Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Columbus Blue Jackets skated to a 3-0 win over host Ottawa on Friday, hours after acquiring pending unrestricted free-agent forward Matt Duchene from the Senators.

Josh Anderson scored his seventh goal in 11 games for the Blue Jackets, who pulled even in points (71) with idle Pittsburgh for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Cam Atkinson netted his team-leading 33rd tally and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored to help Columbus snap a two-game skid.

Ottawa rookie forward Brady Tkachuk fell on Bobrovsky late in the second period to raise tensions between the teams. The two-time Vezina Trophy recipient barely was tested the rest of the way en route to his 28th career shutout.

Craig Anderson lost his seventh straight start despite turning aside 37 shots for the NHL-worst Senators, who have been shut out in back-to-back contests and have lost 10 of their last 13 overall. Ottawa made unrestricted free-agent forwards Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel healthy scratches for the second straight game ahead of Monday's NHL trade deadline.

Duchene, who registered three shots against his former team, was acquired from the Senators in exchange for fellow forwards Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson, a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and a conditional first-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft.

Duchene, who initially received a smattering of boos from the crowd at Canadian Tire Centre, nearly paid immediate dividends with his new team after hitting the post just four minutes into the game. The tone appeared to change after a video tribute of Duchene was aired a few minutes later, with the 28-year-old standing up to salute the crowd.

Columbus failed on four power-play attempts before opening the scoring with 5:17 remaining in the first period. Pierre-Luc Dubois gained possession of the puck in the corner and turned toward the right-wing boards before feeding Josh Anderson, who wired a one-timer from the right circle past Craig Anderson to extend his career-high goal total to 22.

Boone Jenner's bid on a short-handed breakaway was denied by Craig Anderson with under seven minutes remaining in the second period, but Atkinson made good on the same opportunity 6:45 into the third. Bjorkstrand converted defenseman Zach Werenski's goal-mouth feed with 2:46 remaining to cap the scoring.

--Field Level Media