Fantilli's OT goal lifts Blue Jackets past Golden Knights

COLUMBUS -- Adam Fantilli scored a power-play goal 59 seconds into overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

Fantilli positioned himself at the bottom of the right circle and scored from a sharp angle with a one-timer off a pass from Charlie Coyle.

“You never know how far down you're going to have to sink for one of those one-timers,” Fantilli said. “Just working on the angles, and Charlie made a great pass.

“We really deserve, our fans really deserve, a game like that. They've stuck with us, and I'm happy they showed up tonight and I'm happy we were able to get them a win.”

Fantilli’s goal was the Blue Jackets' first on the power play in 23 opportunities since going 2-for-3 in their season opener against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 1.

“It was good to see that thing go in because we had the first power play was really good, the second power play was not very good,” coach Rick Bowness said. “So, it was good to see that win the game for us tonight. We needed to score there, for sure.”

Denton Mateychuk also scored, and Kent Johnson had two assists for the Blue Jackets (4-5-0), who had lost two straight and four of five.

Cam Talbot made 26 saves, including 13 in the third period. The 39-year-old, who is the backup to Jet Greaves, was glad Bowness gave him the opportunity to get the team back on track.

“It means a lot. He could have easily went back to Jet,” Talbot said. “I mean, he’s got confidence in both of us, but you get to go out there and play against a team like that and to finish off the homestand here, it's always an honor to be in the net.”

Tomas Hertl scored, and Carter Hart made 18 saves for the Golden Knights (8-4-1), who have lost three straight.

“We have a really mature group here in the sense of they take responsibility,” Vegas coach Ryan Craig said. “They look at themselves, what can they improve, what can they continue, what can they build on? We need to do the same thing as the coaching staff as we continue to work together.”

The Golden Knights were coming off a pair of 6-2 losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning (Tuesday) and St. Louis Blues (Thursday), so defenseman Noah Hanifin said there was noticeable improvement against the Blue Jackets.

“It was better than it has been the last few games,” he said. “... They're going to make some big stops at key moments, and it was unfortunate having to kill a few penalties there late in the game.”

Mateychuk gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 11:51 of the first period. He took a pass from Johnson, who was in the left corner, and lifted a backhand over Hart while cutting toward the net.

Hertl tied it 1-1 at 17:13 of the first. He skated in and cleaned up a rebound in front after Talbot stopped a 2-on-1 chance from Braeden Bowman, who had cut back across the grain but had his backhand stopped by the goaltender's right pad.

“Obviously, we want to take two points, but every point is important,” Hertl said. “I think in the third period finally we played a lot more of our game. We had a lot more chances, but still, it's not good enough.”

NOTE: Vegas forward Mitch Marner missed his second straight game to be with his wife for the birth of their second child.