COLUMBUS
New York Islanders T-Shirts Authentic , Ohio (AP) The Blue Jackets only had Seth Jones for two periods. It turned out to be more than enough.Jones was the
driving force behind two first-period power-play goals, and Columbus won its
fifth straight, 5-2 over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.”We’re taking it
game by game even with this winning streak,” said Alexander Wennberg, who tied a
career high with four points on a goal and three assists. ”We’re playing good,
we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves. You just face the challenge.”Nick
Foligno, Boone Jenner and Ian Cole also scored for Columbus.Behind a run of
eight wins in 11 games overall and a season-high six straight at home –
including a just-completed four-game homestand – the Blue Jackets moved past
idle New Jersey into the first wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
Columbus also edged within two points of third-place Philadelphia, its next
opponent, in the Metropolitan Division.”We’ve got a huge one coming up in
Philly,” Foligno said.Jones sat out the third period with an upper-body injury,
and Montreal suddenly put Sergei Bobrovsky to the test. The two-time Vezina
Trophy winner stopped all 24 shots the suddenly energetic Canadiens threw his
way. He had 38 saves overall.”We lose Jonsey, which is a big part of or tempo
and our transition,” coach John Tortorella said. ”You know it’s going that way
when we don’t score our goals. We have a number of great chances to make it
five. You know what the third period is going to be. They are going to take
every chance they possibly can. But I still thought we were on our heels too
much.”Tortorella said Jones pleaded his case to play in the third.Brendan
Gallagher and Jonathan Drouin scored for banged-up Montreal
New York Islanders Hoodies Authentic , which has lost five straight and has three wins in its past 16 games.The Canadiens have been playing without Carey
Price, Max Pacioretty and Shea Weber. Charlie Lindgren was weak on his glove
side, finishing with 20 stops while battling traffic in front.A bright spot for
Montreal came early. Gallagher scored the fastest goal against Columbus this
season to start a game, only 34 seconds in. He redirected a high shot alone at
the crease for his team-leading 25th.”The first shift, a turnover and they score
it,” Tortorella said. ”It didn’t affect us. We just kept on playing.”Columbus
tallied the next three to close out the period.Foligno countered four minutes
later on a steal in the Canadiens’ zone. His backdoor pass to Oliver Bjorkstrand
ping-ponged off two Montreal players and skidded into the net.Jones then helped
add two more for the Blue Jackets, giving him four goals – three of them
game-winners – and three assists in his last three games. He set up Wennberg’s
tip-in goal at 7:51 and scored his own at 14:03, his 14th this season. Jones’ 48
points are three short of the franchise record for a blueliner, set in 2013-14
by James Wisniewski.”I’d like to see our guys do a much better job when it comes
to fronting pucks,” Montreal coach Claude Julien said. ”Lindy had a bit of a
tough night, and your best penalty killer can also be your goaltender.”Early in
the second period, not long after Zach Werenski saved a goal by swiping away the
puck before it could cross the goal line, Jenner stuffed home his own
rebound
New York Islanders Hats Authentic , the entire play nicely set up by Wennberg.Drouin scored on a breakaway – spurned by a blocked shot – at 15:46 of the second with
a backhander to pull the Canadiens within two.Cole capped the scoring with a
floating wrister with 2:19 left in the game.”We just feel good about ourselves
and the way we’re playing hockey,” Jenner said. ”You can see tonight if we play
the way we can, we can kind of dominate teams.”NOTES: Columbus scored its three
first-period goals on its first seven shots. … Jones has a goal in three
straight games. He scored twice Friday against Detroit. … The Canadiens dropped
to 9-22-4 on the road. … Montreal wrapped up its six-game trip with a 1-4-1 mark
and allowed nine power-play goals.UP NEXTColumbus: At Philadelphia on
Thursday.Montreal: Hosts Dallas on Tuesday.— Hitting the road isn’t normally
seen as a good thing for NHL teams, but the New York Islanders are embracing
their longest trip of the season to date.New York (15-12-4) starts a four-game
Western Conference swing Monday night at Colorado with a good attitude and with
the hope of building momentum after a 4-3 shootout win over Detroit on Saturday
night.“I think it’s kind of nice, get on the road, be together as a group, kind
of get that bonding again,” center Mathew Barzal told Newsday after the win over
the Red Wings. “I get excited playing in front of other fans. I think we all
do.”Article continues below ...The Islanders will be on the road when the NHL
roster freeze starts Wednesday and concludes Sunday in Dallas just ahead of the
Christmas break.“It’s right before Christmas, right before everyone gets to see
family and get some time off,” Anthony Beauvillier, who extended his goal streak
to three games on Saturday, told Newsday. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Beauvillier might change his tune when facing the high-scoring Avalanche on
Monday night. Colorado (18-9-6) has scored 121 goals, tops in the Western
Conference and third overall
Custom New York Islanders Jerseys , and is coming off a 6-4 win over Dallas on Saturday night.The top line for the Avalanche has combined for 148 points this
season and scored five of the six goals against the Stars.Colorado could have
had more goals Saturday but had two disallowed upon review.Forward Mikko
Rantanen (56 points) is on a 14-game point streak and leads the NHL in scoring.
Center Nathan MacKinnon (52 points) is second.The third member, captain Gabe
Landeskog, has 21 goals, tied with MacKinnon for the team lead.“I’m fortunate to
be part of such a good line that finds different ways to score goals,” Landeskog
said after the game.The Avalanche pulled out that win on Landeskog’s goal at
16:40 gave them the lead, and MacKinnon added an empty-netter 1:57 later after
blowing a two-goal lead in the third period.New York has had issues with the
third period this season before pulling one out against Detroit at home. It was
the first time in 10 games the Islanders have won when trailing after two
periods but helped them improve to 3-3-1 in December.New York might need to put
up more goals Monday than it has lately. The Islanders average 2.9 goals per
game but only 2.3 in the last seven. That might not be enough against a team
that averages 3.7 goals per game.They also can’t afford to lose ground in the
playoff race. Even though it’s only December, dropping valuable points could
make things tougher down the road.“You’re going to see in these next four, five
games things start to settle in a little bit,” New York captain Anders Lee told
Newsday. “It’s that time of the year where these points are crucial. Moves are
starting to be made and things start to get a little more set in stone. It only
gets harder and harder to climb out of a hole if you get put in one.”
