Blue Jackets Can't Find A Way To Beat Boston, Playoff Hopes Still Alive However

Mason Marchment (19) and Adam Fantilli (24) scored the only goals in a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday night. Jet Greaves made 19 saves in the loss.

The Columbus Blue Jackets' Stanley Cup Playoff hopes are officially on life support. For the second year in a row, the CBJ will go down to the wire and will most likely be eliminated. It's not officially over, but it's close.

The Philadelphia Flyers now need to lose both of their remaining games, and the Jackets need to beat the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night to clinch a playoff berth. The Flyers play back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens.

Last season, in a game that the CBJ needed the Habs to lose, the Hurricanes played a mostly AHL lineup and got beat by Montreal, to knock the Blue Jackets out of contention.

In a strange bit of irony, it will again be up to the Carolina Hurricanes to help the Blue Jackets out by beating the Flyers, to give Columbus one last sliver of hope come Tuesday night.

Quotes

Rick Bowness - "We're all very, very disappointed in how it went tonight. We are. The guys are heartbroken. We're heartbroken. Now we've lost total control of what's going to happen. There's nothing we can do now. We'll just have to sit back and see what happens tomorrow night in Philly."

Adam Fantilli - "This one, it's a gut shot. We understand and understood everything going into this game, and we didn't get it done. The level of disappointment is pretty high right now."

Zach Werenski - "Yeah, especially when they take the lead, we really didn’t give him too much in the 3rd until that goal. I felt like Mo has a big goal to tie it up, we’re playing well, and you know, a good shot by him, and ends up being 3-2, and then after that we have to step up a little bit more. I mean, after that we had, like I said, a couple of grade A's from the slot, we got to find a way to score and tie it up. I mean, that could be our season."

Team Notes Per CBJ PR

• Columbus (0-2-1) and Boston (3-0-0) completed their season series tonight.
• The Blue Jackets finished the 2025-26 season with a 13-6-5 record against the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference following tonight’s action.
• The Jackets scored the first goal of the game for the 49th time this season (32-10-7) and for the 28th time at Nationwide Arena (18-7-3).
• Columbus has scored first 24 times since Jan. 13 (17-4-3), tying Buffalo for the most instances in the league since then.
• The Blue Jackets skated in front of their sixth-straight and 15th sellout crowd of the season tonight.

Final Stats

cbj app

Player Stats & Notes

• Mason Marchment scored his 19th goal, and 15th goal as a Blue Jacket, and has points in six of his past seven games played (2-6-8). His goal also gives him 4-6-10 in 11 career matchups against Boston, with points in four of his past five (3-6-9) and 4-2-6 in six career home games vs. the club.
• Adam Fantilli scored his 24th goal of the year and won 55.6% of his faceoffs. He has points in consecutive contests (1-2-3) and in three of his past four games (2-2-4). He improved to 3-2-5 in nine career games against Boston with all points in his past six matchups.
• Dante Fabbro picked up his 6th assist.
• Boone Jenner recorded his 25th assist and won 50% of his faceoffs. He now has notched 10-5-15 in 25 career contests against the Bruins, with 3-4-7 in his past nine overall and has points in four of his last five at home (1-4-5).
• Danten Heinen got his 5th assist and was a plus-2. He has points in 3 of his last 4 games.
• Zach Werenski had 8 shots on goal and played 30:27.
• Charlie Coyle won 66.7% of his faceoffs.

Team Stats

• The Jackets went 0/3 on the power play.
• The Columbus PK didn't have to work, as the Jackets didn't take a penalty.
• Columbus won 54.4% of the faceoffs - 31/57
• The Blue Jackets had 20 hits and 4 blocks.

Next Up For Columbus: The Blue Jackets welcome the Washington Capitals into Nationwide Arena in what could be the final game of the season.

Stay updated with the most interesting Blue Jackets stories, analysis, breaking news, and more!

Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News and never miss a story.

Let us know what you think below.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News atTHN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending storiesby subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.