Winning Thoughts: Start spreading the news

After CBJ wins, we'll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we'll remember from the Blue Jackets victory.

BLUE JACKETS 7, RANGERS 3

1. Adam Fantilli’s hat trick was a statement for the CBJ top line.

As the Blue Jackets struggled offensively in a pair of losses Tuesday and Thursday in Florida, the CBJ trio of Fantilli centering Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov was kept off the board. In fact, they weren’t on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal in either of the previous two wins over Detroit, too.

As they say, big players make big plays in big games, and Sunday certainly qualified as a big game as the Blue Jackets entered tied with the Rangers for the final wild card spot. And the Jackets’ biggest players showed up, none more than Fantilli, who notched his second hat trick of the season.

With the Jackets and Rangers tied at 1 early in the second period, Fantilli took over on a shift, racing the length of the ice and beating goalie Jonathan Quick with a wicked wrist shot to give Columbus the lead.

Just 26 seconds later, Fantilli had another when he slammed home a pass from below the net from Voronkov, giving him the second-fastest goals by the same CBJ player in franchise history.

By the time Fantilli capped the scoring in the third by finishing another sweet feed from Marchenko, that line had made an emphatic impact.

"That was fun, yeah,” Fantilli said after becoming the fifth CBJ player to earn multiple hat tricks in the same season. “Gotta give credit to the boys. Those were two sweet passes for the second two. I’m playing with great players right now, so they make it easy.”

Fantilli is up to 21 goals on the season, making him the third CBJ player ever to reach the 20-goal plateau in a season at age 20 or younger, joining Rick Nash and Pierre-Luc Dubois. His game has steadily built throughout the season, and head coach Dean Evason has noticed.

“I wish there was inside looks at where he was at the start of the year and how his commitment to playing the game right way, how his commitment to playing defense, how his commitment to being a good leader and a good teammate (has grown),” Evason said. “We get a guy that goes down (Sean Monahan) and he steps into a role of a real leadership spot, and he’s done the work. He deserves to get all the accolades or whatever it is that he’s getting.”

Two hats hit the ice in Madison Square Garden after Fantilli’s third goal, one of them belonging to backup goalie Elvis Merzlikins. Voronkov picked it up and playfully tried to put it on Fantilli’s head, but the young CBJ centerman didn’t get to keep it.

"I saw Elvis throw his hat. That was pretty funny,” Fantilli said. “I gave it right back.”

2. Zach Werenski had another standout performance while putting his name into the CBJ record book (again).

If you’re going to pass Nash to become the team’s all-time leader in career assists, it’s nice to do it the way Werenski did. It was a beautiful helper in a season full of them for Werenski, as he set up Justin Danforth’s opening goal 5:56 into the game with the type of play few defensemen can make.

Werenski intercepted a Rangers pass while skating back into his own zone, and the puck was in the CBJ net in a New York minute. The standout CBJ defenseman immediately turned and raced up the ice, exchanging passes with Danforth before a sublime toe drag around Carson Soucy and return feed to Danforth at the netfront for finish.

That helper gave him 259 assists in his career, breaking a tie with Nash for most in team history. It’s always notable to see one of Nash’s CBJ records fall – it's taken a while, eh? – and Werenski certainly deserves it.

Of course, as he noted after the game, he’s not here for records, he’s here to win games.

“I mean, it’s cool,” he said of the record. “It’s one of those things, I said to these guys in the room after the game, it’s not possible without my teammates. I haven’t really thought about (the record), to be honest. I’m just trying to enjoy the year, enjoy the moment, enjoy the spot we’re in as a team and just keep going and playing my game.

“It’s one of those things where I don’t really care, as bad as it might sound. I just want to keep helping this team win.”

Werenski made it 260 career assists later with the helper on Mathieu Olivier’s game-winning goal that broke a 3-3 tie in the second, as his pass from the left wall was perfectly on the tape for the big man to redirect past Quick.

Werenski already had the CBJ record for points in a season by a defenseman, and he entered the game tied for the most goals (20) and assists (46) by a blueliner as well. The funny part? They were already his records set in previous seasons. Now, with 48 helpers on the season, he’s set that mark again and will surely keep adding to it.

3. The Blue Jackets yet again displayed their unique brand of perseverance through tough moments on the ice.

Let’s just be honest – giving up two shorthanded goals on the same power play is nobody’s idea of a good time.

Yet it happened to the Blue Jackets for just the second time in team history Sunday night, as what should have been a key moment to blow the game open turned into what could have been a disaster. Fantilli’s back-to-back goals had given them a 3-1 lead in the second period, and when Will Cuylle went to the box for holding, things were trending the Jackets' way.

Instead, the Blue Jackets’ focus slipped and New York took advantage, as Braden Schneider and Chris Kreider scored shorthanded goals 42 seconds apart to pull the Rangers even.

But instead of panicking, the Blue Jackets just put their nose back to the grindstone and were rewarded when Olivier and Dante Fabbro scored 1:44 apart late in the second period to give Columbus the lead for good.

“It could have went real sideways, right?” Evason said. “It’s a credit to the guys for (saying), ‘It’s OK.’ Stuff happens in the game, and they’re trying to score, too. They catch a couple of breaks. They score those goals, and it would have been easy or would have been understandable if we didn’t handle that well. But we did.”

Evason has said it before, but his team doesn’t seem to panic in such situations. Again, the Blue Jackets showed that they can overcome adversity.

“It didn’t faze us,” Werenski said. “I feel like it says a lot about our group. We just kept playing, kept sticking with it. I feel like for the most part we were in control the whole time, and it’s just a testament to how we played tonight. I feel like guys were dialed in, and we knew how big of a game it was.”