The Columbus Blue Jackets never fell behind as they scored three goals in the first period and added two more shorthanded goals to secure a 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Monday.
Dmitri Voronkov, Mathieu Olivier, and James van Riemsdyk gave the Blue Jackets a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period. Justin Danforth and Yegor Chinakhov scored in the final period to seal the win.
Sean Monahan recorded two assists, and Elvis Merzlikins was busy in goal, making 11 of his 29 saves in the first period. Columbus had been struggling, with just one win in their previous eight games (1-6-1), but they’ve now won two of their last three.
Charlie Coyle scored the only goal for Boston, and Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves. The Bruins have now lost three games in a row (0-2-1).
Boston had 30 shots on goal compared to Columbus’ 29, but the Bruins went 1-for-6 on the power play.
The first goal came in a wild sequence at 5:15. Boston couldn’t get a shot off on Merzlikins after he lost his stick, and then Dante Fabbro and Monahan helped set up Voronkov, whose backhand shot slid past Swayman as he was knocked down to the ice.
Olivier made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal at 10:39, skating down the right wing and cutting to the net to score with a tight backhander.
Merzlikins was sharp in the first period, denying both Charlie McAvoy and Georgii Merkulov on close-range chances in the last seven minutes.
Van Riemsdyk, a former Bruin, made it 3-0 with 31.5 seconds left in the first. He scored on the rebound of Zach Werenski’s shot from the left circle, just getting the puck past Swayman’s skate.
The Bruins broke their 0-for-20 power-play slump at 14:30 of the second period. Coyle took a pass from Justin Brazeau behind the net and fired a perfect wrist shot over Merzlikins’ glove from the left circle.
Danforth scored the Blue Jackets’ second short-handed goal of the game at 7:19 of the third period, capitalizing on a turnover and a rush down the wing set up by Cole Sillinger.
Monahan completed the scoring at 14:10 when he passed from the left corner to Chinakhov, who quickly shot and scored.
