Columbus Blue Jackets sweep Wa...

WASHINGTON — Adam Fantilli, Jet Greaves and the rest of the Blue Jackets aren’t rolling over.

Paced by two goals for Fantilli and Greaves’ 29 saves while playing his fourth game in five days, the Jackets avoided elimination from the playoff race for the fourth straight game by downing the Washington Capitals, 4-1, at Capital One Arena to sweep the top team in the Eastern Conference in a weekend back-to-back.

"Obviously, we know it's win or go home," defenseman Zach Werenski said. "Guys are really playing our system right now, we're getting huge saves from Jet and it's been a fun couple days here."

Fantilli also scored two goals in the Blue Jackets’ 7-0 victory over the Capitals on Saturday at Nationwide Arena to give him four goals in two games to raise his goal total to 29 with two games left to reach the 30-goal milestone.

"He's been huge, especially as of late," Werenski said. "He's scored some huge goals for us, made some big plays and he's playing the right way. He's playing responsible. He's taking care of all of his defensive duties and letting his skill take over, so it's been a ton of fun to watch him do his thing out there."

Werenski scored the first goal for Columbus, which can be eliminated while off Monday if the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Chicago Blackhawks. Should the Blackhawks pull off an upset at Bell Centre in Montreal, the Blue Jackets will play another game Tuesday in Philadelphia they'll need to win to keep their playoff hopes viable.

"Listen, we’re trying to get into the playoffs," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. "We know where we’re at. I told you guys before, some guys watch, some guys don’t. I don’t know what you’d have to be to not know where we’re at, so everybody knows we have to win. So, we’re conducting ourselves like that. We’re playing hard every night, trying to get two points every night to get where we want to be, and that’s in the playoffs.”

Washington took a quick 1-0 lead just 1:10 into the game on Alex Ovechkin’s 896th career goal, pushing his all-time NHL record one higher with his first goal since breaking Wayne Gretzky’s long-held record a week earlier. Ovechkin didn't play Saturday in Columbus.

Ovechkin one-timed a shot past Greaves from the slot after getting a perfect feed from Dylan Strome following a Blue Jackets turnover deep in their own end. That was the last thing they needed with their entire season at stake, but it didn’t turn into a tidal wave of goals for the Capitals.

Instead, the Jackets battled back and tied it 1-1 late in the first on a goal by Zach Werenski, who scored for the second straight game to up his total to 22 for the season – second among all NHJL defensemen.

Fantilli took it from there.

After putting the Jackets up 2-1 early in the second off a turnover, the second-year center pushed it to 3-1 early in the third with his second goal of the night, 29th of the season and fourth in two days against the Capitals. The third overall pick of the 2023 NHL draft has surged into a starring role down the stretch at the most opportune time for the Blue Jackets.

Greaves, originally signed as an undrafted free agent, continues to shine every time he gets the net while replacing injured starter Elvis Merzlikins. The Blue Jackets' next on-ice challenge is Tuesday in Philadelphia, which could again have their playoff hopes at stake if they get some help from the Blackhawks on Monday in Montreal.

"It means a lot," Fantilli said. "You want to have everybody pulling on the same rope, and I think our whole team's been doing a great job of doing that. We've had a lot of depth scoring. Everybody's been dialing in as much as possible, and it's been helping us a lot."