That one got out of hand fast.
The Montreal Canadiens scored three third-period goals to come away with a 5-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night from Bell Centre.
Sam Montembeault made 25 saves and Nick Suzuki scored his seventh goal of the season. Cole Caufield had two assists.
Road Trends Continue
Columbus broke a six-game losing streak on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins but on Saturday their road losing streak stretched to seven games.
With a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame, Montreal got goals from Lucas Condotta, Jake Evans, and former Blue Jacket Josh Anderson. Conduit's tally at 11:04 was the first of the season and second of his career.
"We were playing the right way," head coach Dean Evason said about his team's play through 40 minutes. "We weren't having success as far as shooting the puck and for whatever reason we wanted to try to make plays that weren't there."
"We just didn't stay with the game plan and went rogue a little bit. They capitalized on a few mistakes and the game was over."
As far as the Jackets not being consistent in their style of play, Evason said, "We've had enough learning experiences at this point to understand how we need to play in order to have success. We saw it last night, what we did in the third period, and we can't repeat it." #CBJ
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) November 17, 2024
In addition to the loss, the continued a streak of six straight road games with two or fewer goals.
Despite the wheels falling off over the final 20 minutes, the Jackets continued another trend of holding 5v5 advantages in shot attempts (42-37) and expected goals (2.14-2.1) per Natural Stat Trick.
Little consolation, of course, as the Jackets have dropped another game and fall to 0-3-0 in the second of back-to-backs this season.
*ding ding ding*
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) November 17, 2024
Mathieu Olivier and Arber Xhekaj with a dandy. Seems like Olivier won it, but there certainly wasn't a loser in that one. Great battle. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/k0Cq5dvRsQ
Monahan And Harris Return
On the night the Canadiens honored recent Hall of Fame inductee, Shea Weber, it was a welcome-back reunion for Sean Monahan and Jordan Harris.
Canadiens welcome Sean Monahan and Jordan Harris back to Bell Centre with Columbus Blue Jackets #Habs #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/CsaOYzt8Nf
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) November 17, 2024
Monahan played in 74 games over parts of two seasons for Montreal, scoring 52 points (19 goals, 33 assists). Harris spent his first four seasons with the Habs, playing 140 games upon breaking into the league in 2021-22, and scoring 32 points (eight goals, 24 assists).
Sean Monahan wanted a Lane Hutson memento.
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) November 17, 2024
So he took his stick. pic.twitter.com/wyk9eyc29n
Monahan had one shot in 20:50 in Saturday's game. Harris played 13:25.
Fabbro Scores First
Dante Fabbro scored the lone Blue Jackets goal — his first as a Blue Jacket — at 7:40 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1. Zach Werenski and Kevin Labanc each picked up their ninth assists of the year.
#CBJ finding their game in the second period and it pays off here with Dante Fabbro's first goal as a Jacket to tie the game at 1-1. We're still there, now with 9:27 left in the second.pic.twitter.com/XwRdVKQIJA
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) November 17, 2024
Labanc is on a three-game point streak (four assists) and has 10 points (one goal, nine assists), surpassing last season's point total of nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 46 games with the San Jose Sharks.
Bear Of A Matchup
The Blue Jackets travel to Boston to play the Bruins fromTD Garden on Monday, Nov. 18 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
