The Columbus Blue Jackets, to the surprise of many, have been holding on to a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference since early last week. But there’s no that could be sustained in the second half of the season unless they learned to start winning games away from Nationwide Arena.
Maybe they’re onto something now.
Goaltender Jet Greaves, up from AHL Cleveland to make a spot start, had 31 saves and came within 10.8 seconds of a shutout, leading the Blue Jackets to a hard-fought 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues before 17,591 in Enterprise Center.
Adam Fantilli and Cole Sillinger, two young centers moving up in the lineup due to the injury absence of Sean Monahan, scored the goals, and the Blue Jackets combined for 23 blocked shots to win their second straight game on the road for the first time this season.
“We talk about our road record — you guys talk about, we talk about it as coaches — but (the players) take pride in that, too, right?” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason told reporters in St. Louis. “They won’t want the road record to be what it is so they’re working to change that.”
Jet being Jet pic.twitter.com/xNOM6p1ZMj
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 12, 2025
Saturday’s win, coupled with a 4-3 shootout win in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, have pushed the Blue Jackets’ road record to 6-12-3.
The Blues made a push in the third period, as you’d expect, but the Blue Jackets didn’t cave under the pressure. They were controlled and structured, making smart puck plays that made St. Louis go 200 feet with the puck to earn scoring chances.
If you’ve watched the Blue Jackets in recent seasons, you’ve seen how often they’d come unglued under pressure near the end of a tight game. There was none of that feeling in the air on Saturday.
The only goal the Blues scored — the shutout spoiler in the final seconds — came on the power play, which gave St. Louis a six-on-four advantage with goaltender Jordan Binnington pulled for an extra skater.
“These road games are going to be huge going forward,” Fantilli said. “We weren’t great at the start of the season. Hopefully, we can turn that around and make it a strength of ours.”
The Blue Jackets have won four straight and are 8-2-1 since Dec. 19. They currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot — the second wild card — in the mucky middle of the Eastern Conference.
The win improved them to 20-17-6. They didn’t win their 20th game last season until March 20, their 60th game of the season.
“I thought the guys were great in front of me,” said Greaves, who had to make 14 of his saves in the third period. “They did a really good job cleaning out the secondary chances and boxing out (at net-front).
“The buy-in from the guys was so important, and we definitely had that tonight.”
Greaves made a glove save look easy in the first seconds of the third period when St. Louis’ Pavel Buchnevich was left alone in front of the net. Later in the third, Greaves again flashed the glove to deny Blues’ forward Robert Thomas from low in the right circle.
“Jet was really sound for us,” Evason said. “Everybody’s buying in to do the right thing, buying it to keeping the puck out of the net. We did a lot of good things to play a sound defensive hockey game. Unfortunately, we didn’t keep it out (of the net) at the end, but we did a lot of good things to keep it out for most of the night.
“We didn’t feed their rush. We didn’t feed into their offensive production. We were sound defensively. When we didn’t have plays, we were able to get it behind them and get in on the forecheck.”
FANTILLI BREAKS THE ICE! 🚨@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/0kwcO1TgCf
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 12, 2025
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead at 15:38 of the first period. Dmitri Voronkov won a puck battle along the end boards and sent the pass out to Kirill Marchenko, the Blue Jackets’ leading goal-scorer and maybe the best shooter on the roster.
Everybody expected Marchenko to shoot, but instead, he found Fantilli just outside the crease in front of Binnington, who lunged to his left anticipating a Marchenko shot. That allowed Fantilli to bury the puck into the abandoned net off his backhand.
The Jackets pushed the lead to 2-0 late in the second with a goal from their second power-play unit. James van Riemsdyk gathered the puck from behind the net and found Sillinger out front for a point-blank roofer.
The only bad news on the night for Columbus was an injury to third-line winger Zach Aston-Reese, who left the game after blocking a shot with his abdomen on the first shift of the third period. He did not return, joining a growing list of injured Blue Jackets’ forwards.
The Blue Jackets have played all season without captain Boone Jenner (shoulder). They’ve not only stayed afloat but moved into the upper half of the conference without forwards Yegor Chinakhov (upper body) and Justin Danforth (lower body) in the lineup.
Monahan, the club’s No. 1 center, injured a wrist in the win Tuesday in Pittsburgh. He’s out for an unspecified amount of time. Now Aston-Reese is injured.
This was the definition of a gutsy win. Defenseman Dante Fabbro blocked seven shots. Sillinger, two nights after missing a game with an illness, won 11 of 16 faceoffs. Mathieu Olivier had five hits.
“That was kind of a greasy, 2-1 road win,” Sillinger said. “We’ve talked about being better on the road and being able to win a game like that, so that’s a big one for our group.”
(Photo: Jeff Curry / Imagn Images)
