In Columbus, the Montreal Canadiens snapped a 2-2 tie on a goal from Joel Armia with less than three minutes left on he game clock en route to a 4-2 win over the Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
“[He’s] been a pro,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “He’s gone down to Laval and played well down there and produced. Tonight, he gets an opportunity and plays a good game.”
Sam Montembeault made 26 saves in the win.
The Canadiens moved to 10-10-2.
After a scoreless opening stanza, he Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the second period on a strike by Patrik Laine at 3:40, it came with both teams skating four a side.
“We had to be in our [own] zone for extended periods of time, just got to be able to answer those pushes that the other team has and not crumble like we’ve kind of done this year,” Laine said.
The Canadiens replied with a goal from Alex Newhook at 7:36 for a 1-1 tie.
“There’s times in the first we dominated, and they pushed back,” the Habs’ Cole Caufield said. “It’s a game of runs, to be honest with you.”
Columbus dropped to 7-13-4.
“I saw a lot of mental mistakes tonight,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “Just not as sharp, right? Just not connected. We had a decent start. Not great. The second period, we had some push there. But overall, you could feel it the whole game. It wasn’t as connected, the intensity.”
At 9:47 of the second, Yegor Chinakhov reclaimed the lead, 2-1, for Columbus
Caufield scored at 14:08 to send the game to the third, tied 2-2.
“Playing fast in the neutral zone and kind of keeping them in, it’s huge for us momentum-wise,” Caufield said. “I think we did that a few times, and it paid off.”
Gustav Lindstrom scored into an empty net for the 4-2 final with 57 seconds left on the game clock.
Elvis Merzlikins made 27 saves in the loss.
“It’s a 2-2 hockey game going into the third period, and I just didn’t think we pushed hard enough,” Columbus’ Zach Werenski said. “We’re in no position to let points like that slip. I just think we had a lot more to give in here and we didn’t give it, and it’s frustrating, especially coming off a big win against Boston, having a day off yesterday.”
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