NHL

Columbus Blue Jackets at Vegas Golden Knights

· National Hockey League
Final
2 - 1

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

Cole Sillinger nets OT winner for Blue Jackets

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

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/cbj.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCBJ https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/vgk.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originVGK
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 Vegas Golden Knights Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Owen Sillinger, C Out Mar 18

Game Information

T-Mobile Arena

Location: Las Vegas, NV
Attendance: 17,783 | Capacity:

2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Washington 51 22 111 9
Carolina 47 30 99 5
New Jersey 42 33 91 7
Columbus 40 33 89 9
NY Rangers 39 36 85 7
NY Islanders 35 35 82 12
Pittsburgh 34 36 80 12
Philadelphia 33 39 76 10

2024-25 Pacific Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Vegas 50 22 110 10
Los Angeles 48 25 105 9
Edmonton 48 29 101 5
Calgary 41 27 96 14
Vancouver 38 30 90 14
Anaheim 35 37 80 10
Seattle 35 41 76 6
San Jose 20 50 52 12
Full Standings