COLUMBUS, Ohio — There were fights. There were big hits. There were at least two truly bizarre occurrences. And there were lots of goals, at least for the home team.
The Columbus Blue Jackets, clinging to faint playoff hopes, took a 6-0 lead midway through the second period and cruised to a 7-0 win over the Washington Capitals before 18,645 in Nationwide Arena, a game that had something for everyone.
Adam Fantilli scored two goals, including one at the end of a particularly memorable shift, to lead the way for the Blue Jackets, while James van Riemsdyk (1-2-3) had a Gordie Howe hat trick, and goaltender Jet Greaves (22 saves) had his first NHL shutout.
The Blue Jackets don’t play many day games — the puck dropped at 12:30 p.m. ET — so there’s always a wonder if the game will have much early jump, although the desperate state of Columbus’ postseason chances may have mitigated that concern.
“The intensity was there real early,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “That’s not a bad thing.”
It was the Capitals, who opted to rest star winger Alex Ovechkin and others, who looked sleepy. They gave Zach Werenski (1:00 of the first) and Kent Johnson (4:45) way too much space on their goals for a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
KJ ALL DAY💥@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/MdkEEAnhEO
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) April 12, 2025
The physicality picked up late in the first when Fantilli turned in a shift that featured an array of his skills and attributes. He won a puck battle against Washington’s Ryan Leonard, sending Leonard sailing backward to the ice, as the play went the other direction.
It was Fantilli, seconds later, who took a pass from Johnson and scored off the rush to make it 3-0 with only 36 seconds left in the first, making it 3-0.
The Capitals were furious. Leonard, who just joined them after finishing his season at Boston College, is a prized prospect. They went after Fantilli the rest of the night.
“I was reaching for (the puck). He was reaching for it,” Fantilli said, recalling the hit on Leonard. “At the last second, I saw him. I didn’t want to be the one who went down there. It’s not like I was hunting him the whole way down the ice.
“I saw him a half-second before I ran into him. Whatever. To go down and score, that was great. It gave us some momentum going into the intermission, and we kept rolling with it.”
The lead grew to 6-0 only 5:14 into the second on goals by Fantilli, Sean Monahan and Cole Sillinger. At this point, the Capitals, with AHL call-up Hunter Shepard in goal, started fighting back … literally.
Blue Jackets fourth-line center Sean Kuraly got tangled with Leonard in the defensive zone behind the play, and the two confronted each other coming up the ice. Leonard wanted to fight, and Kuraly eventually obliged him and pounded him down with three heavy rights.
SEAN KURALY AND RYAN LEONARD DROP THE GLOVES 😱👊 pic.twitter.com/6Np6iyNNhE
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 12, 2025
Less than two minutes later, Blue Jackets veteran James van Riemsdyk — whose brother, Trevor, was on the ice for Washington — had a spat with Capitals’ defenseman Rasmus Sandin. After a few jabs, they were fighting, too, with van Riemsdyk landing the first punch and landing on Sandin.
Oddly enough, two of the NHL’s toughest players — Columbus’ Mathieu Olivier and Washington’s Tom Wilson — did not drop the mitts, either against each other or others. But Wilson did draw an “abuse of officials” penalty after the first-period buzzer.
The last violent display came midway through the third period, to the delight of the crowd.
Washington’s Pierre-Luc Dubois, who is seen as a villain in Columbus after demanding a trade playing his way out of town several years ago, took a run at Blue Jackets’ defenseman Jordan Harris on the corner. He mostly whiffed, but the intent was obvious.
The Blue Jackets flocked to the scene, with Dmitri Voronkov reaching across the top of the scrum — he’s 6-foot-5 — to give Dubois an old-school face wash, which Dubois did not appreciate.
This is a serious time for the Blue Jackets. They must win all of their remaining three games in regulation, starting with Sunday’s rematch in Washington, while hoping that the Montreal Canadiens lose their grip on the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for levity, and there were two instances on Saturday that even longtime hockey observers may never have witnessed.
Just seconds after Johnson’s goal made it 2-0, Columbus’ Denton Mateychuk sent a puck ahead from the neutral zone, hoping to rim it around to the other side. As he released the puck, Shepard left in his net to meet it along the boards, but the puck instead kicked off the leg of an NHL linesman.
The angle of the carom sent it directly into the Capitals’ net before Shepard could recover, but — per NHL rule 6.6 — the goal was disallowed. A goal can not be scored directly off an official.
The doozy was in the third period.
After his stinky-glove treatment of Dubois at 10:18 of the third, Voronkov was given a 10-minute misconduct that should have ended his evening. The message was lost in translation, however. Voronkov, a Russian, has only partially picked up the English language.
When the NHL referee told him he had “10,” meaning minutes, Voronkov thought he was merely identifying him. (He wears sweater No. 10). So instead of heading to the dressing room, as Dubois did, Voronkov headed to the bench for a seat. And nobody noticed.
A minute later, when Voronkov came onto the ice for the power play, the Blue Jackets were given a minor penalty for using an ineligible player. Evason was furious on the bench — he later acknowledged that he and his staff had erred — but the players seated next to him on the bench thought it was hilarious.
“I could not stop laughing,” Fantilli said. “I was sitting between Boone and Monny and they were making it a lot more funny. It’s hilarious.
“This guy gets a 10-minute misconduct, goes back for a sip of Gato, and thinks he’s ready for the peep (power play). The ref came over and said, ‘I told him!’ And we were like, “He doesn’t speak English at all.’”
That’s a new one?! 😭
Dmitri Voronkov received a game misconduct earlier in the period but continued to play, and the officials just noticed and gave Columbus a minor penalty for having an illegal player 🫨 pic.twitter.com/I9dudHCohb
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 12, 2025
Amid the goals, the fights, and the giggles, was Greaves, who was called up from AHL Cleveland on an emergency basis on Thursday and has won both of his starts. On Saturday, he made 11 of his 22 saves in the third period, but his best play was early in the game when the play was wide open.
Greaves is now 4-2-2 with a .921 save percentage this season.
“It’s been amazing,” Fantilli said. “He’s been grinding all (these) years. Not just this year, but years past. Every time he’s come up here, he’s been great for us.”
The Blue Jackets know what’s coming on Sunday. Ovechkin is likely to return to the lineup, but the rest of the Capitals will be looking for a major response after getting embarrassed on Saturday.
Greaves will likely be the goaltender, too, which would be four games in five days for him, including an AHL start the day before he was recalled. Starter Elvis Merzlikins is injured, the club said, and it’s been made clear that Evason has no faith in Daniil Tarasov, who served as Greaves’ backup on Saturday.
“Whatever the situation is, if I’m going to play, I’ll be happy to play,” Greaves said. “I like to be in the net, I like to play hockey.”
(Photo: Russell LaBounty / Imagn Images)