Fantilli scores 1st hat trick, Blue Jackets defeat Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Adam Fantilli scored his first NHL hat trick, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

Fantilli, who grew up in Nobleton, Ontario, about a 40-minute drive north of Toronto, said at the morning skate that he would have 70 family and friends in attendance at the game.

“That means a lot,” Fantilli said. “It means the world to be able to do that in front of my friends and family, everybody made the trip out. I’m super grateful they all came out and I was able to pull one off there. I could [hear them when my name was announced], I was really lucky, they had some great seats so I was able to make eye contact with a few of them after the first and second period. So it was pretty special to be able see their faces.”

Fantilli had joked in the morning that he would be paying to play after taking care of the bill for as many tickets as he did.

“I mean a lot of [my money] is gone now, so I’m just happy with the win,” Fantilli said.

Luca Del Bel Belluz had a goal and an assist, and Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets (23-18-7), who are 7-1-1 in their past nine.

“It’s huge,” said Del Bel Belluz, who also grew up near Toronto in Woodbridge, Ontario. “There was a lot more on the line with a couple guys being from the Toronto area. It was just a good team win, we all did it together from the goalie out, we were clicking on all cylinders. It was fun.”

Auston Matthews scored for a fifth straight game, and Dennis Hildeby made 14 saves for the Maple Leafs (30-17-2), who had won three in a row.

“I liked our start, thought we had a real good first period,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “We were down 1-0, short-handed goal. We controlled the second period pretty much offensively, in the offensive zone. They go down, one opportunity and they score again. We had a lot of shot attempts and they blocked a lot of shots (25), but we could have been a little bit more direct with our offense.”

Merzlikins kept it 0-0 at 8:24 of the first period when he made a glove save on William Nylander on a breakaway.

“There were a couple shifts there where we got hemmed in and he was the backbone there for us making some big saves,” Del Bel Belluz said of Merzlikins. “It was a great performance by him, just special.”

The Blue Jackets went up 1-0 at 15:40 when Fantilli scored a short-handed goal, shooting over Hildeby’s blocker from just inside the left face-off circle.

Toronto went 0-for-3 on the power play, including two opportunities in the first period.

“There was maybe a little bit too much movement I thought,” said Matthews, the Maple Leafs captain. “Their penalty kill in particular plays a little bit tighter, and we were a lot on the outside, not enough on the inside. Their goalie made some good saves, they blocked some shots. I thought we could have done a better job of one, two passes and try to deliver it. It was too much on the outside, too much passing with really making nothing happen.”

James van Riemsdyk pushed it to 2-0 at 13:40 of the second period, taking a pass from Del Bel Belluz and shooting from the low slot.

Fantilli made it 3-0 at 15:21 when he put in a loose puck at the side of the net after Dmitri Voronkov dug the puck free from a scramble at the top of the goal crease.

Del Bel Belluz, who was playing his first NHL game in Toronto and also had several family and friends in attendance, extended the lead to 4-0 at 5:56 of the third period. After van Riemsdyk won a battle for a loose puck behind the net against Connor Timmins, Del Bel Belluz got to it and jammed it in at the side of the net.

“It’s special with a lot of people in the crowd supporting me,” Del Bel Belluz said. “It’s good to give them one, something they can remember from this game, so it was just super fun.”

Matthews’ 20th goal of the season cut it to 4-1 at 9:22. Nylander fed him from below the goal line, and Matthews one-timed the pass between Merzlikins' pads at the top of the goal crease.

It was the ninth time in nine NHL seasons that Matthews has scored at least 20 goals. He has eight goals in his past eight games and nine in his past 10 since returning from a six-game absence because of an upper-body injury.

Fantilli completed the hat trick and made it 5-1 by scoring into an empty net at 12:02.

Merzlikins said it meant a lot to the Blue Jackets to see Fantilli and Del Bel Belluz have success in front of so many family and friends.

“We’re really happy for them,” Merzlikins said. “It’s huge, you are home, they have that chance to play at home. Like I don’t (because he is from Latvia). So it’s nice, it’s really nice and we are happy for them. They both are working hard and they deserve it.”

NOTES: Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger missed the game because of an upper-body injury. He is day to day. Coach Dean Evason said Sillinger would be evaluated on Thursday before it’s determined whether he’ll be able to play that night at the Carolina Hurricanes. … Matthews tied Darryl Sittler for the fourth-most 20-goal seasons in Maple Leafs history. The only players with more are Mats Sundin (13), Dave Keon (11) and Ron Ellis (11). … Toronto forward Matthew Knies left the game late in the second with an upper-body injury after colliding with Columbus forward Kirill Marchenko and falling awkwardly into a linesman. Berube had no further update.