Ivan Provorov(4), Kirill Marchenko(9-PPG), Kent Johnson(3), and Adam Fantilli(10-PPG, 11) poured in the goals for Columbus, while Elvis Merzlikins was good at times in a 5-4 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Blue Jackets have been in some wild games of late. Not like the New Jersey game wild, but this one had its own wild identity.
The two teams combined for six goals in the second period, five of which were power-play goals. Dmitri Voronkov took a double minor for high-sticking 7:52 into the second and then took a two-minute minor for high-sticking with 25 seconds left in the period. The Wings scored on all three penalties to put the score at 4-3 going into the third period.
The Blue Jackets were up 3-1 in this game, and wouldn't you know it, they lost the lead. Adam Fantilli scored 13:50 in the period to give the Jackets another lead at the end of the second.
When Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat scored two minutes apart with just over eight minutes left in the game, CBJ fans inside NWA could do nothing but sit back and watch them lose another game in which they had a two-goal lead.
Adam Fantilli, however, was bound and determined not to let that happen, though. Fantilli scored his 11th goal of the season, and second of the night with 1:31 left to tie the game at 5. All the Jackets had to do was hold on for another 1:31 to send the game to overtime.
With every point being important, even making it to overtime is a win. On Thursday night, the Rangers, Penguins, and Islanders all won, so getting two points was extremely important.
The Blue Jackets would win in overtime with two stellar shots from Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko, who are basically automatic in the shootout nowadays. Elvis Merzlikins stopped both shootout tries to earn his 6th win of the season, and 100th of his career.
Final Stats
Player Stats
- Ivan Provorov scored his 4th goal.
- Kirill Marchenko scored his 9th goal of the season.
- Kent Johnson scored his 3rd goal of the season.
- Adam Fantilli scored his 10th and 11th goals. He now has 100 career points.
- Zach Werenski had 3 assists and was a plus-2.
- Sean Monahan recorded 3 assists.
- Cole Sillinger had 1 assist.
- Denton Mateychuk tallied an assist.
- Brendan Gaunce had an assist.
- Elvis Merzlikins made 28 saves on 33 Red Wings shots.
Team Stats
- The Jackets power play went2/3.
- The Columbus PK gave up three power play goals to Detroit.
- Columbus won 54.8% of the faceoffs - 34/62
- The Blue Jackets had 24 hits.
Up Next: The Jackets travel to Florida to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Panthers.
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