CBJ 6, NYR 3: Werenski's Three-Assist Night Bumps Blue Jackets Above The Line In Playoff Race

By Ed Francis on March 19, 2026 at 10:25 pm
Zach Werenski's three-point night and goals by five different Blue Jackets bumped Columbus above the line in the playoff race Thursday night in their 6-3 win over the New York Rangers.
© Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images
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  1 2 3 F
NYR 1 1 1 3
CBJ 2 2 2 6

CBJ GOALS: 
Isac Lundeström (1st, 14:33)
Conor Garland (1st, 19:01)
Boone Jenner (2nd, 7:04)
Adam Fantilli (2nd, 15:25)
Damon Severson (3rd, 6:12)
Adam Fantilli (2) (3rd, 17:06)

The Columbus Blue Jackets are a wagon.

Adam Fantilli score twice and Zach Werenski had a three-assist night as the Blue Jackets made it 11 consecutive games with a point Thursday night, defeating the New York Rangers 6-3 and extending their winning streak to three games in the process.

The win boosted the Blue Jackets into a tie with the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division. With one fewer game played than New York, it's Columbus who now sits above the playoff line for the first time since their feverish comeback began when head coach Rick Bowness was hired in early January.

The Rangers took an early lead on a short-handed goal by Vincent Trocheck, but the Blue Jackets would take a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. Isac Lundeström picked up his fourth goal of the season to tie it, and Conor Garland gave Columbus a lead in the final minute of the period with his fifth goal in seven games.

New York's Mika Zibanejad tied it at 2-2 less than five minutes into the second, but the Blue Jackets would again answer twice: first with Boone Jenner's 10th of the season, then with a power play strike from Adam Fantilli to keep Columbus' power play on a hot streak.

It was the Blue Jackets sixth power play goal in six games, who also went 5-of-6 on the penalty kill Thursday night.

“(The power play is) moving it quicker, they’re moving around a lot more. It's not stagnant. They're not hanging on to the puck,” Bowness said. “So when you get the puck moving and the penalty killers gotta start chasing it around, they get a little tired — and then you can open up some seams.”

The power play goal was also Fantilli's 20th of the season, as he joins Werenski and Kirill Marchenko in Columbus' 20-goal club.

Alexis Lafrenière would bring the Rangers to within one in the opening minute of the third, but it's as close as they would get. Damon Severson restored Columbus' two-goal lead just over five minutes later and Fantilli's second goal of the game was an empty-netter with just under three minutes remaining.

Jet Greaves finished with 22 saves on 25 shots for the Blue Jackets, while Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 of 36 shots for the Rangers

The victory was nice, but the team knows their hard work is just beginning.

“There’s no -x beside our name, so we’re gonna keep going," Jenner said after the game.

"We're not going to change anything, just keep doing the same thing," Fantilli said. "That's what got us here, so just gonna keep climbing."

Here's how the Blue Jackets moved to 17-2-4 under Bowness:

1st Period:

(5:41 — NYR Goal): While the opening power play didn't result in a goal for the Blue Jackets, it looked great. This one? Not so much. Zach Werenski works to hold the puck in the zone but has a bit of trouble with it. Vincent Trocheck quicky scoops up the loose puck and goes on a breakaway. He beats Greaves five-hole to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. 

(14:33 — CBJ Goal): He's not known as an offensive juggernaut, but this was a terrific few seconds from Lundeström to tie the game at 1-1. He enters the zone with the puck and plays it around the boards, then Boone Jenner digs it out from near the corner. As he does that, Lundeström skates into the slot undefended and rips a wrister past Shesterkin to knot it up.

(19:01 — CBJ Goal): One of the stranger goals of the season, the Blue Jackets take a 2-1 lead with just under a minute left in the first. Garland shoots from the faceoff dot, it bounces off the stick of Rangers defenseman Matthew Robertson, then off the chest of defenseman Braden Schneider and past Shesterkin. A refreshing change of pace in the puck-luck department.

(4:44 — NYR Goal): The Rangers tie the game on a shot from Zibanejad that Greaves just has to stop. It briefly looks like Zibanejad is going to get a breakaway but Ivan Provorov does a great job of closing in to prevent it from happening. Zibanejad shoots a very pedestrian-level shot from a distance and it gets over the glove side of Greaves and into the net to make it 2-2.

(7:04 — CBJ Goal): Jenner gets his second goal since the Olympic break to restore Columbus' lead, this time at 3-2. The captain skates into the zone and shoots from the faceoff dot. Shesterkin has trouble with the puck and lets the rebound bounce right in front of him, giving Jenner another chance. This time he connects, and gets his 10th goal o f the season in the process.

(15:25 — CBJ Goal): The third time is the charm for the Blue Jackets' power play. Marchenko is in the circle and finds Werenski at the top of the point with no one around him. He gets the pass over and Z fires through traffic. The puck deflects of Fantilli and past Shesterkin to put Columbus ahead 4-2.

(0:50 — NYR Goal): The Rangers cut Columbus' lead to 4-3 on a power play goal in the opening minute of the third. Shesterkin quickly throws the puck up the ice and the Rangers immediately going to work, making a few passes in quick succession. Adam Fox takes a shot from the point that Lafrenière gets a piece of at the last second, deflecting it past Greaves to cut the lead in half.

(6:12 — CBJ Goal): The Blue Jackets recapture their two-goal lead off the stick of Severson and with the primary assist from Cole Sillinger. This was a nice piece of work as Severson enters the zone and is quickly surrounded by three Rangers. He gets off a soft backhand pass to Sillinger, who skates in with a couple of nice moves with his stick before dumping it back to Severson in the goalmouth area. Sevo chips it in and past Shesterkin to make it a 5-3 game.

(17:06 — CBJ Goal): With the net empty, Fantilli gets his second of the night to ice it.

NYR GAME STATS CBJ
25 SHOTS 37
46 SHOT ATTEMPTS 61
22 SCORING CHANCES 32
9 HIGH-DANGER CHANCES 13
54% FACEOFF PERCENTAGE 46%
1/6 POWER PLAY 1/5
4/5 PENALTY KILL 5/6
21 HITS 11
19 GIVEAWAYS 11
5 TAKEAWAYS 10
12 BLOCKED SHOTS 8

Stat Chat:

  • Werenski's three-assist night included his 50th of the season. He became the second player in franchise history to record consecutive 50-assist and 70-point seasons, joining Artemi Panarin. Werenski is on pace for 89 points, which would beat Panarin's 87-point season for the team record for most points in a season.
     
  • Greaves extended his point streak as a starter to 13 games. He's now 11-0-2 in his last 14 appearances. His last regulation loss was January 20th against the Ottawa Senators.
     
  • With the win, the Blue Jackets are now on pace for 100 points for just the second time in franchise history. You can keep up to date with real-time results, projections, and more with our Playoff Chase Tracker.

Up Next:

The three-game homestand wraps up Saturday night when the Seattle Kraken (31-27-9) come to town for a 7:00 p.m. puck-drop. Despite ten fewer points than the Blue Jackets, the Kraken currently find themselves in a wild card spot in the Western Conference.

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