The Columbus Blue Jackets knew what they had to do on Sunday night against the Washington Capitals. They needed to win. Otherwise, their playoff race would end. Thanks to a pair of magnificent performances, the race will go into Monday.
Adam Fantilli scored two more goals while Jet Greaves playing his fourth game in five nights made 29 saves to lift the Blue Jackets to a 4-1 win over the Capitals at Capital One Arena. With the win, the Blue Jackets went 2-1-1 against the best in the East. It also ensured the Winnipeg Jets won their first President’s Trophy in franchise history.
The story of this game was the duo of Fantilli and Greaves.
Game Recap
The Capitals did get Alex Ovechkin back in their lineup for Sunday’s game. It didn’t take him long to immediately make his presence known. He scored on the first shot on the game Greaves saw to make it 1-0.
Turns out that all Greaves would give up the whole night.
A turning point in the game happened four seconds after Ovechkin’s goal. Mathieu Olivier and Dylan McIlrath dropped the gloves. Olivier knew he needed to give his team a spark. It served its purpose.
At 14:36 of the first, the Blue Jackets were able to tie the game. Zach Werenski scored his 22nd of the season through a massive screen in front of Charlie Lindgren. That seemed to settle the team down.
In the second, Fantilli gave the Blue Jackets the lead. Tom Wilson wasn’t able to corral a pass from the corner. The puck went right to Fantilli who buried his 28th of the season.
The Capitals pushed hard after that for the rest of the second period. Greaves answered all of them. His most notable save was on Lars Eller to keep things at 2-1. Despite a 13-7 edge in shots, the Capitals couldn’t solve Greaves. This allowed the Blue Jackets to put the game out of reach in the third.
Fantilli scored his second of the game and 29th of the season. The pass from Kent Johnson was simply out of this world to make the goal happen. He completed a no-look pass to a streaking Fantilli which left a wide-open net.
Then as the game was winding down, Dmitri Voronkov drew a penalty on Dylan Strome. But before the call could be made, Voronkov iced the game away by scoring his 22nd of the season to make it 4-1.
Fantilli scored four goals this weekend and now needs just one goal in the last two games to secure his first 30-goal NHL season. Greaves stopped 51/52 this weekend against the Capitals, who did rest players on both games with their playoff spot locked in.
Now to reset the Blue Jackets’ playoff situation. They await the result of Monday’s Blackhawks/Canadiens game. If Montreal wins in any fashion, the Blue Jackets will be eliminated. If Montreal loses in any fashion even with an overtime loss, Tuesday’s game in Philadelphia will matter. We’ll revisit should it get to that point.
Both the Blue Jackets and Capitals will rest Monday with off days. The Blue Jackets will take on the Flyers Tuesday night and the Capitals will play the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Tuesday night. The Capitals will face either the Canadiens or the Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs.