Kirill Marchenko scored the deciding tally of a shootout to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
The Blue Jackets held a 3-1 lead near the midpoint of the third period before Montreal equalized on goals from Joel Anderson and Lane Hutson. The Canadiens outshot the Jackets 6-0 during the overtime period, but Columbus goalie Jet Graves came up big in the extra frame and by making another save in the shootout to secure his team’s win.
Columbus is on a five-game points streak (3-0-2), while the Canadiens have lost their past four games (0-3-1).
Greaves stopped 29 of 32 shots through regulation and OT to improve to 6-4-2 on the season. The goalie saved his best stop for overtime, robbing Ivan Demidov with 22 seconds left.
Zach Werenski and Dmitri Voronkov each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, and Marchenko logged two assists. Adam Fantilli scored the Jackets’ other goal.
Marchenko has 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) over the course of a 12-game point streak. He would tie the Columbus franchise record for the longest such streak if he registers a point on Tuesday against the host Winnipeg Jets.
Hutson had a goal and an assist for Montreal. Anderson and Oliver Kapanen scored the Habs’ other goals. Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes stopped 20 of 23 shots.
The Blue Jackets opened the scoring 6:58 into the first period. Werenski took the puck near the point, then had plenty of time and space to move deeper into the slot and convert a wrist shot.
Montreal started strong in the second period, culminating in a nice passing play finished off by Kapanen for the equalizer at the 4:47 mark.
Exactly five minutes after Kapanen’s goal, Fantilli put the Jackets back in front with his fourth goal in his past five games. Voronkov extended the lead to 3-1 with a tip-in power-play goal at 13:32 of the second period.
Anderson started the Canadiens’ third-period comeback with a goal at the 8:28 mark. Hutson then found the equalizer with 79 seconds left in regulation, as his shot from the upper slot beat a screened Greaves.
–Field Level Media
