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'Silly' season: Sillinger hat trick, six goals lead Blue Jackets over Vegas Golden Knights
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- 'Silly' season: Sillinger hat trick, six goals lead Blue Jackets over Vegas Golden Knights
The goals returned for the Blue Jackets despite missing some of their biggest offensive weapons.
Playing without captain Boone Jenner and forward Jakub Voracek — not to mention defenseman Adam Boqvist and forwards Alexandre Texier and Justin Danforth — the Jackets set their goal cannon off six times in a 6-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night at Nationwide Arena.
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Cole Sillinger, a rookie center and the NHL's youngest player at age 18, led the way with his first career hat trick. Sillinger was 18 and 302 days old Sunday, which made him the second-youngest player in franchise history to score three goals in a game, topped only by Nikita Filatov's hat trick Jan. 10, 2009 at 18 and 230 days.
"It didn't really feel real," Sillinger said of watching hats rain onto the ice afterward. "And then, just kind of going forward (in) the second period there, I just kind of, not really zoned out, but I was like, 'Oh, my god, what just happened?' It's pretty cool."
Oliver Bjorkstrand, one of Sillinger's wingers, scored a goal and tied single-game career highs with four points and three assists. Patrik Laine scored his 23rd goal, Max Domi and Dean Kukan added two assists each, Eric Robinson sealed it with an empty-netter and four others added assists.
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"We just needed a team effort," said Bjorkstrand, who assisted on all three Sillinger goals. "Some important guys were out. We had to find a way as a team to get a win and do the job."
They did it by tapping into available roles that opened because of injuries, especially those belonging to Jenner and Voracek on the top two lines.
Jack Roslovic (one assist) filled Jenner's spot at center on the top line, skating with Laine and Gustav Nyquist (one assist), and Bjorkstrand was joined on the second line by Domi and Sillinger — who'd skated with the third line in a 3-2 shootout win Friday over the Minnesota Wild.
"I think we've spotted a little (as a line) here and there," Domi said. "Bjorky and I have always loved playing together, obviously, but haven't had the opportunity very much. He's a pure shooter, knows how to get open, and obviously I like to pass, so it works out great. And it's the same with 'Silly.'"
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Elvis Merzlikins earned the win in net with 23 saves for the Blue Jackets (30-27-3), who held off a strong push by the Golden Knights in the third to notch their second straight victory.
"Our first two periods, we played really well," Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. "The Sillinger line, they were feeling it tonight. We just keep pushing, pushing and playing hard. That's a desperate team we played. We had to be focused and ready, and I thought we had a really good start to the game."
Jonathan Marchessault, William Carrier, Evgenii Dadonov and Jack Eichel scored the goals for Vegas, which is struggling amid its own slew of key injuries. Logan Thompson took the loss in net for the Golden Knights (32-25-4), allowing five goals on 38 shots.
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Cole Sillinger's 'special' night one to remember for Blue Jackets rookie center
The rookie with a shot that got him drafted 12th overall, not to mention elite hand-eye skills, is starting to figure out NHL goalies. It was only a matter of time before that happened and it made a night like this almost bound to happen before the end of the season.
Moving back to the middle of the Jackets' second line because of the injuries didn't hurt either, giving Sillinger a lot more ice time with two highly-skilled wingers than he'd been getting recently.
The result was a hat trick and Sillinger just missed by inches with a redirection of a pass that could've been a fourth goal.
"He likes to have the puck," Domi said. "I think when he's in certain roles, he plays … I don't want to use the word 'safe,' but he's a responsible player and he doesn't necessarily want to take certain risks that he might in different roles. Tonight, he had an opportunity to play up in the lineup and he took it head on. You could see the confidence and he was having fun out there."
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Sillinger's three goals for the Blue Jackets were scored using different offensive skills
Sillinger's first goal rewarded Bjorkstrand and Kukan for making impressive back-to-back plays to set it up.
Kukan backhanded a dump-in from just inside the red line for Bjorkstrand to chase down behind the Golden Knights' net, which put the puck in a dangerous spot. Bjorkstrand took it from there, making a no-look reverse feed to Sillinger in the slot for a snap shot that beat Thompson on the far side.
It was a beautiful goal, tied the game 2-2 with 8:07 left in the first and was foreshadowing for his this goal of the game — which was scored in the second period.
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Sillinger's second goal put Columbus up 3-2 at 5:36 of the second and was scored by tipping Bjorkstrand's shot past Thomson. Sillinger works on tipping pucks after practices quite a bit and hr's scored that way multiple times.
On this one, he spotted a pass going from Kukan at the blue line to Bjorkstrand on the left wing after a faceoff win, so Sillinger turned his body inside the left circle and extended his stick as Bjorkstrand fired a wrist shot. The blade grazed the puck enough to send it downward from its original path and Thomson had no chance to stop it.
"That's just who he is, his pedigree," Larsen said of Sillinger. "He's not a perimeter guy. He's going to go to hard areas. As far as tipping the puck, he's one of our best guys. We watch him in practice, knocking pucks out of the air and doing things, and he's really good at it. So, none of that surprises me."
Sillinger credited Jenner, who's out week-to-week with a lower-body injury, for setting a good example playing around the net. Jenner leads the team with 23 goals.
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"I think everyone in this league has good hand-eye, but I'm always working on it," Sillinger said. "Deflections are a big part of the game. Look at 'Booner.' That's somebody I'm looking at for the way he scores his goals. But, honestly, I just went to the net and put my stick out. I was kind of fortunate it took a lucky bounce."
Luck had nothing to do with the third goal.
Sillinger smacked the puck between Thomson's pads for that one to cap a 2-on-1 that included an impressive saucer pass by Domi that split the Golden Knights' top defense pairing of Alex Pietrangelo and Nicolas Hague — who'd teamed up on Domi in a first-period skirmish.
"Coming down, I knew that he was not shooting that," Sillinger said. "He was passing it regardless, whether it was a zip on the ice or a saucer like he did. You see some of the other passes he made in the game and just all year. He's a phenomenal playmaker. So, I just had to get ready and get myself in position to shoot it. I did and I just put it between the goalie's legs."
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That's simplifying the shot, though, which Sillinger sent between the goalie's wickets after opening his body to the far side while on the move — resembling his first goal.
"It's a great finish by him," Domi said. "To see a sauce like that land, it looks a lot easier than it really is to time that with a guy coming back and the back pressure there with the stick … to go against the grain on a goalie like that, that's an elite finish by him."
Cole Sillinger joins exclusive club with first career hat trick for Blue Jackets
Sillinger's 'hatty' puts him in the top-20 of youngest hat tricks in NHL history, behind the third of Laine's three in 2016-17 with the Winnipeg Jets.
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Laine's first at the NHL level, scored Oct. 19, 2016, is second on the NHL's all-time list of youngest hat tricks, behind Jordan Staal for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006-07. Laine's trio of trios as a rookie was discussed on the Bally Sports Ohio television broadcast, which Domi spotted noticed while on the bench.
"To get a hat trick at 18 is just absolutely ridiculous," he said. "I did see some stat ... on the bench, next to me, I can always see the screen for the live broadcast and they're talking about how 'Patty' had three when he was 18. And I'm like, 'Are you serious? You had three hat tricks at 18?' I was like, 'Silly, you've got some work to do, kid.'"
The work he's putting in already is paying off.
Sillinger's three goals pushed his season total to 11 and tied him with Rick Nash as the only two players in franchise history to score at least 10 goals in a season before age 19. Sillinger doesn't turn 19 until May 16, which is a little more than two weeks after the season ends April 29 in Pittsburgh.
Sillinger, Bjorkstrand and Domi show instant chemistry as Blue Jackets' second line
Sillinger's line was the Jackets' most dominant combination.
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Put together after Voracek and Jenner were ruled out, the rookie pivot and his wingers did most of their damage in the first two periods. They outshot the Golden Nights 16-15 all by themselves in the game's first 40 minutes and produced four of the Blue Jackets' five goals — Sillinger's three plus Bjorkstrand's 21st of the season.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the trio played 11:34 of 5-on-5 and finished with advantages in shot attempts (15-10, 60%), unblocked shot attempts (13-7, 65%), shots on goal (11-5), scoring chances (10-5) and high-dangers scoring chances (4-1).
Those are impressive numbers.
"When I walked in this morning, I saw I was playing between Domi and Bjorky," Sillinger said. "I played between them a little bit earlier this year and we had some pretty good chemistry. I just had to prepare myself to play some more minutes."
Blue Jackets' Domi, Golden Knights' Pietrangelo renew rivalry in first-period scrum
Domi didn't hold back when asked about a scrum that looked more like a fight with 4:08 left in the first period.
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During the incident, Domi got into it with Pietrangelo and Hague jumped in to rescue his defense partner after Domi threw a hard punch at the 6-foot-3, 213-pound defenseman and threw him to the ice.
"Yep, I don't like him very much, obviously," Domi said of Pietrangelo. "But I don't know him at all as a guy, so I'm sure he's a great dude, but we've always kind of (gone) at it over the years, since I came in the league."
According to HockeyFights.com, Domi and Pietrangelo have never officially squared off with a fight. Domi tried changing that after a heated conversation with the Vegas defenseman in the Golden Knights' zone.
After getting his initial punch off, Domi was tied up by Hague and then linesman Shandor Alphonso. Alphonso restrained Domi with a headlock maneuver, tying up his arms, and Pietrangelo spotted it. He dropped a glove and landed at least one upper cut that put a cut on the bridge of Domi's nose.
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Needless to say, the Blue Jackets forward wasn't pleased. He gave Pietrangelo an earful in the penalty box, as blood dripped down his nose.
"We go at it a little bit and we're in a scrum," Domi said. "Obviously, I was trying to get him to fight and he didn't want to, and he waited until I was in a headlock and he took off his glove when I couldn't move my arms and suckered me in the nose. So, hey, it is what it is. Nose is alright and I look forward to playing him again soon."
This was the final game of the season series, but there's a chance that Domi — a pending free agent without a contract extension — could be moved as a trade chip prior to the deadline at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Bjorkstrand keeps rolling for Blue Jackets in victory over Golden Knights
Remember when Bjorkstrand went a long stretch without contributing much offensively?
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He probably doesn't either. Bjorkstrand is riding one of his patented offensive tears with points in eight of the past 10 games and showed no signs of letting up against the Golden Knights.
Bjorkstrand's four-point game moved his season totals to 21 goals, 23 assists and 45 points, pushing him past Jenner into the team scoring lead in points. He's two back of Jenner and Laine for the lead in goals.
Bjorkstrand has added 8-5-13 while adding points in 12 of the past 16 games.
"As a unit we were just moving our feet, winning battles … we were just really connected," Bjorkstrand said. "That's the main reason we had success, got so many chances and put the puck in the net. It was a really good line."
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bhedger@dispatch.com
@BrianHedger
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cole Sillinger hat trick leads Blue Jackets past Vegas Golden Knights
