Fantilli has 2 goals, OT winner, Blue Jackets top Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Adam Fantilli scored twice, including the winning goal with 39 seconds remaining in overtime, for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Fantilli, who also had an assist, took a pass from Zach Werenski, cut around Max Domi at the right face-off dot and flipped a shot over Joseph Woll’s outstretched right pad for the win.

“It was a great play by Werenski, he just kind of let me get my speed going there to make that defenseman hesitate for a half second and I was able to get a step on him,” Fantilli said. “It was a perfect play by him, it was great.”

Dmitri Voronkov had a goal and an assist and Werenski had three assists for the Blue Jackets (11-8-2), who are 4-1-1 in their past six. Jet Greaves, who is 4-0-1 in his past five starts, made 27 saves.

“It’s fun, it’s a special place playing here,” said Greaves, who was born in Cambridge, Ontario, about an hour west of Toronto. “Obviously it’s close to home where I grew up and there were certainly people here who were in the building and watching at home so it’s nice to have a positive result with them watching tonight.”

John Tavares had a goal and an assist, Dakota Mermis scored, and Joseph Woll made 27 saves for the Maple Leafs (9-9-3), who are 1-4-2 in their past seven.

“We’re defending a lot better, we’re doing a lot of good things. We needed to finish better tonight, that’s really the story,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “But yeah, things are going better, they’re going in a good direction right now. We just have to keep working, keep building and get some healthy bodies back.”

The Maple Leafs were without forwards Auston Matthews (lower-body), Matthew Knies (lower-body), and Nicolas Roy (upper-body) and defensemen Brandon Carlo (lower-body), and Chris Tanev (upper-body).

Forward Scott Laughton returned, playing his first game since Nov. 8 because of an upper-body injury and only his third of the season after missing the first 13 with a lower-body injury sustained in training camp. He played 17:22 and had four shots.

“We have to keep building on it, you can’t get negative or down in this situation,” Laughton said. “You continue to roll, you continue to go and keep playing together. Good things are going to happen if we continue to manage the puck, make it hard to come out of the zone. I thought our defense moved the puck well, put pucks on net, we got a big goal by Mermis and just couldn’t get the extra point. The sun comes up tomorrow and we get after it.”

The Blue Jackets went up 1-0 at 3:17 of the second period when Fantilli took a pass from Werenski just above the left face-off dot, turned and fired a shot that deflected off Voronkov at the top of the goal crease.

Fantilli made it 2-0 at 12:01 when he shot past Woll’s glove from the top of the left face-off circle.

“It was just a really good hockey game,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “It was back and forth a little bit. Both teams were playing hard and I think it was just a night where it was fun to obviously win but fun to be involved in for sure.”

The Maple Leafs cut it to 2-1 at 14:12 when Mermis’ shot from the point went between Greaves’ pads. It was his first goal as a Maple Leaf and first since February 24, 2024 when he was with the Minnesota Wild, a span of 16 games.

Tavares tied it 2-2 at 3:33 of the third period when he took a pass on a give-and-go with Easton Cowan and one-timed a shot from the slot.

Woll, who made his third straight start since returning from a personal leave of absence that began on Sept. 23, said he feels the Maple Leafs' game is trending in the right direction.

“Yeah, 100 percent, I think in a job like this, it’s hard to take results purely as wins and losses, especially as an individual,” Woll said. “Things go both ways, there’s only so much you can control and I think it’s all about playing the right way. That’s what it comes down to in the playoffs, playing your system and playing the right way. The past few games from what I’ve seen, we’ve been playing our way, maybe just not having it go our way.”

NOTES: Werenski extended his point streak to five games (two goals, six assists)… Maple Leafs forward William Nylander’s 14-game point streak ended. He had eight goals and 15 assists during the stretch… Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson extended his point streak to five games (one goal, four assists). ... Tavares extended his point streak to four games (three goals, three assists).