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Fantilli shines in Blue Jackets' OT win over Maple Leafs: Takeaways
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- Fantilli shines in Blue Jackets' OT win over Maple Leafs: Takeaways
Remember Adam Fantilli ?
Third pick in the 2023 NHL Draft? Hobey Baker Award winner in 2023 as college hockey's best player in his freshman year? Scored 31 goals for the Blue Jackets last season in just his second NHL spin and first full slate of games? That guy?
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More: Can the Columbus Blue Jackets' young stars match what they did last season?
Blue Jackets fans, players and the Toronto Maple Leafs certainly know him, even if the rest of the league buries the kid and Columbus under a shoud of obscurity .
Anyway, turns out Fantilli is quite good and proved it again Nov. 20 by leading the Blue Jackets past the Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime in Toronto, not far from his hometown of Nobleton, Ontario.
Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli celebrates after scoring against the Maple Leafs on Nov. 20.
After netting his first career hat trick in Toronto last season, he nearly did it again with three points on two goals and an assist off a shot that hit Dmitri Voronkov in the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead following a tough start. Fantilli's goal with 38.8 seconds left in OT, however, put a bow on another memorable night for him and a large contingent of happy family and friends.
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In seven games since moving up to center the Blue Jackets' top line with Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko , Fantilli's production has taken off with six goals, four assists and 10 points.
His scoring through 21 games is now 8-8-16, which still ranks far behind other young NHL stars such as San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (13-17-30), Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (13-16-29) and Anaheim Ducks center Leo Karlsson (11-16-27), but Fantilli's impact won't stay hidden much longer.
After a muted start offensively, he's re-emerging after a 31-goal season to again give the Blue Jackets an elite young center they've lacked for the bulk of their 25-year existence.
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Here are three more takeaways:
Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli scores the winning goal against the Maple Leafs on Nov. 20.
Adam Fantilli logs 'Goal of the Year' entry for Columbus Blue Jackets
The goal Fantilli scored in overtime was one that should go straight into his career highlights for safekeeping.
Getting the puck from Zach Werenski on the right wing in the neutral zone, Fantilli used an impressive speed burst to get around former Blue Jackets forward Max Domi in a solo 3-on-3 carry to the net. Domi went for a stick lift on the back side and briefly got stick-on-stick, but it wasn't enough.
Fantilli stayed with the puck, waited for goalie Joseph Woll to sprawl and wristed a shot over him into the far side from outside the left post.
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The angle he shot from was sharp, but he flipped the puck home with little problem. It was Fantilli's sixth goal and eighth point in eight career games against the Maple Leafs, whom he grew up cheering against as a Boston Bruins fan.
"If we could play all our games here, he'd probably have 50 (goals)," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason told reporters in Toronto, smirking.
Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) celebrates with Zach Werenski after scoring the winning goal against the Maple Leafs on Nov. 20.
Zach Werenski keeps climbing Columbus Blue Jackets scoring ranks
Zach Werenski logged a marathon 2:13 shift with a little more than seven minutes left in regulation, but more impressive was what he did at the end of it.
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Despite his lungs and legs probably burning, he hustled back to help break up a forming 2-on-1 rush for the Maple Leafs with the game tied 2-2. That's the kind of thing opposing players and coaches notice as much, if not more, than his offensive prowess. And he's still got offensive prowess, in case anybody's forgotten him too.
Werenski assisted on all three Blue Jackets goals, moving past forward Cam Atkinson for second all-time in franchise scoring history at 403 points on 119 goals and 282 assists in 587 games.
Rick Nash owns the top spot, as he still does in a lot of categories, with 289-258-547 in 674 games over nine seasons with the Blue Jackets. Atkinson's 402 points were tallied with 213 goals and 189 assists in 627 games over 10 seasons. Imagine where Werenski would be if he hadn't missed so much time with injuries between 2019-2023, including a torn shoulder labrum in 2022-23 that held him to just 13 games.
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After finishing runner up to Colorado's Cale Makar for last season's Norris Trophy awarded to the NHL's top defenseman, Werenski is back in the running. His six goals are tied with two others for most by a defenseman, and he's tied for fourth in total scoring at 19 points with Washington's John Carlson .
Makar leads all defensemen with 25 points in 19 games.
Maple Leafs center Calle Jarnkrok (19) battles for the puck in front of Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves on Nov. 20.
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves gets a win for family and friends
Like Fantilli and several other Blue Jackets, goalie Jet Greaves is from the Toronto area. He's from Cambridge, Ontario and had a large cheering section at the game, including his exuberant dad who was shown on the FanDuel Sports Network broadcast recording the Jackets' celebration after Fantilli's OT goal.
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Greaves made his NHL debut for the Blue Jackets on April 4, 2023, at Scotiabank Arena by taking a tough 4-2 loss while making 46 saves on a whopping 49 shots, but this one ended on a happier note.
Greaves stopped 28 of 30 shots for his fourth win in his past six starts to go 4-0-2 with a 2.07 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in that span, coinciding with a surge into the lead goaltending role ahead of Elvis Merzlikins . He was fantastic in Toronto, including 12 saves in the first period to keep it 0-0 after the injury depleted Maple Leafs outplayed and outshot the Blue Jackets 12-4.
It's somewhat astounding that Greaves wasn't chosen as one of the game's official three stars.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Fantilli shines in Blue Jackets' OT win over Maple Leafs: takeaways
