Elvis Merzlikins made 40 saves for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-2 win against the visiting New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
Sean Monahan had two goals and an assist and Kirill Marchenko had two assists for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a five-game losing streak (0-3-2).
Luke Hughes had a goal and an assist and Jake Allen made 16 saves for the Devils, who had won three straight.
New Jersey was in control early in the first period, but the hosts capitalized first at 7:55, courtesy of Ivan Provorov.
Allen stopped a shot from Zach Aston-Reese in tight but couldn’t recover to get back when Provorov dropped to the front of the net to push in the rebound for a 1-0 Columbus lead.
The Devils came out pressing in the second period, putting up six shots through the first four minutes.
Again it was the Blue Jackets who found the back of the net. Zach Werenski made it 2-0 when he glided to the middle of the blue line before firing a shot through traffic past a screened Allen on the power play at 9:36.
A minute later, Monahan extended it to 3-0. Dmitri Voronkov deflected Marchenko’s pass toward the front of the net. Allen made the save, but the rebound bounced off his right pad to Monahan on the back door, where he lifted it over the goalie’s arm at 13:58.
Hughes cut it to 3-1 at 17:10 of the third with Allen pulled for the extra attacker. After his point shot created a scramble in front and had Merzlikins sprawled in the crease, Hughes collected a loose puck at the side of the net and roofed it into the far side.
With Allen again out, Timo Meier narrowed it to 3-2 at 18:35 when he tipped Jack Hughes’ shot from the blue line.
Monahan scored an empty-net goal at 18:50.
–Field Level Media
