Sean Monahan tallied twice and Charlie Coyle scored once in a three-point game to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-3 comeback victory over the New Jersey Devils on Monday night in Newark, N.J.
Miles Wood notched one goal and one assist while Denton Mateychuk added a goal for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a four-game winless streak (0-1-3). Zach Werenski collected a pair of assists.
Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves in a strong outing after surrendering a pair of early goals.
Nico Hischier notched one goal and one assist while Ondrej Palat and Timo Meier added a goal apiece for the Devils, who took their second loss in a row. Jesper Bratt had two assists.
New Jersey goalie Jake Allen stopped 19 shots.
After the visitors fell behind by a pair, Mateychuk put Columbus on the board just before the midway point of the opening frame with a power-play goal thanks to a nifty redirect.
Monahan tied the game 88 seconds into the second period, finishing a chance from the doorstep after he knocked a loose puck out of the air to help him get behind the defender.
The Blue Jackets broke the game open with a pair of goals 34 seconds apart early in the third period.
Coyle gave Columbus its first lead at 6:40 by pouncing on a long rebound for his first goal in nine outings.
Soon after, Monahan recorded his second of the game with a quick release shot from the bottom of the right circle to make it a 4-2 affair.
Meier made it a one-goal game thanks to a power-play goal with 8:09 remaining in regulation.
However, Wood responded soon after with a tap-in tally set up by Coyle’s steal of an Allen pass attempt from deep in the Devils zone to round out the scoring.
The Devils staked a two-goal lead thanks to a pair of goals on successive shots. Hischier’s power-play goal opened the scoring 86 seconds into the game and Palat doubled the lead at 3:03 by burying an open chance deep in the zone.
It was a spirited affair that boasted four fights in the second period alone, with the temperature rising significantly after New Jersey’s Brenden Dillon — who played his 1,000th game — went to the dressing room after landing on his face during a tussle with Dmitri Voronkov. Dillon returned to the game before the intermission but did not play in the third period.
–Field Level Media
