Three Things: The Great 8's, Big Weekend From Fantilli, Ride The Jet

By Will Chase on April 14, 2025 at 8:15 am
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) celebrates with teammates after their game against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.
© Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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Still beathing.

Adam Fantiili scored twice, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Sunday at Capital One Arena to stay alive in the playoff race for at least one more day.

The Great 8's

Columbus knew what they had to do on Sunday if they were going to keep alive any hope of a playoff spot: Win.

Completing the weekend set with the Capitals in D.C. following Saturday's 7-0 blowout win at Nationwide Arena, you probably expected Washington would be a little angry with how events unfolded the day before. Washington had regulars back in the lineup like Alex Ovechkin, Jakob Chychrun, and Charlie Lindgren.

Just like the Blue Jackets wasted little time lighting the lamp on Saturday, this time it was Ovechkin and the Capitals getting on the board early. Ovechkin's 43rd goal of the season, 896th of his career, at 1:10 gave Washington the lead and their first goal of the weekend against Jet Greaves and the Blue Jackets. Dylan Stome picked up assist No. 52 on the year.

Immediately after the goal, and perhaps due to spillover from Saturday's contest that featured two fights, several misconducts, and 76 combined penalty minutes, Mathieu Olivier and Dylan McIlrath dropped the gloves. From where I was in the 400 section, it looked like a pretty even fight, but Hockeyfights.com gave the edge to Olivier.

That fight might have been just what Columbus needed. Playing desperate hockey with their backs against the wall and razor-thin margin for error, the Blue Jackets were able to take over from this point forward.

The other great eight in Werenski fired home the equalizer for his 22nd at 14:36 to make it 1-1. Ivan Provorov (25) and Sean Monahan (35) assisted. Weresnki is on a four-game point streak (two goals, two assists). Monahan is on a four-game point streak (two goals, three assists).

Big Weekend From Fantilli

Fantilli continued his big week with an even bigger weekend.

Following his two-goal output Saturday, the second-year pro picked up where he left off with two more goals against the Capitals on Sunday.

His second-period, unassisted marker gave Columbus the 2-1 lead at 4:39 for his 28th.

The second goal, his 29th, came early in the third period at 1:57 to give the Jackets the 3-1 lead. Kent Johnson made the sick pass to Fantilli for his 33rd assist, and James van Riemsdyk picked up his 19th assist. Johnson is on a four-game point streak (one goal, five assists). van Riemsdyk is on a three-game point streak (two goals, three assists).

Ride The Jet

After backstopping the Blue Jackets to a weekend sweep over the Capitals, the world is taking notice of Greaves.

Whether the AHL or the NHL, all Greaves has done over the last week is win games. He picked up the win on Wednesday for AHL Cleveland. Then up to Columbus on emergency recall with Elvis Merzlikins out due to an upper-body injury, Greaves cooled off a hot Buffalo Sabres team after going down 2-0 in the first period of that 3-2 win.

He picked up his first-career shutout on Saturday, and then stifled the Caps again Sunday, helping Columbus secure just its second win this season on the second of a back-to-back as they improved to 2-10-0 in that scenario.

It's fair to wonder where the club is in the standings if Greaves had been up sooner.

Making 29 saves on 30 shots Sunday, Greaves stopped 51 of 52 shots over the weekend, and the Blue Jackets picked up four crucial points to move within three points of the idle Montreal Canadiens for the eighth seed in the East.

Montreal has lost two straight and hosts the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night.

Dmitri Voronkov's 22nd goal of the season at 15:48 made it 4-1.

Brotherly Love

The Blue Jackets are back at it on Tuesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. ET when they play the Philadelphia Flyers from Wells Fargo Center.

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