Columbus Blue Jackets win 5-2, handing the Boston Bruins their third straight loss
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Yegor Chinakhov had a goal and an assist, lifting the Columbus Blue Jackets over Boston 5-2 on Monday night, handing the Bruins to their third straight loss.
Dmitri Voronkov, Ivan Provorov, Kirill Marchenko and Justin Danforth also scored for Columbus, and Boone Jenner added a pair of assists. Spencer Martin stopped 31 shots for Columbus, which has won three of its last four games and beat Boston for the first time in seven games, dating back to Jan. 14, 2020.
The scores by Chinakhov, Voronkov, Provorov and Marchenko marked the first time in NHL history four Russians scored in a single game for the same team.
“Everybody chipped in,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “Everybody had a good game. We played really well as a team, and our goalie was really good one we needed him to be. I’m happy about it, but not overly surprised. Regardless of the score, just the way we played. We have very good people, and they want to be here, and they want to do well.”
Matthew Poitras and John Beecher scored for Boston and Jeremy Swayman stopped 17 shots before being replaced in the second period by Linus Ullmark, who stopped 19 shots. The Atlantic Division-leading Bruins haven't lost three consecutive games since April 2022.
“There (are) a lot of things to address and move forward, but we’ve got to move forward," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said.
Voronkov put Columbus on the board at 15:52 of the first period after winning a battle for the puck along the boards and sneaking it past Swayman on the right side of the net.
Provorov made it 2-0 at 5:38 of the second period driving in from the right circle and taking advantage of Voronkov’s screen of Swayman, who then left the game and the bench, and was replaced by Ullmark.
“I think we played fast,” Provorov said. “Maybe the first five minutes we didn’t start the way we wanted to, but afterwards we played fast. We were physical. We were taking the game to them. Our game was a complete game as a team.”
Chinakhov forced a turnover in the neutral zone and padded the Blue Jackets lead at 16:42. Marchenko made it 4-0 after a pair of Bruins penalties gave Columbus a 5-on-3 power-play, just their eighth goal with a man advantage in 71 attempts.
Poitras found the back of the net for Boston at 8:24 of the third. The Bruins pulled Ullmark with more than seven minutes left in the game, resulting in Danforth’s empty-netter at 13:41.
Beecher provided Boston's second goal with 2:20 remaining.
The Bruins, which won nine of their first 10 games, have now fallen in six of their last 11.
UP NEXT
Bruins: Host San Jose on Thursday.
Blue Jackets: Host Montreal on Wednesday.
___
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
