NEW YORK — Adam Fantilli scored three goals for his second career hat trick, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the New York Rangers 7-3 on Sunday night.
Mathieu Olivier had two goals, Dante Fabbro added a goal and an assist, and Justin Danforth also scored as Columbus won for the fifth time in seven games. Zach Werenski and Dmitri Voronkov each had two assists, and Daniil Tarasov stopped 30 shots.
Artemi Panarin, Braden Schneider and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, and Mika Zibanejad had two assists. Jonathan Quick finished with 20 saves in New York’s third straight loss (0-1-2).
Fantilli scored two goals 26 seconds apart early in the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 3-1 lead.
Schneider and Kredier scored short-handed goals 42 seconds apart to tie the score, but it was all Blue Jackets after that.
Olivier and Fabbro scored late in the middle period to give Columbus a 5-3 lead.
Olivier got credit for his second of the night after Rangers defenseman Zac Jones knocked the rebound of his shot past Quick midway through the third.
Fantilli finished the hat trick with 8:09 remaining.
Takeaways
Blue Jackets: Columbus moved one point ahead of Ottawa for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Rangers: New York remained outside of a playoff spot, one point behind the Senators for the second wild card.
Key moment
Fantilli got a pass from Kirill Marchenko from in front of Quick and fired a shot from between the circles past Quick for the 20-year-old center’s second hat trick this season.
Key stat
Schneider and Kreider scored short-handed goals, giving the Rangers a league-high 13 on the season.
Up next
Blue Jackets visit Devils on Tuesday, and Rangers play at Winnipeg to open a three-game trip.
