The best Blue Jackets games of 2024

A lot can happen in a year, and that was certainly the case for the Blue Jackets.

Since Jan. 1, 2024, the Blue Jackets have a new head coach in Dean Evason and a new general manager, Don Waddell. A number of regulars have been added to the roster, including top-line center Sean Monahan, and a new class of draft picks was headlined by first-round selection Cayden Lindstrom.

On the ice, Zach Werenski has gone from an All-Star into a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman as well as a member of Team USA for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. Kirill Marchenko has developed into one of the top scorers in the league, while such young players as Dmitri Voronkov, Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli have continued to grow their games.

Of course, the Blue Jackets also had to deal with tragedy with the offseason passing of All-Star forward Johnny Gaudreau, an event that shocked but ultimately united the hockey community. The memory of Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, will forever remain in the thoughts of the Blue Jackets organization.

But when you come down to it, what the sport is all about are the games. A banged-up Columbus team had some strong moments down the stretch of last season, and the Blue Jackets have become one of the more entertaining teams in the NHL this year, boasting one of the top-scoring squads in the league and sitting in playoff contention as we ring in 2025.

Columbus won 31 games during the calendar year, including some that stood out above the rest. Here are five games we’ll remember from 2024, in reverse chronological order.

Dec. 27: Blue Jackets 6, Bruins 2

Boston has been one of the most consistently successful franchises in the NHL, but the Blue Jackets were the better team throughout this game in a comprehensive victory against the Bruins. A holiday sellout crowd saw the Blue Jackets pull away with four goals in the second period, and Columbus scored three power-play tallies for the first time since 2021. Both Sean Monahan and Dmitri Voronkov scored two goals, Kirill Marchenko had a goal and two assists, and Zach Werenski had four assists to tie his own franchise record for a defenseman. The Blue Jackets dominated just about every statistical category on the way to the big win over the Bruins.

Nov. 29: Blue Jackets 5, Calgary 2

Not only did Columbus pull away for their fourth win in five games on Black Friday, they did it in entertaining fashion. Mathieu Olivier dropped the gloves twice, while Jake Christiansen also had his first professional fight, and a physical game even saw goaltender Elvis Merzlikins get a roughing penalty in the third period, much to the delight of a big Nationwide Arena crowd. The Blue Jackets also brought the offense, as they scored twice in the first, led 3-1 after two and finished the game with a pair of third-period goals. Adam Fantilli had the second two-goal game of his career while Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werenski tallied. Merzlikins added 27 saves when he wasn’t mixing it up with Nazem Kadri.

Nov. 21: Blue Jackets 7, Lightning 6 (OT)

What more can you ask for than 13 goals in an NHL game? How about an overtime victory, provided by the stick of Zach Werenski, who tied a CBJ record with five points on two tallies and three assists. Columbus was down 3-0 in the first period but needed just over 10 minutes to tie the score on goals by Sean Monahan, Dmitri Voronkov and Kent Johnson. Werenski scored his first goal of the game to tie the game again at 4, and the Blue Jackets actually led 5-4 on a goal by Yegor Chinakhov and 6-5 on another Johnson tally, but the Lightning forced overtime with 8:37 to go. That just set the stage for Werenski, who fired a wrist shot past Jonas Johansson for the winner 1:26 into OT to set off the cannon one last time.

Oct. 12: Blue Jackets 6, Avalanche 4

Columbus started the 2024-25 season with a two-game road trip, and they played a solid game in an opening loss at Minnesota. The trip didn’t get any easier from there as the Blue Jackets had to travel to altitude to take on the 2022 Stanley Cup champs and their group of stars, but that didn’t matter as Columbus got its first win of the season. In fact, the Blue Jackets never trailed, taking leads of 2-0 and 3-1, then responding to the Avs tying the game by scoring twice more to take a 5-3 lead. It held up from there, and six different Blue Jackets – Zach Werenski, Kent Johnson, Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov and Sean Monahan – got on the scoreboard. Some Blue Jackets have pointed back to this game as one that showed the team early in the season that it can hang with some of the NHL’s best.

March 30: Blue Jackets 4, Penguins 3 (SO)

We have to include at least one game from last season in here, and what better choice than a dramatic win over your biggest rival? It was a bit of a skeleton crew for the Blue Jackets in this game thanks to the trade deadline and a bevy of injures that put major contributors on the shelf, but that didn’t matter as the Blue Jackets got the two points in Nationwide Arena. Mathieu Olivier got the scoring started with a shorthanded tally in the first, but Pittsburgh came back to take a 3-1 lead early in the third period. Just nine seconds after the Pens’ third goal, though, Kirill Marchenko made it a one-goal game, and Zach Werenski tied things at 3 with 8:13 to go. From there, the teams went to overtime and then a shootout, a five-round affair that saw Damon Severson score the deciding goal before Elvis Merzlikins ended things by shutting the door on Evgeni Malkin.