TORONTO — Adam Fantilli registered his first career hat trick and Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 on Wednesday.
Luca Del Bel Belluz, with a goal and an assist, and James van Riemsdyk provided the rest of the offence for Columbus (23-18-7).
The Blue Jackets have points in eight of their last nine games (7-1-1) and moved into the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot with the victory.
Auston Matthews replied for Toronto (30-17-2). Dennis Hildeby stopped 14 shots.
The Leafs, who suffered 6-2 road loss to the Blue Jackets in October, saw a three-game winning streak snapped.
Fantilli, a native of nearby Nobleton, Ont., with 70 family and friends in attendance at Scotiabank Arena, pushed Columbus ahead 3-0 in the second period with his second of the night.
Del Bel Belluz — who’s from Woodbridge, Ont., also just outside Toronto — put things to bed in the third when he made it 4-0. Matthews got a consolation goal for the home side before Fantilli completed his hat trick into then empty net with Hildeby on the bench for an extra attacker.
Takeaways
Leafs: Matthew Knies (upper-body injury) left the game late in the second period following a big collision by the benches and didn’t return.
Blue Jackets: Merzlikins appeared to suffer an injury during the morning skate, but was good to go against Toronto.
Key moment
Merzlikins made a couple of huge stops on Matthews in the middle period before van Riemsdyk and Fantilli scored one minute 41 seconds apart to put Columbus up 3-0.
Key stat
Blue Jackets defenceman Zach Werenski entered play leading the NHL in average ice time at 26:49. Utah Hockey blueliner Mikhail Sergachev (25:45) sat more than a minute back at No. 2.
Up next
Columbus concludes a four-game road-trip Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Toronto is off until Saturday’s visit to Ottawa to take on the Senators.
