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Columbus Blue Jackets keep fighting with rout of Washington Capitals: 5 takeaways
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- Columbus Blue Jackets keep fighting with rout of Washington Capitals: 5 takeaways
With a little help from the Toronto Maple Leafs plus their own raucous 7-0 blowout of the Washington Capitals on Saturday, the Blue Jackets are still afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
They're clinging to driftwood, sure, but their postseason hopes aren't sunk yet. Facing another game where a regulation loss meant elimination, the Blue Jackets routed the Capitals with a flurry of goals, physicality and fists for an entertaining afternoon at sold-out Nationwide Arena.
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A day filled with cannon fire and haymakers ended with the Blue Jackets (37-33-9) keeping their playoff hopes going before watching the Montreal Canadiens lose in overtime to the Maple Leafs, preventing the Canadiens from clinching the East's final playoff spot.
Here are five takeaways:
Teammates celebrate a goal by Columbus Blue Jackets left wing James van Riemsdyk (21) during the third period of the NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on April 12, 2025. The Blue Jackets won 7-0.
Columbus Blue Jackets playoff hopes riding on outcome of Montreal Canadiens ' game
The Canadiens' lead over the Blue Jackets for the East's second wild card is now 88-83 with three games left for Columbus and two for Montreal, which can now clinch by winning either of those games in any fashion. Two regulation losses or a regulation loss plus another OT/shootout loss combined with the Jackets winning their three remaining games in any fashion would send Columbus to the postseason.
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The chances of that happening, according to Money Puck, are just 1.3% but that's more than double the 0.6% chance that site gave the Blue Jackets prior to their win Saturday. Montreal's OT loss in Toronto eliminated the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings from the race, so the Blue Jackets are the last team left in the East that could catch the Canadiens.
"We're just focused on (Sunday) now," Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly said. "It's another really important one for us."
Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) scores past Washington Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin (38) during the first period of the NHL hockey game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on April 12, 2025.
Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli shows with one shift why he's a special talent
Adam Fantilli led the Jackets with his 26thand 27thgoals of the season Saturday, but the first of those tallies will likely be included in his personal highlight reel for a long time.
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Fantilli displayed in one shift all of the skills that made NHL amateur scouts gush before the Blue Jackets selected him third overall in the 2023 draft. He spotted a loose puck between the circles in the defensive zone, swooped over to get it, spotted Capitals rookie Ryan Leonard attempting the same thing, flattened Leonard with a huge — but clean — hit and sent the puck up ice.
He wasn't done.
Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) is hit by Washington Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin (38) as he scores a goal during the first period of the NHL hockey game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on April 12, 2025.
After giving the puck to James van Riemsdyk , Fantilli skated into the Capitals' zone, received a crisp pass on the left wing from Kent Johnson and beat goalie Hunter Shepard with a wrist shot for a 3-0 lead. Throw in a primal scream at Rasmus Sandin — who'd drawn Fantilli's ire with a cross-check earlier — and that shift was a glimmering example of why the Jackets' second-year center is likely just beginning a long career as an impact player.
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The game was also nationally televised, so more people saw it live as opposed to catching a replay.
"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 who went down there," Fantilli said. "It's not like I was hunting him all the way down the ice. I saw him probably half a second before I ran into him, and then to go down and score, that was great. It gave us momentum going into the second period and we kept rolling with it."
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski (8) scores past Washington Capitals center Connor McMichael (24) during the first period of the NHL hockey game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on April 12, 2025.
Zach Werenski snapped a goal drought broke his own Columbus Blue Jackets record
It only took 1:00 for Zach Werenski to set off the Blue Jackets' goal cannon to give his team a quick 1-0 lead that set the stage for another Columbus goal bonanza. Getting a pass from Sean Monahan on the left wing, he fired a wrist shot inside the right post against Capitals goalie Hunter Shepard to end a 17-game goal drought that stretched back to March 4 in Tampa.
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The goal was Werenski's 21st of the season, which broke his own record for goals by a Blue Jackets defenseman in a single season. His prior high that set the record of 20 was in the 2019-20 season that was paused by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Werenski is now second in scoring among all NHL defenseman with 77 points on 21 goals and 56 assists, trailing only Colorado 's Cale Makar (30-62-92). Werenski is also second in defenseman goals after breaking a tie with Washington's Jakob Chychrun , who missed the game with an illness. Werenski's goal total is the most by a U.S. born defenseman since Mathieu Schneider's 21 for the Red Wings in 2005-06 — when Werenski was an 8-year old Red Wings fan growing up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) is named the game's third star following the NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on April 12, 2025. The Blue Jackets won 7-0.
Columbus Blue Jackets may start goalie Jet Greaves again Sunday
Jet Greaves played his third game in four days after joining the team Thursday as an emergency recall from AHL Cleveland to replaced injured started Elvis Merzlikins . He's won all three, including his first NHL shutout Saturday with 22 saves, and Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason didn't rule out as a starting option Sunday.
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That would be Greaves' fourth game in five days, but he's prepared to play. Greaves upped his NHL numbers in eight appearances this season to 4-2-2 with a 2.38 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and now a shutout.
"It's been amazing," Fantilli said. "He's a kid who's been grinding all year ... not only this year but years past. Every time he's come up here, he's been great for us and right to the end he was stopping the puck today. He was awesome."
Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Dmitri Voronkov (10) is escorted off the ice after playing despite being assessed a game misconduct during the third period of the NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on April 12, 2025. The Blue Jackets won 7-0.
Columbus Blue Jackets had interesting day with officials against Washington Capitals
It wouldn't be a big game in Columbus without some weird things happening with regard to officiating, and the game Saturday didn't disappoint.
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The weirdness began in the first period, when Blue Jackets rookie Denton Mateychuk 's apparent goal was overturned because his attempt to rim the puck around the boards deflected off a linesman's skate and slid into the Capitals' net.
Shepard left his crease while anticipating an opportunity to play the puck, which left his net open for a carom that initially looked like a friendly bounce off the yellow kick plate. After the officiating crew huddled, the goal was taken away due to a rule that states a puck can't go into the net off an official.
That was nothing compared to what happened in the third, when Dmitri Voronkov continued playing despite getting a 10-minute misconduct with 9:42 left in the game for giving former Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois a face wash during a heated scrum.
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk (5) sprays ice on Washington Capitals goaltender Hunter Shepard (31) during the first period of the NHL hockey game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on April 12, 2025.
That should've ended his day, but Voronkov didn't understand the referee's ruling due to his loose grasp of the English language. His teammates and coaches apparently didn't hear the misconduct ruling either, because Voronkov stayed on the bench and re-entered the game during an ensuing power play.
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Once he was spotted, the officiating crew stopped the game, escorted him from the game and gave the Blue Jackets a minor penalty for using an ineligible player.
"I keep (saying) that (Voronkov) speaks better English than he (lets on), but, apparently, he doesn't speak well enough to know the ref said that you have a 10-minute misconduct, and you can't play anymore," Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason said, smiling. "But it's on us. We have to communicate that, we have to know that, so we'll take accountability as a coaching staff."
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets rout of Washington Capitals: 5 takeaways
