Cole Sillinger is rebounding in a big way.
The third-year NHLer enters Monday night's game against the Vegas Golden Knights with goals in three straight games, a career-best for the 20-year-old.
Sillinger had the fourth goal of Saturday's 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at 11:51 of the second period.
Sillinger is on a three-game goal streak. Birthday boy Alex Nylander and Adam Boqvist with the assists. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/v7xpfne1dT
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 3, 2024
Birthday boy Alex Nylander — more on Nylander from Dan Dukart — picked up the assist on the play as Sillinger buried the quick one-time shot. Adam Boqvist picked up a secondary point as all three former Blackhawk ties made their former club pay.
With his goal last night, Cole Sillinger became the third player in #CBJ history to record 30 career goals prior to his 21st birthday, joining Rick Nash (58) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (47), per NHL Stats.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) March 3, 2024
What's with the recent goal surge?
"I think it's just the way things work out," Sillinger said after the win. "It's nice to see (the puck) go in."
The early returns from Nylander have been a nice surprise, as the seven-year pro is looking for it all to come together in Columbus.
In four games with Columbus, he has three points (one goal, two assists) over his last two games. Sillinger and Nylander also connected on a goal in last Thursday's 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, as there looks to be early chemistry between the two players.
"I like to think that, too," Sillinger said. "I think he's a smart hockey player, and we think the game alike. It's a good combination between me, (Alexandre Texier), and (Nylander) right now, so short sample size, we've got to keep it going, and we're going to be tested here coming up."
Nylander played a high watermark of 65 games for the Blackhawks in 2019-20 and scored 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists), all career-highs, that season. Boqvist scored 29 points (six goals, 23 assists) in 76 games for the Blackhawks in two seasons between 2019-21 and was part of the Seth Jones trade. Sillinger, the 12th overall draft pick in 2021, was the pick acquired by Columbus in the Jones trade.
On the season, Sillinger has 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 55 games. Monday's game will be No. 199. He has four points (three goals, one assist) in his last six games.
"He's playing with confidence," head coach Pascal Vincent said after Saturday's win. "He's reliable defensively. He's creating chances offensively. He's physical. He's becoming a real solid 200-foot player."
What's the difference between years one and two to now?
"It takes time for the young players, it really does," Vincent said. "Your first year might be harder, your second year might be harder. We have that thinking that the second year is harder for the players, but what happens is we have no expectations for those first-year players, and then they have somewhat of a decent season, and then the second year we think they're going to make a huge step.
"They don't become that much of a better player over the three, four months in the summer. I think for Sillinger, his confidence is growing. He knows what to expect. He's a good pro. He's a real mature person, takes care of himself, he gets ready for every single game. And he takes his job seriously."
Sillinger, Nylander, and the Blue Jackets will look to keep up one of their better stretches of play this season as they entertain a struggling Golden Knights team that is 3-6-1 in its last ten games.
The Blue Jackets are searching for consecutive wins for the first time since Nov. 22-24 when they beat the Blackhawks and New Jersey Devils.
One last note for clarification: I mentioned last week that it would be interesting to see whether or not Adam Fantilli could be eligible to play for the Cleveland Monsters in their playoff push, similar to Sillinger last season.
As The Athletic's Aaron Portzline mentioned in Sunday's article, Fantilli is not eligible to be "papered" to Cleveland before Friday's trade deadline since he is injured. He could, however, play in Cleveland on a six-day or three-game conditioning assignment.
