CBJ 7, WSH 0: Greaves Records First NHL Shutout, Fantilli Scores Twice As Blue Jackets Win Big Over Capitals

By Ed Francis on April 12, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Jet Greaves recorded his first NHL shutout and Adam Fantilli was a two-way force Saturday afternoon as the Blue Jackets blanked the Capitals 7-0 to stay alive in the playoff race.
© Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images
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  1 2 3 F
WSH 0 0 0 0
CBJ 3 3 1 7

CBJ GOALS: 
Werenski (P1, 1:00)
Johnson (P1, 4:45)
Fantilli (P1, 19:24)
Fantilli (2) (P2, 2:01)
Monahan (P2, 4:37)
Sillinger (P2, 5:14)
van Riemsdyk (P3, 17:41)

A dominant performance.

Adam Fantilli scored twice and Jet Greaves recorded his first career NHL shutout as the Columbus Blue Jackets put a seven spot on the Washington Capitals in a 7-0 win Saturday afternoon.

The victory keeps the Blue Jackets alive in the battle for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot.

Zach Werenski got the scoring started early for the Blue Jackets with a goal exactly one minute into the game.

It was his 21st of the season and broke his own franchise record for most goals in a season by a defenseman. 

Less than four minutes later, Kent Johnson found the back of the net to make it 2-0 Columbus. 

The Blue Jackets would extend their lead to 3-0 in the final minute of the period on the first of Fantilli's goals. Just seconds earlier, he had leveled Washington's Ryan Leonard to start the sequence that led to the goal.

It was a clean hit, but drew the ire of the Capitals in a game that immediately turned chippy.

"I was reaching for it, he was reaching for it, and at the last second I saw him and I didn't want to be the one that went down," said Fantilli.

Fantilli would score again, putting Columbus up 4-0, just over two minutes into the second period. It was the first of three Columbus goals in a span of 3:13, with Sean Monahan and Cole Sillinger adding goals to make it 6-0 Columbus.

Later in the second, Leonard would drop the gloves with Sean Kuraly in a one-sided fight that went Kuraly's way. James van Riemsdyk and Rasmus Sandin picked up fighting majors for an exchange just two minutes later, giving van Riemsdyk the second leg of a Gordie Howe hat trick. He had assisted on Johnson's earlier goal.

van Riemsdyk completed the Howe hatty with a goal in the final minutes of the game, one that gave the Blue Jackets a game with 7+ goals for the fourth time this season.

Greaves finished with 22 saves, the trickiest of which came in the closing seconds on the game.

"That one-timer was kind of some through traffic," said Greaves with a chuckle. "Just was trying to keep it out of the net."

When asked after the game if there's a chance the team turns to Greaves for the third time in four nights when the teams complete their home-and-home Sunday evening, head coach Dean Evason said it was "possible, yes."

The win put Columbus at 83 points and just four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Each team has three games remaining, with the Canadiens needing just one regulation win to clicnh the final spot and eliminate the Blue Jackets.

Here's how Columbus kept themselves in the hunt:

1st Period:

(1:00 — CBJ Goal): One minute in and one goal for the Blue Jackets. Werenski dumps the puck into the zone and Columbus quickly gets to work. Dante Fabbro disrupts the Caps' clearing attempt and slips the puck to Sean Monahan, who moves into the slot before finding Werenski cut into the circle. He rips one from the dot and beats Shepard glove-side to give Columbus an early 1-0 lead.

(4:45 — CBJ Goal): James van Riemsdyk pokes the puck away from a pair of Capitals near center ice and Johnson collects it just outside of the Washington zone. As he skates in, Caps defender Martin Fehervary tries to disrupt a potential pass to a streaking Adam Fantilli — but Johnson isn't thinking pass. He skates right up to Shepard and flicks a quick snapper past him to double the Columbus lead.

(19:24 — CBJ Goal): Fantilli has done a lot of great things season but this may be his best sequence of the season. It starts in front of Greaves, with Fantilli putting Washington's Ryan Leonard on the ice with a powerful hit. He collects the puck and dishes ahead van Riemsdyk, who skates up into the Capitals zone. Johnson is with him and takes a pass near the boards, drawing attention away from the fact that Fantilli rejoined the play. KJ finds him with a crisp pass and Fantilli is all alone from close proximity and beats Shepard to make it 4-0 Columbus.

2nd Period:

(2:01 — CBJ Goal): Fantilli gets his second of the game on a far more pedestrian sequence. The Blue Jackets do a good job here of maintaining the puck in the Caps zone with their play along the boards. Denton Mateychuk skates around Washington's Connor McMichael as Fantilli slides behind them. Mateychuk slides it back to Fantilli who lets one go from the point. It gets through traffic, into the back of the net, and puts Columbus up 4-0.

(4:37 — CBJ Goal): Monahan makes it a 5-0 lead, putting home a rebound from a Kirill Marchenko shot. Marchy enters the zone and works his way around a defender before getting off a tough-angle shot on the edge of the circle. Shepard makes the initial save but the puck slides off his blocker and right to Monahan, who is waiting at the crease for the easy put-back.

(5:14 — CBJ Goal): Columbus goes up 6-0 on Sillinger's goal. Dmitri Voronkov bumps Washington's Lars Eller off the puck behind the Capitals net and slides it backhand to Sillinger, who is waiting in front of the net. Shepard is out of position and that allows Sillinger to score on a relatively open net.

(11:53 — Kuraly vs. Leonard): Leonard is not a fighter, but he drops the gloves here with Sean Kuraly and it doesn't end well for the Washington rookie. The two get tied up in the corner and shove and slash their way up the ice before it finally boils over near center ice. Dylan Strome comes in after the punches are flying and tries to intervene but it's too late. 

3rd Period:

(17:41 — CBJ Goal): van Riemsdyk completes the Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal in the final minutes to put the Blue Jackets up 7-0.

WSH GAME STATS CBJ
22 SHOTS 26
55% FACEOFFS 45%
0/2 POWER PLAY 0/2
2/2 PENALTY KILL 2/2
21 HITS 22
21 GIVEAWAYS 12
10 TAKEAWAYS 4
21 BLOCKED SHOTS 17
ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS
3.06 EXPECTED GOALS 2.69
61 SHOT ATTEMPTS 60
28 SCORING CHANCES 29
12 HIGH-DANGER CHANCES 13
Data via NHL.com & NaturalStatTrick.com

Stat Chat:

  • Fantilli becomes the fifth different Blue Jacket to hit 50 points this season. That's tied for the most in franchise history for a single season. Next up would be Dmitri Voronkov, who is at 45 after adding an assist today.
     
  • This was the third time the Blue Jackets had multiple 3+ goal periods, and all have come recently: March 28th against the Vancouver Canucks and April 1st against the Nashville Predators. 
     
  • The game had four 10-minute misconducts and a total of 76 penalty minutes. The Capitals picked up 48 of them; the Blue Jackets had 28.

Up Next:

These same two teams meet tomorrow in D.C., with puck-drop scheduled for 6 p.m. 

 

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