Story by
Jet Greaves leads Columbus Blue Jackets past St. Louis Blues for fourth straight win
- Story by
- Jet Greaves leads Columbus Blue Jackets past St. Louis Blues for fourth straight win
The only thing that would've improved the Blue Jackets' trip home Saturday would've been a zero on the scoreboard for the St. Louis Blues .
More: Blue Jackets send Daniil Tarasov to AHL Cleveland for conditioning assignment
Advertisement
Colton Parayko spoiled that possibility by scoring a 6-on-4 goal with 10.5 seconds left to nix rookie Jet Greaves ' bid for his first NHL shutout, but the Blue Jackets still left Enterprise Center satisfied after a gritty 2-1 road win over the Blues for their first four-game win streak since Feb. 17-24, 2022 under former coach Brad Larsen. Greaves made 31 saves, his teammates blocked 23 shots and the Blue Jackets (20-17-6) hung onto the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference ahead of the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins .
"The guys were great in front of me," Greaves said on FanDuel Sports Network's postgame broadcast. "They did a really good job clearing out the second chances, boxing out, and the special teams were really good, as well. I thought it was a great team effort. The buy-in from all the guys is so important, and we had that tonight."
Jan 11, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) defends the net against the St. Louis Blues during the second period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Adam Fantilli and Cole Sillinger scored goals in the first two periods to build a two-goal lead starting the third, which set the stage for Greaves to clinch the victory with 14 saves on 15 shots in the final period — losing the shutout on Parayko's goal with Blue Jackets star defenseman Zach Werenski in the penalty box and Blues goalie Jordan Binnington (28 saves) on the bench for an extra skater.
Advertisement
"Jet stood on his head tonight," Fantilli said. "He was great. I wish we could've gotten the shutout for him there with 10 seconds left, but he's awesome. Anytime he's up here (from AHL Cleveland), you have a sense of confidence back there, and he's been playing great. It's awesome to see."
Jan 11, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) shoots and scores against St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Fantilli's 10thgoal of the season gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead with 4:22 left in the first period. It also rewarded his team for a good start to a road game, which hasn't been easy for the Jackets to do this season. Dmitri Voronkov won a puck battle against Blues defenseman Cam Fowler in the right-wing corner and sent a quick pass to Marchenko in the right circle. Marchenko sent Fantilli a feed to the low slot, where he collected the puck and sent it into an open net with Binnington caught out of position.
Greaves stopped all nine Blues shots in the first, including a terrific save with his left pad to deflect a hard wrist shot by Robert Thomas at 4:31 to keep it 0-0. The Jackets' rookie netminder made eight more saves in the second to keep St. Louis from scoring while the Jackets upped their lead to 2-0 on Sillinger's power-play goal with 3:09 left in the period.
Jan 11, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) and defenseman Denton Mateychuk (5) defend the net against St. Louis Blues right wing Alexey Toropchenko (13) during the second period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
The Blues were inspired started the third, but Greaves had an answer for everything they threw at him until Parayko's goal late. It started with him calmly making two huge saves with his glove early in the third against Pavel Buchnevich , keeping it 2-0 on shots that left the Blues shaking their heads.
Advertisement
The victory was also the second in a row on the road for the Blue Jackets, who've struggled all season away from Nationwide Arena. After downing the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday in Pittsburgh and the Blues on Saturday night in St. Louis, the Jackets are still just 6-12-3 on the road.
"(Players) take pride in that, too, right?" Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said during the televised portion of his postgame press conference. "They don't want to have the road record be what it is, so they're competing their butts off to try to win hockey games out here."
Get more on the Columbus Blue Jackets with our Cannon Fodder podcast
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jet Greaves leads Columbus Blue Jackets past St. Louis Blues
