricanes. The good news: they won their fifth game in a row, and 8 out of the last 9. The bad: they were eliminated from playoff contention anyway, marking the 14th year in a row that they have missed the postseason. That ties the New York Jets of the NFL for the longest active playoff drought in the four major sports leagues in North America.
Season Series
10/17/2024 BUF 4 @ CBJ 6
02/04/2025 CBJ 2 @ BUF 3
04/10/2025 BUF @ CBJ
Stats
Buffalo | Columbus | |
3.27 (7) | GPG | 3.17 (10) |
3.47 (29) | GAPG | 3.42 (27) |
18.2 (26) | PP% | 19.2 (22) |
76.6 (23) | PK% | 76.0 (25) |
49.8 (16) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 48.8 (21) |
49.4 (18) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 49.1 (20) |
10.9 (2) | 5v5 Shooting % | 10.1 (4) |
90.0 (25) | 5v5 Save % | 90.3 (22) |
Tage Thompson, 44 | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 31 |
Rasmus Dahlin, 47 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 55 |
Tage Thompson, 71 | P Leader | Zach Werenski, 75 |
Peyton Krebs, 60 | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier, 134 |
13-22-3 | Home/Road | 23-10-5 |
8-2-0 | Last 10 | 4-5-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
Boone Jenner | Sean Monahan | Kirill Marchenko |
James van Riemsdyk | Adam Fantilli | Kent Johnson |
Dmitri Voronkov | Cole Sillinger | Mathieu Olivier |
Zach Aston-Reese | Sean Kuraly | Justin Danforth |
Zach Werenski | Dante Fabbro |
Denton Mateychuk | Ivan Provorov |
Jake Christiansen | Erik Gudbranson |
Elvis Merzlikins |
Daniil Tarasov |
Buffalo Sabres
Zach Benson | Jiri Kulich | Tage Thompson |
J.J. Peterka | Ryan McLeod | Jack Quinn |
Jason Zucker | Peyton Krebs | Alex Tuch |
Beck Malenstyn | Noah Ostlund | Sam Lafferty |
Mattias Samuelsson | Rasmus Dahlin |
Owen Power | Jacob Bernard-Docker |
Bowen Byram | Connor Clifton |
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen |
James Reimer |