Blue Jackets Beat Canadiens To Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

Boone Jenner (12), C****harlie Coyle (19,20-PPG), Kirill Marchenko (27-GWG), and Sean Monahan (13) powered the Blue Jackets' offense in a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Jet Greaves stopped 20 of 22 Montreal shots, including 4 of 5 on the power play, to pick up his 26th win of the season.

Canadien Cole Caufield scored his 51st goal of the season, but it wasn't enough to beat the desperate Blue Jackets.

Captain Boone Jenner got the scoring started when he scored just 1:13 into the game. Jenner has been criticized in the last few games due to some bad penalties, but on Saturday night, he was amazing. He had a goal, 3 shots, and won 73.3% of his faceoffs to lead the Jackets.

Charlie Coyle was also huge in this game. He scored two goals and won 68.4% of his faceoffs. Columbus was in dire need of their vets to lead them to a win, and they did just that.

The Blue Jackets had a goal called back due to goalie interference, which seemed to be a bad call. The goal was called back even though the contact seemed to be incidental at best. It could've made a huge impact in this game, but ultimately it didn't. The Jackets got lucky on that one.

The Blue Jackets needed to win a big game, and they did just that. They still sit two points back of the Philadelphia Flyers and need to win out. Their next games are against the Boston Bruins later today, and the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, in what night be Alex Ovechkin's last NHL game.

It all comes down the final two games, just like last season.

Quotes

• Rick Bowness - “That’s probably one of the best games we’ve played all year. That’s how we want to play.”
• Bowness - “Give our veterans a lot of credit. They came through when we needed them the most.”
• Bowness - “That was one of Boone’s better games. You know who really played well tonight was Mo. He played a great 200-foot game.”
• Charlie Coyle - “I think because our backs are against the wall and we can’t afford to come out slow and dip our toe in. I think everybody knows what’s at stake, where we’re at in the season and what we need right now.”
• Charlie Coyle on Boone Jenner - “He played like a man possessed and gets the first one. When your captain is going like that and your leaders are playing that way, it’s not hard to follow up.”

Final Stats

CBJ APP

Player Stats & Notes

• Boone Jenner scored his 12th goal and won 73.3% of his faceoffs.
• Charlie Coyle scored his 19th and 20th goals and had 6 shots.
• Kirill Marchenko scored his 27th goal and 40th assist.
• Sean Monahan scored his 13th goal
• Zach Werenski recorded his 59th assist of the season. He has tied the franchise record in assists for a season and is tied with Artemi Panarin for the all-time high.
• Adam Fantilli tallied two assists, which were his 34th and 35th of the season.
• Danten Heinen recorded his 4th assist.
• Jake Christiansen got his 3rd assist.
• Mason Marchment recorded his 25th assist and was a plus-2.
• Ivan Provorov got his 22nd assist.
• Kent Johnson tallied his 15th assist.

Team Stats

• The Jackets went 1/4 on the power play.
• The Columbus stopped three out of four Canadiens power plays.
• Columbus won 55.6% of the faceoffs - 30/54
• The Blue Jackets had 15 hits and 11 blocks.

Next Up For Columbus: The Blue Jackets are back at home and will play the Boston Bruins.

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