Jet Greaves made 22 saves for his first NHL shutout and the Columbus Blue Jackets kept their playoff hopes alive with a 7-0 win against the visiting Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Adam Fantilli scored two goals and James van Riemsdyk had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets (37-33-9, 83 points), who are four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Sean Monahan and Kent Johnson each had a goal and an assist.
Greaves, 24, was playing his 18th NHL game and eighth this season.
Hunter Shepard made 19 saves for the Capitals (50-20-9, 109 points), who played without captain Alex Ovechkin, who was a healthy scratch. Washington trails the Winnipeg Jets by three points for first place overall.
The two teams meet in Washington on Sunday night following a penalty-filled contest Saturday that featured several fights.
Zach Werenski gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead 1:00 into the first period when he scored on the first Columbus shot of the game, a wrister from the left circle off a pass from Monahan.
Johnson made it 2-0 at 4:53 by skating down the left side, eluding a falling defenseman in the left circle and beating Shepard from the low slot.
Fantilli increased the lead to 3-0, taking a cross-ice pass from Johnson and scoring from the left circle on the rush with six seconds left in the period.
Fantilli struck again at 2:01 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the right point to make it 4-0.
Monahan pushed the lead to 5-0 at 4:37 when he scored at the left post, burying the rebound of Denton Mateychuk’s shot.
Cole Sillinger made it 6-0 at 5:14. Dmitri Voronkov stole the puck behind the Washington net and fed it in front to Sillinger, who one-timed it past Shepard.
Van Riemsdyk scored from the low slot at 17:39 of the third period for the 7-0 final.
–Field Level Media
