ST. PAUL, Minn. ― It was an exciting game, a domination of puck possession by the Blue Jackets and a night Adam Fantilli will never forget.
Fantilli, selected third overall this past summer in the NHL draft, netted his first career goal and received a shaving cream “pie” for it after Jack Roslovic’s overtime goal lifted the Blue Jackets to a 5-4 victory on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center.
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Roslovic scored his first goal of the season 3:07 into OT to end a seesaw game that gave the Jackets a sweep of a tough back-to-back that began Friday with a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at Nationwide Arena.
“It’s a gutsy win,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “The way we played, we deserved that win. … the mind-set was perfect. I’m looking for excellence, and what I mean by ‘excellence’ is working hard and being smart, and we did that tonight.”
Columbus outshot Minnesota 54-28, including 43-18 from the start of the second period until Roslovic’s OT winner. The reason they didn’t win by a bigger margin was Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, who made 49 saves to keep his team in the game.
Elvis Merzlikins (24 saves) picked up the goaltending win for the Blue Jackets (3-2-0), whose regulation goals were scored by Justin Danforth, Kent Johnson, Boone Jenner and Fantilli – who capped a power play to put Columbus up 4-3 with 5:19 left in the third period.
Marcus Johansson tied it, 4-4, with a goal less than three minutes later to force an OT that included good chances both ways until Roslovic beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot.
“It feels great,” Fantilli said. “It’s every kid’s dream to get their first NHL goal, but to be honest, I was really happy with the way I was playing away from the puck as well, up until this point. I was working hard, and it was bound to happen at some point. I’m just happy that we won tonight.”
Columbus Blue Jackets at Minnsota Wild: turning point
Wild fans roared to life after Mats Zuccarello beat Merzlikins on a power play with eight minutes left in the third period, giving his team a 4-3 lead. It appeared to be his second goal of the game. Rather than riding a wave of momentum, however, everything shifted when the Blue Jackets won a coaching challenge that showed a missed offside before the goal.
The score returned to 3-3, Columbus killed the remainder of a power play to spring captain Boone Jenner from the penalty box and the Jackets got their own man-advantage 1:20 later. Fantilli capped it with his goal for a 4-3 lead. The game wound up going to OT, but it might not have gotten there had the Blue Jackets’ video staff, headed by Dan Singleton, not spotted the missed offside.
“Obviously a good break there and the (penalty) killers did a good job in killing the rest of that off,” Jenner said. “I liked the way we responded from that and we were able to get the win.”
Columbus Blue Jackets at Minnesota Wild: play of the game
Roslovic put seven shots on goal before his winner, but his eighth was the charm. After carrying over the blue line, he got between the circles and fired a wrist shot past Gustavsson to the blocker side. It was his first goal of the season and a reward for impressive individual efforts in back-to-back games.
Columbus Dispatch three stars: Blue Jackets at Minnesota Wild
First star
Jack Roslovic, Blue Jackets, forward
Netted the winning goal 3:07 into OT for his first goal of the season and eighth shot of the game. Roslovic was promoted to play on the second line to replace Patrik Laine and excelled in the role.
Second star
Adam Fantilli, Blue Jackets, center
Fantilli got as close to scoring his first goal as possible without scoring it when he rung a wrist shot off the right post in the second period. In the third, he netted the milestone goal with a quick snap of the puck amid traffic in the mid-slot area. The goal capped a power play and gave the highly-touted rookie his first career marker.
Third star
Boone Jenner, Blue Jackets, center
Jenner tied Roslovic for the game-high in shots (eight) and scored a big tying goal that made it 3-3 at 7:36 of the third period, pulling the Jackets even about three minutes after Jonas Brodin gave the Wild their only lead.
Columbus Blue Jackets at Minnesota Wild: notes
— The Blue Jackets’ shot total (54) is tied for fourth-highest in franchise history, matching a number first put up in a 2-0 road loss to the Arizona Coyotes on April 3, 2012.
― The overturned goal was the third that’s gone the Blue Jackets’ way in the first five games, including two in one period during a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers a week earlier.
— Laine didn’t travel to Minnesota and missed the game after taking an elbow to the head Friday from Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson. Laine is ‘day-to-day’ with an upper-body injury and Andersson received a four-game suspension Saturday from the NHL’s department of player safety.
― The Blue Jackets lost forward Liam Foudy to NHL waivers after the Nashville Predators claimed him. Foudy, 23, was the 18th overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft. He finished his Blue Jackets career with seven goals, 12 assists, 19 points and a -26 rating in 90 games over parts of five seasons. Foudy only skated in one of the Jackets’ first four games this season. He was placed on waivers Friday to open a roster spot for Zach Werenski’s return from injured reserve.
— Mathieu Olivier played his second game since returning from IR for an undisclosed leg injury that happened last season. The power forward skated at right wing on the fourth line.
Columbus Blue Jackets lineup at Minnesota Wild
Forwards
Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Kirill Marchenko
Alexandre Texier – Adam Fantilli – Jack Roslovic
Kent Johnson – Cole Sillinger – Emil Bemstrom
Justin Danforth – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Defensemen
Zach Werenski – Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov – David Jiricek
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Goalies
Elvis Merzlikins
Scott Martin
Scratched: C Patrik Laine (upper-body injury), D Adam Boqvist, D Andrew Peeke
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jack Roslovic, Adam Fantilli help Blue Jackets down Wild in OT
