What a win in Sin City.
Cole Sillinger returned to the lineup and scored in overtime as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in overtime on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Celebrating 100 In Style
Thursday was Adam Fantilli's 100th career game in the NHL, and Vegas is a good place to celebrate that milestone.
Scoring only makes it sweeter.
The Jackets trailing 1-0 late in the first period, Fantilli, unassisted, sent home the greasiest of greasy goals to tie the game 1-1 on his 15th of the season at 18:34.
Adam Fantilli gets the last touch on the loose puck before it ends up in the back of the net, tie game!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/lIA02ytZ2j
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 31, 2025
That was Adam Fantilli's eighth goal in the last 12 games. He now has 27 goals in his first 100 NHL games, fourth in #CBJ history.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) January 31, 2025
Ahead of him: Kirill Marchenko (35), Rick Nash (35), Pierre-Luc Dubois (28). Can obviously still tie PLD tonight. And Marchy and Nash, but that
Fantilli leads Columbus with eight goals in January. He had a game-high five shots on net in 18:12 and was 9-8 in the face-off circle.
Cole Returns And Delivers
Sillinger missed the previous three games entering play with an upper-body injury so it was a weclome sight to have him back against the Golden Knights.
The First Star of the Night, Sillinger scored the winner in overtime at 0:52 for his eighth goal of the season.
COLE SILLINGER IN OVERTIME! COLUMBUS WINS 2-1!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/XJTWQrx6UK
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 31, 2025
Zach Werenski picked up his team-leading 39th assist and 55th point and Kent Johnson added his 18th assist. Werenski is on a four-game point streak (one goal, three assists). Johnson is on a five-game point streak (two goals, four assists).
Merzlikins Continues Roll
Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves and picked up his 19th win of the season as he stayed hot and picked up Third Star of the Night honors.
He's won seven of his last nine January starts and has a 2.42 goals against average and a .910 save percentage for the month.
#CBJ goalie Elvis Merzlikins on the Jackets' vibes right now: "We all know our own role, and we try to help each other as well. If a defenseman makes a mistake, there is gonna be me who is going to help him out. If a forward makes a mistake, there's gonna be a defenseman who's
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) January 31, 2025
Merzlikins is now 3-1-0 in his career against the Golden Knights with a .930 save percentage and 2.01 GAA.
Vegas scored the first goal of the game at 4:58 when Thomas Hertl scored his 20th at 4:58 to continue an 11-game point streak (nine goals, six assists). Pavel Dorofeyev (12) and Nicolas Hague (4) picked up the assists.
Tomas Hertl has a longer active point streak than he has letters in his first & last name combined pic.twitter.com/qjqKZwWJH7
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) January 31, 2025
#CBJ improve to 4-2-1 in the last 7 road games and have registered points in 15 of the last 19 contests overall (13-4-2).
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) January 31, 2025
The club is back in action on Friday when it plays Utah for the 1st time in franchise history.
Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves for Vegas.
Back-To-Back
Columbus heads east to take on the Utah Hockey Club from Delta Center on Friday, Jan. 31 at 9:00 p.m. ET.
