COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Nick Blankenburg scored the go-ahead goal with 1:23 left in the game as the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied from a two-goal deficit and scored four times in the third period for a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Columbus rallied from two goals down for the second consecutive game and has won two straight.
Blankenburg, a healthy scratch the first three games of the season, also had an assist. Johnny Gaudreau had two goals, Jake Bean and Justin Danforth also scored and Yegor Chinakhov finished with two assists. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 23 shots for Columbus.
Tanner Jeannot and Yakov Trenin each had a goal and an assist for Nashville, and Ryan Johansen also scored. Colton Sissons had two assists. Kevin Lankinen stopped 37 for the Predators, who have lost four straight.
Jeannot put Nashville on the board at 3:16 of the first with his second goal in two games, slapping at a bouncing puck until it slipped past Merzlikins. Former Blue Jacket Johansen made it 2-0 at 10:45 of the first with a backhander off a rebound.
Bean finally put Columbus on the board at 16:09 of the second, just seconds after a Predators penalty kill. Trenin padded the Nashville lead 1:31 later after digging the puck out along the wall and firing it high into the net.
Gaudreau brought Columbus within one 38 seconds into the third period with a breakaway, scoring over Lankinen’s left shoulder. Danforth pulled the Blue Jackets even at 12:07 of the third with his second goal in two games.
Blankenburg put Columbus ahead from the right circle off a feed from Jakob Voracek, and Gaudreau added an empty-net goal at 19:14.
Nashville appeared to go up 3-0 early in the second, but Roman Josi’s goal was waved off for offsides.
UP NEXT
Nashville: Hosts Philadelphia on Saturday.
Columbus: Hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday.
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