Blue Jackets’ Road Notes: Faceoff Fantilli, Shootout Johnson & More

Welcome to St. Louis.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are finally set to play both their first road game and their first back-to-back of the new season. They are coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins that saw them dominate most of the game.

Charlie Coyle and his line had a game to remember. Not only did they have the assignment of playing against Sidney Crosby’s line, they were by far the Blue Jackets’ best line in all phases. Mathieu Olivier was able to cash in on a goal thanks to their work.

But Saturday is a new day and a new opportunity to start a winning streak. They hope to do that against a St. Louis Blues team that dominated the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. Ultimately, the Blues fell in overtime in their home opener.

Another new feature that we’ll be bringing you this season at the Hockey Writers is the Blue Jackets’ Road Notes. This will be a chance to catch up with some of your favorite players and discuss the happenings around the team.

Today, we caught up with Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson and head coach Rick Bowness. You may have already seen Fantilli’s insane start to his faceoff winning percentage.

Fantilli Acing the Faceoff Circle

After going 14 of 16 on Friday night at the dot, Fantilli has won 45 of 56 faceoffs this season, an astounding 80.4%. It was always going to be one of this priorities to make that a strength of his game.

Fantilli opened up about what has made him successful early on this season. It shows just how studious he is.

“I think, to be honest with you, I’m just trying to read the other guy the best I can, knowing who I’m going up against and talking to my teammates about where the highest probability of the puck is going to go,” Fantilli said. “Then telling them to be ready in that spot or to have a little extra jump. They’ve been great. (Johnson) and (Knies) have been jumping in a lot. It’s been really helpful.”

“Then in the D-zone, the D on the wall has been really helpful when I’m telling them that it might sling right to the wall on a 50-50. They’re all ready to go. I’ve had a lot of help from them and it’s been good.”

Fantilli has gotten to a point where he has taken faceoffs against most everyone in the league now. This is where the studious part of him really shines.

“I remember certain things,” Fantilli said. “I watch some clips beforehand and try to see what they usually do, then figure out what I can do, if what I usually do will work or if I have to change anything. So I do study a little bit.”

Fantilli has a goal in his first three games on top of being other worldly in faceoffs. He’s also averaged just under four hits per game and has enjoyed early success with his linemates Kent Johnson and Matthew Knies. For someone who missed the preseason, he says he’s in a good place.

“I feel good,” Fantilli said. Lungs feel good. My legs feel good. Getting back into games is always weird coming from how you train in the offseason – playing 3-on-3, 4-on-4 a lot of small area stuff just to try and stay ready. Then going back to 5-on-5 is tough to do. But I feel good. I feel like I’m making plays doing the best I can trying to create, just trying to get on the board a little more.”

Fantilli’s linemates have noticed the work and improvement. It doesn’t come as a surprise to them.

“He’s been great all things considered,” Johnson said of Fantilli. “But I wasn’t surprised. He’s a pro. I know he was working hard. I knew he was going to be in good shape and flying around as he is. The faceoffs have been unreal. He’s going to be such an elite player in this league. He already is. I know he’s not even satisfied right now. He wants to be even better than right now, even though he’s been great.”

Johnson’s Shootout Mastery

Johnson scored the only goal of the shootout on Friday to help lift the Blue Jackets to their win. That tally was his 11th career shootout goal.

Johnson now has a career shootout percentage of 61.1%. That puts him tied for fourth place in NHL history for shootout success for those with at least 10 shootout attempts. Former Blue Jacket Kirill Marchenko has the same 11 of 18 coming into Saturday.

From a young age, Johnson has always had a knack for being excellent in shootouts. It started by watching others do it for a long time.

“From a young age, I feel like God gave me a passion for the shootout,” Johnson said. Sounds funny, but when I was 14 or 15, I remember watching every shootout on NHL.com every day. I always just loved it, loved watching guys. Loved those situations.”

“When you’re younger, you don’t get many shootouts but in tournaments etc. I always looked forward to it and wanted to be ready, wanted to be prepared in them. It’s definitely something I enjoy and I’m glad I put in the work when I was younger on my hands. It definitely helps.”

With Marchenko moving on to the Toronto Maple Leafs, fans can count on Johnson being among the first to shoot for the Blue Jackets in the shootout. He spent a lot of this life to be prepared for those big moments. He’s one of the best in NHL history for a reason. He’s put a lot of work into it.

“He probably just watched a lot of videos growing up,” Fantilli said of Johnson. “”He works on it all the time. It doesn’t make sense to me how good he is at it.”

Game Notes

• Bowness said that Jet Greaves would start in net on Saturday night. Greaves owns a perfect 4-0 record all-time against the Blues which included his first NHL win.
• There are a couple gametime decisions so all 22 rostered Blue Jackets will take the warmup.
• Bowness said he liked Sean Monahan’s line Friday because they were able to generate more and spend more time in the offensive zone. The coach also liked Fantilli’s line for the most part except for a couple of turnovers. “They made life a lot harder on them than they should have. But that’ll come. Those are the things we’ll keep addressing.”
• On the Blues, Bowness said the Blue Jackets need to be ready to battle. “It’s a hard working team. As I told the players this morning, they’re in the same boat as we are. They’re very disappointed in the end of their season. They missed the playoffs. They’re fighting to get back into it and so are we … The race for the playoffs doesn’t start in January. It starts your first game of the year. (The Blues) work very hard, so we’ve got to be ready for that battle. More importantly, we just got to be ready to play our game.”