The Columbus Blue Jackets squared off against the Eastern Conference basement-dwelling Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at Nationwide Arena. The Jackets recently endured a seven game losing streak but came into this game as winners of two out of the last three games. The home team was able to stretch that to three of four and two straight as they blew out the Canadiens 5-1.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Canadiens | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Columbus dominated the first period offensively, controlling the puck for much of the time and posting nine shots on goal, compared to only four for Montreal. The Blue Jackets also had the only goal of the period, heading into the second with a 1-0 lead.
Jack Roslovic, coming off his first hat trick of the year, last game, fired a shot that ricocheted off of and over the shoulder of Canadiens' goaltender Sam Montembeault, as it bounced across the goal-line. Patrik Laine and Vladislav Gavrikov each picked up an assist on the play.
Neither team could get on the board for over three quarters of the second period, as the score remained 1-0 in favor of Columbus. Then, with just four minutes left, Roslovic once again found the back of the net as Laine caught the centerman in stride with a perfectly-placed pass. Gustav Nyquist tallied his 45th point of the season as he was also credited with an assist on that goal.
Things continued to heat up at the end of the period when, just a minute-and-a-half later, Laine racked up his third point of the night and first goal in the last eleven games. Laine shot it into the net from an almost-impossible angle as he was just barely in front of the goal-line on the outside of the left post. Nyquist had his second assist of the night, and Jakub Voracek was awarded his first on the Laine goal.
The Canadiens did manage to sprinkle just a little bit of rain on the 5th line's parade when Montreal center Ryan Poehling scored with less than two minutes left to bring the score to 3-1 going into the third period.
One of the two Blue Jackets playing in their first-ever game, defenseman Nick Blankenburg, picked up his first NHL point when he was credited with an assist as Cole Sillinger tipped in a shot from Emil Bemstrom. Blankenburg was also awarded the third star of the game for his effort.
Adding insult to injury, Bemstrom buried one in the back of the net at the 2:22 mark of the third period, giving him his second point of the night. Voracek and Sillinger also received their second points of the game as they had the the assists on the play.
Next Up:
The Blue Jackets head out to California on Saturday to take on the Los Angeles Kings. Puck drop is at 10:30 p.m. EST.
