Columbus 5, Montreal 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Referees:
Mike Leggo, Justin St. Pierre
Linesmen:
Steve Barton, Mark Shewchyk
Attendance:
21288
By The Sports Xchange
MONTREAL -- Center Brandon Dubinsky scored a goal and added an assist as the Columbus Blue Jackets swept a back-to-back, home-and-home set against the Montreal Canadiens with a 5-2 win on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Left wingers Boone Jenner, Scott Hartnell and Brandon Saad, and right winger Cam Atkinson also scored for Columbus (19-27-5).
Right winger Devante Smith-Pelly and left-winger/center Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montreal (24-21-4).
Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 28 shots for the Blue Jackets while Ben Scrivens, in his first home start since being acquired, made 21 saves for the Canadiens.
Columbus opened the scoring on the power play at 10:51 of the first. Defenseman Seth Jones fed center Alexander Wennberg along the right boards and Wennberg quickly dished off to Jenner, in front of Scrivens, to the left of the net. The Canadiens netminder got his pad on the shot and moved to the middle of his crease, leaving the open side for Jenner, who easily deposited his 17th of the season into the net just seven seconds into the man advantage.
The power play connected again to put the Blue Jackets up 2-0. Andrei Markov rimmed the puck from behind the net in an attempt to clear but it wound up on left winger Nick Foligno's stick near the right corner. Foligno sent a quick feed to Hartnell, driving the net, for a shot in close at 19:19.
Smith-Pelly cut the Blue Jacket's lead in half at 5:22 of the second period. After taking a feed from defenseman P.K. Subban, Torrey Mitchell skated into the right circle before finding an open Smith-Pelly to Korpisalo's left, and the winger made no mistake for his first goal since Nov. 25.
Associate head coach Craig Hartsburg, running the bench in the absence of injured head coach John Tortorella, challenged the goal for offside but the call on the ice stood.
Dubinsky restored Columbus' two-goal lead just over five minutes later. The center forced Subban into a turnover behind Montreal's net before skating to the slot.
Right winger Cam Atkinson picked up the loose puck and sent it out to Dubinsky, who had plenty of time and space before firing home his 11th of the season.
The NHL's Situation Room initiated a review with less than a minute to go in the frame to determine if right winger Brendan Gallagher's shot a minute earlier had crossed the goal line but after review, it was determined it was not a goal.
The Canadiens' struggling power play finally produced on its sixth opportunity of the night at 3:45 of the third period. With the crowd getting antsy for a shot, Subban set up for a slapshot fake from left point before dishing off a perfect pass over to Galchenyuk in the right circle for the one-timer.
Atkinson made it 4-2 at 17:03 when his shot from the right circle beat Scrivens five-hole.
Saad capped off the scoring into an empty net.
NOTES: After sitting out the last two games as a healthy scratch, Columbus D Cody Goloubef drew in for D Fedor Tyutin. RW Jared Boll was scratched for a fourth straight game. ... Canadiens LW Daniel Carr missed the game after suffering a lower-body injury on Monday night in Columbus. LW Jacob De La Rose replaced Carr in the lineup after three games as a scratch. D Greg Pateryn was a healthy scratch. ... Montreal D Andrei Markov appeared in his 896th career NHL game, tying him with Patrice Brisebois for 11th on the team's career games played list. ... The back-to-back, home-and-home set against the Canadiens was third of four such sets on the Blue Jackets' schedule this season.
Top Game Performances
Columbus |
|
Montreal |
Cam Atkinson 2 |
Points |
P.K. Subban 2 |
Cam Atkinson 1 |
Goals |
Alex Galchenyuk 1 |
Cam Atkinson 1 |
Assists |
P.K. Subban 2 |
Scott Hartnell 1 |
Power Play Goals |
Alex Galchenyuk 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Joonas Korpisalo .933 |
Save Percentage |
Ben Scrivens .840 |
Joonas Korpisalo 28 |
Saves |
Ben Scrivens 21 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Columbus
|
26 |
5 |
2-3 |
5-6 |
12 |
31 |
Montreal
|
30 |
2 |
1-6 |
1-3 |
6 |
39 |
Upcoming Games
-
Montreal will play their next game on the road against Philadelphia. The Canadiens have a W/L % of .542 after a win and .423 after a loss.
-
Columbus will play their next game on the road against Edmonton. The Blue Jackets have a W/L % of .474 after a win and .312 after a loss.