Fantilli scores twice, Blue Jackets rally for shootout win

COLUMBUS -- Adam Fantilli’s second goal of the game tied it with 1:31 left in the third period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied for a 6-5 shootout victory against the Detroit Red Wings at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Fantilli tied it 5-5 with Elvis Merzlikins pulled for the extra skater after his wrist shot went in off Red Wings defenseman Albert Johansson.

“That was a lot of fun,” Fantilli said. “I mean, playing from behind is not what you want to be doing, but it kind of makes for some fun hockey when you keep coming back.”

The Blue Jackets, who have allowed three 6-on-5 goals this season, scored their second in that situation.

“Do you want to get to that point? No,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “But do you want to get reinforced that you can do the right things? We did. We got the puck to the net, got people at the net, scored a goal like you're supposed to with those situations.”

Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson scored in the shootout, and Merzlikins stopped both shooters he faced.

Marchenko and Johnson each had a goal, and Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan each had three assists for the Blue Jackets (13-9-5), who won their second straight after losing four in a row. Merzlikins made 28 saves.

Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond each had a goal and an assist, and Moritz Seider and Andrew Copp each had two assists for the Red Wings (14-11-3), who have lost five of six (1-3-2). Cam Talbot made 26 saves.

“I think after the second (trailing 4-3) if you told us we would have got a point and taken it to overtime, obviously we always want two points, but that would have been good for us,” Kane said. “But to get that one-goal lead and in the third it would have been nice to finish it off and get the two points.”

Ivan Provorov gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 17:55 of the first period before Dylan Larkin tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 1:09 of the second period. He redirected a Seider shot from between the circles.

Marchenko scored 12 seconds into a power play to put the Blue Jackets back ahead 2-1 at 5:18 on a shot from the left dot. It was his first game after missing the past four with a lower-body injury.

“I feel fresh,” Marchenko said. “I was injured. I have energy, have power.”

Johnson extended it to 3-1 at 7:11 on a rebound of a Cole Sillinger shot for his first goal in 20 games, and third of the season. He had had a career-high 24 goals last season.

“We lose games and I'm not producing. It's frustrating, obviously,” Johnson said. “We're in the NHL, we play so many games, so try to just move past it and keep working and stay positive and stay hungry.”

Detroit tied it 3-3 on power-play goals by Raymond at 9:08 and James van Riemsdyk at 10:20 during a double-minor for high-sticking to Dmitri Voronkov.

Fantilli’s power-play goal gave Columbus a 4-3 lead at 13:50, a one-timer under the bar from the right circle.

Kane tied it 4-4 at 9:35 of the third period with a wrist shot from the high slot.

Alex DeBrincat then gave the Red Wings a 5-4 lead at 11:38 with a shot straight-on from the high slot.

After playing for the Blue Jackets last season, van Riemsdyk said the game felt familiar.

“I feel like the last couple years of these games, they've always been kind of crazy games,” he said. “I like the way we stuck with it, getting down there and just keep battling and keep trying to claw our way back in, which we did and usually when you're leading in the end of a game like that, you like to try to find a way to get the two points.”

NOTES: The Blue Jackets extended their home point streak to eight games (5-0-3) to tie the second-longest stretch in franchise history (8-0-0 in 2017-2018). The longest run in club history is 12 games set in 2012-13 (9-0-3). … Kane recorded his 359th career multipoint game to pass Mike Modano for the most by a U.S.-born player in NHL history. … Raymond has nine points (four goals, five assists) in a seven-game point streak. … DeBrincat has a 12-game road point streak against Columbus dating back to Oct. 20, 2018, the longest such run against the Blue Jackets in NHL history.