New month, new start?
Kirill Marchenko had four points and scored his third-career hat trick as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Nashville Predators 8-4 on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena. Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves on 28 shots. Juuse Saros made 19 saves on 26 shots. Justus Annunen stopped 10 of 11 shots in relief.
Starting Right
On Monday, Nashville lost 2-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. The Predators have the third-fewest road wins (9-24-5) behind the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks.
Looking to play spoiler, they’ve owned the Blue Jackets through the years, to the tune of a 70-23-1-8 record since 2000. Tonight belonged to the home team.
For the first time in 11 games, dating back to their 7-3 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 9, the Blue Jackets scored first. Kirill Marchenko extended his four-game goal and point streak (six goals, two assists) with his team-leading 29th. Zach Werenski stayed hot with his career-best 53rd assist and 73rd point. He has points in three straight (zero goals, five assists).
Kirill Marchenko's 29th goal of the season to give the #CBJ a 1-0 lead just 1:15 in. It's the 39th time this season Blue Jackets are on the board first... but their first time in the last nine games. Good time to put that streak to bed.pic.twitter.com/rQXYSoOYA9
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) April 1, 2025
Kirill Marchenko's 29 goals are the most by a Blue Jacket since Cam Atkinson scored 41 during the 2018-2019 season.
— Dylan Tyrer (@DylanTyrer) April 1, 2025
Wild.
Per the Blue Jackets broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network, Columbus only had a lead of 23 seconds over the previous nine games, which occurred after the Mathieu Olivier goal on Friday against the Vancouver Canucks.
Evason said he didnt like the start. Thought they were cheating the game despite early lead. #CBJ https://t.co/dOuir4pr10
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) April 2, 2025
Adding On
Adam Fantilli extended the Blue Jackets' lead at 16:34 following a Predators push, in which the Jackets got the puck out of their zone and converted at the other end.
Adam Fantilli - Columbus Blue Jackets (23) pic.twitter.com/U9JfAHCZmO
— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) April 2, 2025
The goal is Fantilli's 23rd with Denton Mateychuk (7) and Kent Johnson (25) getting the assists. Mateychuk is on a career-best three-game point streak (one goal, three assists).
Sean Monahan capped off the Jackets' three-goal first period, scoring his 15th at 18:10 on the power play to make it 3-0. Kent Johnson (26) and Werenski (54) each picked up their second assist of the night.
Power play goal for Columbus!
— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 1, 2025
Scored by Sean Monahan with 01:50 remaining in the 1st period.
Assisted by Kent Johnson and Zach Werenski.
Columbus: 3
Nashville: 0#NSHvsCBJ #CBJ #Smashville pic.twitter.com/GoPKu7AQI9
With two assists already tonight, Zach Werenski up to 74 points on the season, tying Johnny Gaudreau in 2022-23 for the fifth most in a single season in #CBJ history.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 1, 2025
In the second period, Marchenko scored his second of the game at 4:12 for his first 30-goal season. Monahan picked up his second point and 31st assist.
Fantilli scored his second of the game at 12:00 to make it 5-3. Jenner added his 11th helper and is on a five-game point streak (five goals, three assists).
Adam Fantilli finds his second goal of the night! pic.twitter.com/V1itXNTMoY
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 2, 2025
Monahan’s second power-play goal of the night made it 6-3 at 16:47. Marchenko added another point with his 39th assist, and Jenner picked up his 12th.
Just the third time this season #CBJ have multiple PP goals in a game.
— Ed Francis (@BlueJacketStats) April 2, 2025
Dante Fabbro made his old team pay as he scored his seventh, and the Jackets had a four-goal second period. Fantilli (23) and Kent Johnson (27) earned assists on the play as Johnson had his first career three-assist game.
Dante Fabbro adds some salt to the wound in a scoring fest tonight against Nashville. pic.twitter.com/sohaZWr8Gs
— Nick Kieser (@KieserNick) April 2, 2025
Andrew Brunette on current #CBJ and former Predator Dante Fabbro: "He's a smart player. He moves the puck well. He manages the game well and does a lot of little things that you don't always see but he does them well. I'm happy for him. He was a really good kid to coach while
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) April 1, 2025
The Predators had a first-period goal by Filip Forsberg (29) at 18:34 to make it 3-1, Jackets. Luke Evangelista (17) and Ryan O'Reilly (28) had the assists. They made things interesting in the second period with goals by Michael Bunting (17) and Justin Barron (5), 43 seconds apart at 5:43 and 6:26, respectively, to make it 4-3, Columbus. Fedor Svechkov (8) and Evangelista (18) assisted on Bunting's goal. Vrana (5), playing in his 400th career game, assisted on Barron's goal. Justin Oesterle (2) added a goal at 9:02 of the third period. Cole Smith (8) had the assist.
Finishing Strong
Entering the third period, three Blue Jackets had two goals each: Marchenko, Fantilli, and Monahan.
#CBJ with 3 multi-goal scorers tonight (Fantilli, Marchenko, Monahan).
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) April 2, 2025
It marks the 2nd time in club history with 3 players with multiple goals in a game (4 - Anderson, Atkinson, Foligno, Hartnell in 10-0 W on Nov. 4, 2016 vs. MTL).
With a triple hat trick watch on, Marchenko broke the tie among teammates and added to the scoring party at Nationwide as he scored his third-career hat trick at 5:23 of the third period. It's his first-career four-point game. Monahan picked up his fourth point, 32nd assist, and Fabbro had his second point and 15th assist. It's the first Blue Jackets hat trick at Nationwide all season. Marchenko is the team's first 30-goal scorer since Cam Atkinson scored 41 in 2018-19.
KIRILL MARCHENKO HAT TRICK!!! pic.twitter.com/DMu3rggJMW
— NHL (@NHL) April 2, 2025
#CBJ now has 14 games this season scoring six or more goals.
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) April 2, 2025
List of teams with more than that? No one.
#CBJ Kirill Marchenko on the hat trick tonight: "I say on the bench it feels like a dream every time when you score a hat trick and all the hats are going on the ice. I really enjoy this moment because I score a hat trick at home because on the road, it doesn't really feel like
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 2, 2025
For the game, Columbus had eight players record a point and seven record multiple points.
| Goals | Assists | |
|---|---|---|
| Fantilli | 2 | 1 |
| Jenner | 2 | |
| Kent Johnson | 3 | |
| Marchenko | 3 | 1 |
| Monahan | 2 | 2 |
| Fabbro | 1 | 1 |
| Mateychuk | 1 | |
| Werenski | 2 |
#CBJ win 8-4 over the Nashville Predators. The eight goals scored are the most by the Blue Jackets since Oct. 14, 2021 in a 8-4 win over the Arizona Coyotes.
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) April 2, 2025
The club is back in action on Thursday as they take on the Colorado Avalanche at 7:30pm from @NationwideArena.
The Blue Jackets, first and foremost, took care of business in their win over the Predators. They could have used more help from the Florida Panthers, who let in Nick Suzuki's game-tying goal with nine seconds left, then scored 29 seconds into overtime as the Montreal Canadiens won 3-2 and swept the season series from Florida. The Canadiens remain in the second Eastern Conference wild card spot, holding the two-point lead over Columbus as the Jackets leapfrog the Rangers.
Per #NHLStats, this is just the third time in #CBJ history the Jackets have four or more players with at least three points in the same contest https://t.co/JF3puwvPI2
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 2, 2025
Per the NHL, tonight marks the third occurrence in #CBJ history in which four or more players have three or more points in a game. Hasn't happened since 3/12/2019. Other time was in the inaugural season of 2000.
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) April 2, 2025
Quick Two-Game Homestand
Columbus hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
