NHL

Columbus Blue Jackets at Vegas Golden Knights

· National Hockey League
<span id="gameStatus" class="badge bg-danger" style="font-size: 1.2em; margin: 5px 0;">Final</span>
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

Game Information

T-Mobile Arena

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

2025-26 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/car.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Carolina 53 22 113 7
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/pit.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Pittsburgh 41 25 98 16
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/phi.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Philadelphia 43 27 98 12
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/wsh.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Washington 43 30 95 9
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/cbj.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Columbus 40 30 92 12
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/nyi.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">NY Islanders 43 34 91 5
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/nj.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">New Jersey 42 37 87 3
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/nyr.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">NY Rangers 34 39 77 9

2025-26 Pacific Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/vgk.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Vegas 39 26 95 17
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/edm.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Edmonton 41 30 93 11
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/ana.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Anaheim 43 33 92 6
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/la.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Los Angeles 35 27 90 20
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/sj.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">San Jose 39 35 86 8
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/sea.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Seattle 34 37 79 11
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/cgy.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Calgary 34 39 77 9
<img src="https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/van.png" style="padding: 0 4px; width: 25px; vertical-align: inherit;">Vancouver 25 49 58 8
Full Standings