Zach Werenski Has Two Points, Shootout Winner In Big Win Against Detroit

Danton Heinen (6), Zach Werenski (22-PPG), and Adam Fantilli scored the goals for Columbus in regulation, and Jet Greaves stopped 34 of 37 Red Wings shots to pick up a huge two points. The win is Greaves 25th win of the year and breaks a four-game losing streak for the young goalie. 

The game would be won in overtime by Zach Werenski, who had previously gone 0-for-3 in his career in shootout attempts. Werenski would win it in round 5.

The Blue Jackets won the game and gave Detroit a point, but they're mathematically still in the playoff chase. They didn't get much help, though, as the Senators and Flyers, both teams who are directly ahead of the CBJ, also won. 

The Blue Jackets started the first period off as they have routinely, even during the losing streak, by scoring the first goal early in the period. But the Wings would strike back when Dylan Larkin tied it on the power play with 9:33 left. 

Detroit would score first in the second to take a 2-1 lead, but then with 9:01 left in the period, Superstar Zach Werenski potted his 22nd goal of the season on the power play to tie the game at two a piece. 

The third period played out like the second, with Justin Faulk scoring his second goal of the game to give the Red Wings a 3-2 lead. With just over four minutes left in the game, you could just feel that the CBJ were going to take another tough loss. 

But when Zach Werenski fed a pass to young Adam Fantilli while Jet Greaves was on the bench for the extra attacker, and he blasted it by John Gibson, the entire game shifted in a second.

The Blue Jackets and Red Wings would go to OT, and then on to a shootout where Zach Werenski would beat Gibson in round five to send the Jackets on to Buffalo with a massive win. 

Quotes   

• Zach Werenski - "My laces were all messed up, and I couldn't really skate, so when they called me, I was like, 'You guys sure? I’m kind of on one leg here.' My foot was in the skate but pretty wobbly. I was kind of thinking what I was gonna do when I went out there, and then I was like, 'What am I thinking, just shoot it.'"

• Zach Werenski - "I saw my parents after the game in the stands, and my brother up there. Those are the moments that you play the game for. It definitely ranks pretty high up there for moments in a regular season game for sure."
• Adam Fantilli - "We need all of them, and we're going to try to get every single one before the season is over and put ourselves in the best position to get in the playoffs for our fans and for our city."
• Charlie Coyle - "For the fans watching, hopefully not too many heart attacks out there. But it's nice to come out on the winning side. It's huge, too, with only a couple of games left to spring us and something we can feed off of."
• Detroit's Dylan Larkin - “I hope that’s not the one, and I hope the Minnesota one is not the one that’s the final nail in the coffin. That’s a letdown, in tough fashion again.”

Final Stats 

Player Stats & Notes  

• Danton Heinen scored his 6th goal of the season. He took 3 shots and was a plus-1.
• Zach Werenski scored his 22nd goal and picked up his 58th assist. With two points, Werenski is now the franchise leader in multi-point games in a season with 26. He also now has 80 points and has become just the third American-born defenseman with back-to-back 80-point seasons. He also played 33:26 minutes and took 6 shots.
• Adam Fantilli scored his 23rd goal of the season and took 3 shots.
• Mason Marchment picked up his 24th assist and was a plus-2.
• Denton Mateychuk recorded his 18th assist.
• Kirill Marchenko tallied his 39th assist and had 3 shots.
• Jet Greaves made 34 saves and got his 1st career assist on the Werenski power play goal.

Team Stats

• The Jackets went 1/4 on the power play.
• The Columbus gave up a goal on the only power play Detroit had.
• Columbus won 54% of the faceoffs - 34/63
• The Blue Jackets had 20 hits and 21 blocks.

Next Up For Columbus: The Blue Jackets are in Buffalo on Thursday to take on the Sabres. 

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