Oliver Bjorkstrand took advantage of a defensive mistake to score the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets held on for a 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night in Glendale, Ariz.
The Blue Jackets ended a five-game losing streak, with Gustav Nyquist adding a goal and two assists and Emil Remstrom contributing a goal in the win. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 30 shots.
Bjorkstrand received the puck after a failed clearance attempt from Arizona's Barrett Hayton, and Hayton's teammate Kyle Capobianco fanned on his attempt to clear. Bjorkstand collected the loose puck and scored his fourth goal of the season at 10:12 of the third.
Carl Soderberg and Jakob Chychrun scored goals for the Coyotes, who trailed 1-0 just 14 seconds into the game on Nyquist's goal.
Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves for the Coyotes. Arizona got a power play with 1:48 to play and had a six-on-four advantage with Kuemper pulled from the net but couldn't force overtime.
Phil Kessel's chance with 13 seconds to go was blocked by the Blue Jackets' David Savard.
The Blue Jackets needed only seconds to get on the scoreboard first. Seth Jones sent the puck in after a faceoff in the Coyotes' zone, and Nyquist redirected it past Kuemper.
Later, Korpisalo saved an Ilya Lyubushkin shot, but the rebound kicked out to Soderberg, who knocked it into an open net to tie the score at 11:24 of the first.
Arizona took its only lead of the game at 12:04 of the second period. Chychrun's left-handed slap shot off a pass from Michael Grabner made it 2-1, Chychrun's third goal of the season.
Grabner recorded his 100th career NHL assist on the play. His quickness gave him a pair of short-handed breakaway opportunities that Korpisalo stopped with saves.
The Blue Jackets made it 2-2 on Bemstrom's power-play goal, which came off the rebound of a Kuemper save. Bemstrom's first career NHL goal came with 2:24 left in the second.
--Field Level Media
Columbus | Arizona | |
Gustav Nyquist 3 | Points | Jakob Chychrun 1 |
Gustav Nyquist 1 | Goals | Jakob Chychrun 1 |
Gustav Nyquist 2 | Assists | Michael Grabner 1 |
Emil Bemstrom 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Joonas Korpisalo .938 | Save Percentage | Darcy Kuemper .909 |
Joonas Korpisalo 30 | Saves | Darcy Kuemper 30 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Columbus | 33 | 3 | 1-4 | 3-3 | 8 | 27 |
Arizona | 32 | 2 | 0-3 | 3-4 | 10 | 27 |