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Columbus Blue Jackets start trip with Cole Sillinger's OT winner over Vegas Golden Knights
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- Columbus Blue Jackets start trip with Cole Sillinger's OT winner over Vegas Golden Knights
Kent Johnson , Zach Werenski and Cole Sillinger came up big for the Blue Jackets in a 2-1 overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights late Thursday at T-Mobile Arena.
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Defending inside his own blue line during 3-on-3 OT play, Johnson created a breakaway with a great stick check to swipe the puck from Golden Knights perennial all-star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo . His attempt to beat Vegas goalie Ilya Samsonov between the pads was stopped, but Werenski followed with a rebound stuff at the left post that sent the puck to the low slot for Sillinger to clean up while trailing the play.
"Pietrangelo came into the zone and 'KJ' just got a good stick on it and got a breakaway," Sillinger told FanDuel Sports Network's Dave Maetzold on the postgame TV broadcast. "I honestly thought that five-hole move that he likes to do was in, and I just followed it up. (Werenski) was just bashing at it, and I was just the third guy there. The puck was just sitting there and I had the easy job. It was just a good effort from those two."
Jan 30, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) controls the puck ahead of Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud (2) during the first period at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Sillinger's eighth goal of the season gave the Blue Jackets their second straight victory and second consecutive win in OT after downing the Los Angeles Kings last Saturday in Columbus with an acrobatic overtime goal from Kirill Marchenko . The win in Las Vegas moved the Blue Jackets (25-19-7) back into the second wild card in the Eastern Conference by a point over the Boston Bruins (25-22-6).
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The Jackets will now face Utah in Salt Lake City on Friday night while attempting to sweep a back-to-back for the first time this season. They'll also seek their first win in the second game of a back-to-back set.
In the first game, the Blue Jackets and Golden Knights each scored in the first period of what developed into a tight-checking defensive tilt between two of the NHL's highest-scoring teams. Vegas outshot Columbus 26-24, but neither team created many "Grade A" scoring chances. Each team prevented goals via key saves from Samsonov and Elvis Merzlikins (25 saves) plus timely blocked shots.
Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins makes a save between Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl (48) and left wing Pavel Dorofeyev (16).
Tomas Hertl opened the scoring 4:58 into the game, giving the Golden Knights (31-15-6) a 1-0 lead on his 20thgoal while extending his point streak to 11 straight games. It took most of the period, but the Blue Jackets countered with Adam Fantilli 's 15thgoal, which tied it 1-1 with 1:26 left in the opening frame.
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The second-year center, who's anchoring the top line with Sean Monahan out, dug the puck out from a scramble in the Vegas crease and watched it deflect into the net off the skate of Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague . That was all the scoring until Sillinger scored in OT. Merzlikins and Samsonov made some critical stops to keep it knotted at 1-1 in the second and third, while their teammates clogged the slots and occupied shooting lanes at both ends of the ice.
"One of our keys was to try to be a frustrating group tonight," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said on the FanDuel Sports network postgame broadcast. "That meant not opening things up and that meant not giving them any life, and then making it a boring game. So, if that makes it look like it's a little bit of a 'slow start,' fine. We're OK with that, right? If we can stick around in games like this, buildings like this and (against) teams like this, then it says some good things."
Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli celebrates with teammates after scoring in the first period Thursday.
Each goalie also got help from the crossbars behind them in the third.
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Samsonov was spared a goal by the bar early on a backhand attempt from Marchenko just outside the left post, while Merzlikins heard the ping of good fortune late in the period after a hard wrist shot from Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore . That's how the game went to OT, which was the fourth time in the past eight games the Jackets have needed longer than regulation to decide the outcome.
"I thought both teams were playing a good defensive game," Sillinger told Maetzold. "We just stuck with it and got the extra point in overtime."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Sillinger lifts Columbus Blue Jackets over Vegas Golden Knights in OT
