NHL

Columbus Blue Jackets at Vegas Golden Knights

Jan 31, 2025, 3:00 AM · National Hockey League
Final
2 - 1

Sillinger's OT goal and Merzlikins' 25 saves give Blue Jackets 2-1 win over Golden Knights

Adam Fantilli, skating in his 100th career game, scored the other Blue Jackets goal, and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 shots.

Tomas Hertl scored his 20th goal of the season for the Golden Knights and Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves.

Hertl extended his point streak to 11 games (nine goals, six assists), just one off the club record set by Jack Eichel during the 2023-24 season. It is the NHL's longest active streak. Hertl also had eight goals in his past eight games.

Columbus has points in 10 of the past 12 games, going 9-2-1.

By picking up a point, the Golden Knights remained in a tie for first place in the Pacific Division with the Edmonton Oilers with 68 points.

Eichel's goal streak (three games) and point streak (seven) ended.

Takeaways Blue Jackets: Columbus held off an early Vegas onslaught to make the game competitive. The Golden Knights had an 8-2 advantage in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, but just a 1-0 lead.

Golden Knights: Vegas was top heavy with its top two lines totaling 25 scoring chances to 17 for Columbus. The bottom lines were another story, with the Blue Jackets having the decided edge at 11-4.

Key moment The Golden Knights appeared as if they would go into the first intermission ahead 1-0, but Samsonov failed to corral the puck in crease. Fantilli dug it out, and the puck trickled in with 1:26 left.

Key stat Merzlikins won his 87th career game, tying Joonas Korpisalo for third-most victories in Blue Jackets history.

Up Next The Blue Jackets are at Utah on Friday night and the Golden Knights visit the New York Rangers on Sunday night.

Regular Season Series

CBJ lead series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 4:58 Tomas Hertl Goal (20) Snap Shot, assists: Pavel Dorofeyev (12), Nicolas Hague (4)
Goal 1st Period 18:34 Adam Fantilli Goal (15) Wrist Shot, assists: Dmitri Voronkov (16)
Goal 4th Period 0:52 Cole Sillinger Goal (8) Snap Shot, assists: Zach Werenski (39), Kent Johnson (18)

Statistics

CBJ VGK
13 Blocked Shots 11
18 Hits 10
5 Takeaways 4
24 Shots 26
0 Power Play Goals 0
1 Power Play Opportunities 1
0.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
19 Faceoffs Won 27
41.3 Faceoff Win Percent 58.7
17 Giveaways 11
1 Total Penalties 1
2 Penalty Minutes 2
Vegas Golden Knights Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Owen Sillinger, C Out Mar 18

Game Information

T-Mobile Arena
3:00 AM, Fri, Jan 31, 2025
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Attendance: 17,783 | Capacity:

2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Washington 49 18 107 9
Carolina 46 26 96 4
New Jersey 41 29 89 7
NY Rangers 36 33 79 7
Columbus 34 32 77 9
NY Islanders 33 32 76 10
Pittsburgh 31 34 74 12
Philadelphia 31 37 71 9

2024-25 Pacific Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Vegas 46 22 100 8
Los Angeles 44 23 97 9
Edmonton 44 27 93 5
Calgary 36 27 85 13
Vancouver 35 28 83 13
Anaheim 33 35 74 8
Seattle 33 38 72 6
San Jose 20 46 50 10
Full Standings