CBJ 6, DET 5 (SO): Fantilli's Late Goal, Elvis' Shootout Heroics Give Blue Jackets Shootout Win

By Ed Francis on December 4, 2025 at 10:34 pm
The Columbus Blue Jackets blew another third-period lead Thursday night — but Adam Fantilli's late goal and Elvis Merzlikins' perfect shootout propelled the Blue Jackets to a 6-5 victory.
© Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images
0 Comments
  1 2 3 OT/SO F
DET 0 3 2  0 (0-0-0) 5
CBJ 1 3 2  0 (1-0-1) 6

CBJ GOALS: 
Provorov (1st, 17:55)
Marchenko (PP) (2nd, 5:18)
Johnson (2nd, 7:11)
Fantilli (PP) (2nd, 13:50)
Fantilli (2) (3rd, 18:29)

Another third period lead blown.

But this one had an alternate ending for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Adam Fantilli scored twice, including a game-tying goal with 1:31 left in regulation, and the Blue Jackets were nearly perfect in a shootout on their way to a 6-5 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Ivan Provorov scored the only goal in a quiet first period, beating Detroit goalie Cam Talbot with 2:05 left in the opening frame to push Columbus out in front.

Things opened up in a big way during the middle frame, with each team scoring three goals and a total of five power-play goals scored in the period. After Detroit's Dylan Larkin tied the game at 1-1, Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson scored less than two minutes apart to put the Blue Jackets up two. 

Marchenko's goal was a power play goal, with the budding superstar picking up right where he left off before missing the last four games with an upper-body injury.

The Red Wings would answer with two goals in an even shorter span of 1:12 just minutes later, with both goals coming on the power play to knot the game at 3-3.

Fantilli would get his first goal of the night less than four minutes after Detroit tied it, and the Blue Jackets would hold that 4-3 lead until the middle of the third period before a quick pair of Red Wing goals gave them a 5-4 lead with 8:22 left in regulation.

With Merzlikins pulled in the final minutes, Charlie Coyle won a key faceoff in the Detroit zone and seconds later, Fantilli would beat Talbot for a second time to bring the game even at 5-5.

It was the 100th point of Fantilli's NHL career.

After a scoreless overtime period, Johnson and Marchenko would score the only two goals of the shootout to give Columbus the come-from-behind, 6-5 victory.

Merzlikins, who stopped all three Detroit shots in the shootout, finished the night with 28 saves on 33 shots and in the process, picked up the 100th win of his NHL career to join Fantilli on the night of accolades for the Blue Jackets.

Here's how the Blue Jackets turned the tables to pick up two big points:

1st Period:

(17:55 — CBJ Goal): Just a few seconds after the puck nearly crossed the line, Provorov connects for his fourth goal of the season and first since November 10th. He sails one through traffic from a distance and it beats Talbot to put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 late in the opening frame.

2nd Period:

(1:09 — DET Goal): Provorov takes a delay of game penalty for dislodging the net, and the Red Wings waste no time capitalizing on that to tie the game. Larkin redirects a shot from Mo Seider to make it a 1-1 game.

(5:18 — CBJ Goal): Marchenko puts the Blue Jackets back in front with a power play snipe. He takes a feed from Werenski near the circle, delays just a bit and then fires one past Talbot to put Columbus up 2-1.

(7:11 — CBJ Goal): Johnson finds the back of the net for the first time since October 21st and puts the Blue Jackets up 3-1. Sillinger fires from the right circle and Talbot makes the initial save but the puck bounces right to Johnson, who puts it home for Columbus' second goal in less than two minutes.

(9:08 — DET Goal): Just over a minute into a four-minute power play after a Dmitri Voronkov high-sticking penalty, Raymond cuts the Columbus lead in half. Good puck movement from Detroit and Raymond fires one through traffic near the faceoff dot that gets past Merzlikins to make it a 3-2 game.

(10:20 — DET Goal): The Red Wings tie it up with their third power play goal of the period. This one comes 72 seconds after the last one and goes to van Riemsdyk, who is bothering Merzlikins in front of the net and then punches one home in a scene that was much better to see last season, when JVR was a member of the Blue Jackets.

(13:50 — CBJ Goal): Fantilli becomes the first Blue Jacket to hit double-digit goals on the season with his 10th to restore Columbus' lead. This one is simple: Monahan wins the faceoff to Werenski, who gets a perfect pass over to Fantilli at the right dot, and he rips one past Talbot to make it 4-3 Blue Jackets.

3rd Period:

(9:35 — DET Goal): Detroit ties it at 4-4 as Kane scores near the mid-way point of the third period. He beats Merzlikins from the high slot and it's one that the Columbus goaltender certainly wants back. It's Kane's 29th goal against the Blue Jackets, the most by a single opponent according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.

(11:38 — DET Goal): Another one that Merzlikins has to stop. DeBrincat skates into the zone outnumbered and fires it from the high slot. The puck finds the back of the net and gives the Red Wings their first lead of the night, 5-4. 

(18:29 — CBJ Goal): Fantilli's 100th NHL point comes at the absolute perfect time. With Merzlikins pulled and the Blue Jackets staring down the barrel of a sixth loss when leading in the third period, the 21-year-old ties it at 5-5 after his shot from the slot pings off a Detroit defender and past Talbot.

Overtime/Shootout:

There's no scoring in the overtime period, but Columbus has no problem putting things away in the shootout. Johnson opened the scoring with a slick move from near Talbot and after three straight saves from Merzlikins in the shootout, Marchenko won it and moved to 5-for-5 in shootout chances this season. Here's KJ's goal, which goes down in the box as the game-winner:

DET GAME STATS CBJ
33 SHOTS 30
45% FACEOFFS 55%
3/5 POWER PLAY 2/3
1/3 PENALTY KILL 2/5
15 HITS 24
15 GIVEAWAYS 14
5 TAKEAWAYS 6
21 BLOCKED SHOTS 12
ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS
4.34 EXPECTED GOALS 3.13
61 SHOT ATTEMPTS 74
33 SCORING CHANCES 30
22 HIGH-DANGER CHANCES 11
Data via NHL.com & NaturalStatTrick.com

Stat Chat:

  • In addition to the accolades of Merzlikins and Fantilli, this was Evason's 200th win as an NHL head coach. He is 53-42-14 with the Blue Jackets.
     
  • Werenski's three assists on the night gave him points in four straight games and he now has three consecutive multi-point games, totaling seven points (one goal, six assists) in that span.
     
  • Despite having a 74-60 advantage in shot attempts, the Blue Jackets had fewer scoring chances (33-30) than the Red Wings, and only half (22-11) of the high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Up Next:

The first game of a three-game road trip comes Saturday afternoon when the Blue Jackets head south to battle the Florida Panthers. Puck-drop is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

0 Comments

Game Preview: Marchenko Returns To Lineup, Elvis Gets Nod In Net As Blue Jackets Face Red Wings

Kirill Marchenko is back in the lineup and Elvis Merzlikins gets another start between the pipes Thursday night when the Columbus Blue Jackets face the Detroit Red Wings.