Rangers’ Metro Division rival loses top goal-scorer Kirill Marchenko with broken jaw
The Columbus Blue Jackets won’t have their top goal-scorer, forward Kirill Marchenko, available when they host the New York Rangers on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena in the final game for both teams before the break for the 4 Nations Face-off.
Marchenko had surgery Monday to repair a broken jaw, and the Blue Jackets announced that he’s been placed on injured reserve and out indefinitely. He leads Columbus with 21 goals, is second on the team in assists (34) and points (55), and leads the NHL in plus-minus at plus-31.
The 24-year-old was injured when he was struck by the puck while seated on the bench with 2:44 left in the second period of a 5-3 road loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday night. He was hit on the left side of his face with a clearing attempt by teammate Denton Mateychuk and left the bench holding a towel to his cheek. Marchenko could miss several weeks if his injury is anything like the one that kept Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner out for six weeks during the 2023-24 season.
The Blue Jackets own the second wild card in the Eastern Conference as they enter the finale of a four-game road trip against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Columbus won back-to-back overtime games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Hockey Club on Thursday and Friday before the loss in Dallas and is 5-2-0 in its past seven games.
The Blue Jackets return home to face Utah on Thursday before the Rangers come to town on Saturday for the second of four meetings between the Metropolitan Division rivals. The Rangers, who trail Columbus by five points in the wild-card race, won 1-0 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 18. Marchenko has four points (two goals, two assists) in eight career games against the Rangers.
Marchenko is in his third NHL season and has reached the 20-goal mark in all three – a first for the Blue Jackets since they entered the NHL in 2000.
In addition to Marchenko, the Jackets also lost defenseman Dante Fabbro to an upper-body injury during the first period of the game Sunday. Coach Dean Evason said in Dallas that Fabbro is expected to miss “some time” with a suspected concussion.
Related: Adam Edstrom could be out 3.5 months for Rangers with lower-body injury
Kirill Marchenko’s broken jaw latest injury for Rangers rival
It’s the latest injury to a team that’s been battered by them all season. The Blue Jackets entered the game in Dallas listing 214 man-game lost due to injuries this season; they’ve exceeded 300 man-games lost in each of the previous three seasons.
The Blue Jackets haven’t had Jenner at all this season after he underwent shoulder surgery to correct an injury that happened at a practice late in the preseason. They lost veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson in the third game with a shoulder injury that also required surgery, haven’t had forward Yegor Chinakhov since late November due to a back issue and aren’t expected to get top center Sean Monahan back from a wrist injury sustained against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 7 until mid-March.
That’s all after their top forward, Johnny Gaudreau, died in a cycling accident in late August.
The absence of Marchenko means the Blue Jackets’ top line is missing two of its three members. The only healthy one is Dmitri Voronkov, who missed the first nine games of the season with a back injury sustained in a preseason game.
Adam Fantilli has done a good job filling Monahan’s role in the middle of the top line. The most likely move to replace Marchenko is moving Kent Johnson to play right wing with Fantilli in the middle and Voronkov on the left. Johnson, who missed 14 games after injuring a shoulder in the fourth game of the season, has 34 points (15 goals, 19 assists) in 39 games.
Columbus added forward Dylan Gambrell on emergency recall Monday. The 28-year-old has 40 points (17 goals, 23 assists) in 233 NHL games with the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks from 2017-23. Kevin Labanc, a healthy scratch for the past seven games, is expected to return to the lineup against Buffalo.
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