The Columbus Blue Jackets faced a tall task on Wednesday night without two of their best players in the lineup. With Denton Mateychuk missing a second consecutive game due to illness and Cole Sillinger dealing with an upper-body injury, it would take a total team effort to find a win in a tough building against a team with the most home wins in the NHL.
Thanks to a pair of Blue Jackets who grew up in Ontario, they were able to win in convincing fashion.
Adam Fantilli scored his first NHL hat trick in front of around 75 of his family and friends while Luca Del Bel Belluz in front of his family added a goal and an assist to lift the Blue Jackets to a convincing 5-1 win over the Maple Leafs. Elvis Merzlikins shined making 29 saves on the night.
This night belonged to Fantilli and Del Bel Belluz.
Game Recap
The game started with a big bang. Two of the NHL’s toughest heavyweights in Mathieu Olivier and Ryan Reaves fought for the first time ever and gave everyone something to cheer about. Both threw huge punches. At the end, Reaves tapped Olivier as a show of respect.
Then in a rare moment, Merzlikins and Auston Matthews each took offsetting minors. Merzlikins stole Matthews’ stick after he lost his own. Matthews then proceeded to pick up the goalie stick. The calls were holding the stick on Merzlikins and playing with an illegal stick on Matthews. We might not see that again for a long time.
Once all that was over, the Blue Jackets went to work. On a Maple Leafs’ power play, Fantilli received a pass at center and did the rest to open the scoring. His shot went upstairs on Dennis Hildeby.
Then in a span of 1:41 in the second, the former Maple Leaf James van Riemsdyk made it 2-0 and then Fantilli scored his second of the night from the side of the net to make it 3-0.
In the third, Del Bel Belluz joined the scoring party after a great forecheck by Mikael Pyyhtia created a turnover. Tears of joy streamed down the Del Bel Belluz family as he made it 4-0 in his homecoming.
Matthews was able to break Merzlikins’ shutout on a good pass by William Nylander. With the score 4-1 and a 4-on-4 situation in play, the Maple Leafs decided to pull Hildeby for a 5-on-4 advantage. That ultimately resulted in a 2-on-1 in which Kirill Marchenko found Fantilli to complete his first NHL hat trick. His mother Julia was the first to throw a hat on the Scotiabank Arena ice in celebration.
With the win, the Blue Jackets jumped Montreal, Boston and Ottawa into the first wildcard spot in the East. They now go to Raleigh for a difficult back-to-back Thursday against the Hurricanes.
The Maple Leafs now get a couple days off before playing in Ottawa on Saturday night.