| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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CBJ GOALS: |
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Jet Greaves was 10.5 seconds away from a shutout in what was undoubtedly the best start of his young NHL career and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the St. Louis Blues by a final of 2-1 Saturday night.
The win was Columbus' fourth straight, something they last accomplished in February 2022. And for just the second time this season, the Blue Jackets have won two in a row on the road.
It was an outstanding start for Greaves, just his fifth of the season and 15th of his NHL career. He made big saves in all three periods, keeping the game scoreless early, maintaining the lead in the middle, and preserving the lead late.
As he's developing a knack for doing, Greaves gave the credit to his teammates.
"I thought the guys were great in front of me," said Greaves. "They did a really good job of clearing out the second chances, boxing out. Special teams were really good as well."
"I thought it was a great team effort."
Head coach Dean Evason echoed a similar sentiment.
"It's a team game, and everybody is buying in to do the right things to keep the puck out of the net," said Evason.
Adam Fantilli got the scoring started late in the first period, reaching double-digit goals on the season and extending his point streak to five games.
The assists on Fantilli's 10th of the season came from Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko, who have been centered by the second-year player the last two games after Sean Monahan went out with a wrist injury in Tuesday's win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Cole Sillinger gave the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead late in the second period with a power-play goal, taking a great feed from James van Riemsdyk and beating St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington.
It was the seventh time in the last nine games that Columbus scored while on the power play.
St. Louis' only goal of the game would come when they had a two-man advantage, one as a result of a Zach Werenski penalty, and the other as the Blues had pulled Binnington to give them an extra attacker.
Zach Aston-Reese left the game early in the third period after taking a puck to the mid-section. He would not return, and the team is calling it an upper-body injury.
The win moves Columbus to 20-17-6 on the season and into a tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the first of two wild card spots. The Lightning have played four fewer games than Columbus.
Here's the details from a Saturday night in St. Louis:
1st Period:
(15:38 — CBJ Goal): This was a brilliant play by all three players who got a point on the goal. It starts with Voronkov, who gets the secondary assist and starts the goal-scoring sequence by shaking off a pair of Blues' defenders and then working the puck to Marchenko near the face-off dot to the left of Binnington. Two Blues defenseman converge on him, and Fantilli sneaks behind them and takes a great feed from Marchenko right in front of the net. Binnington, thinking Marchenko's pass was a shot, is out of position and Fantilli is able to bury it with ease.
"The fake was so good (from Marchenko) that Binnington wasn't really in the net," said Fantilli.
The #CBJ have a 1-0 lead after the first period compliments of this Adam Fantilli goal and the dope apples from from Marchy & Ronny.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) January 12, 2025
Fantilli now has points in five straight games. pic.twitter.com/9djlPSe6zI
2nd Period
(16:51 — CBJ PP Goal): It's a power-play goal for the Blue Jackets to make it 2-0 with just over three minutes left in the period. Sillinger picks up his seventh goal of the season after Columbus' second unit gets the Blues defense all out of sorts — especially van Riemsdyk. He pulls two St. Louis defensemen behind the net and while he's doing that, Sillinger is calling for the puck in the low slot; van Riemsdyk gets it his way and Sillinger puts it past Binnington to double the Columbus lead.
Power play goal for Columbus!
— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 12, 2025
Scored by Cole Sillinger with 03:09 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by James van Riemsdyk and Luca Del Bel Belluz.
St. Louis: 0
Columbus: 2#CBJvsSTL #stlblues #CBJ pic.twitter.com/DB3dK0LsK4
3rd Period
(19:50): The Blues get on the scoreboard but it's too little, too late. With Werenski in the box for a tripping penalty, Colton Parayko gets a power-play goal to give St. Louis a temporary glimmer of hope before the clock would run out.
| CBJ | GAME STATS | STL |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | SHOTS | 32 |
| 47% | FACEOFFS | 53% |
| 1/2 | POWER PLAY | 1/3 |
| 2/3 | PENALTY KILL | 1/2 |
| 14 | HITS | 22 |
| 8 | GIVEAWAYS | 19 |
| 3 | TAKEAWAYS | 4 |
| 23 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 10 |
| ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS | ||
| 1.67 | EXPECTED GOALS | 2.26 |
| 42 | SHOT ATTEMPTS | 61 |
| 17 | SCORING CHANCES | 32 |
| 12 | HIGH-DANGER CHANCES | 5 |
| Data via NHL.com & NaturalStatTrick.com | ||
Stat Chat:
-
Luca Del Bel Belluz had the secondary assist on the Sillinger goal. In his first three games (two this season and one last season), LDBB had two goals and two assists.
-
Werenski was held off the scoresheet for the 13th time this season. Before the game, he had the same number of multi-point games (12) as he did games without a point.
- The 1.67 expected goals from the Blue Jackets was their lowest in a victory this season. The previous low in a win was 1.88 in a 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on November 18th.
Up Next:
After the quick trip to St. Louis, the Blue Jackets come right back to Columbus for a pair of home games: Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers and Thursday against the San Jose Sharks. Both games will start at 7 p.m.
