Marchenko's late goal lifts Columbus Blue Jackets over Montreal Canadiens
The Blue Jackets foiled Patrik Laine 's plan to spoil their holiday break in his contentious return to Nationwide Arena on Thursday with the Montreal Canadians.
More: Patrik Laine says some Columbus Blue Jackets were 'too comfortable' losing
After listening to their former teammate say they're "too comfortable with losing," and that it would be "awesome" for the Canadiens "jump 'em ... and leave 'em behind," in the Eastern Conference, the Blue Jackets got the final say thanks to Kirill Marchenko's goal to snap a tie with 2:12 left in their 5-4 victory that ended with Laine missing the final two periods with an upper-body injury.
"It’s unfortunate," Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. "As guys here and a guy who’s been here, we were nothing but good teammates to him, nothing but good friends to him and for him to bash us like that, I think it’s just unacceptable. I hope he’s alright with whatever he’s dealing with tonight, but he didn’t finish the game. ... For him to come here and say that, it's (insulting). I’m definitely not happy about it, and none of us in this room are happy about it. I think that speaks more about him than it does about us, so it is what it is.”
Marchenko's goal with 2:12 left in the third period broke a 4-4 tie for his third point of the game on a goal and two assists. Sean Monahan and Werenski assisted on it to give each three assists in the game.
Kent Johnson and Jordan Harris scored the other two goals for the Blue Jackets (14-15-6), who started Jet Greaves in net. Former Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard finished with two points on a goal and assist for the Canadiens (14-17-3), whose other goals were scored by Lane Hutson, Jake Evans and Joel Armia. Blue Jackets rookie Denton Mateychuk, meanwhile, made his NHL debut as part of a seven-man defensive group that didn’t include Damon Severson, who was a healthy scratch for the first time since coming to Columbus in a June 9, 2023 trade with the New Jersey Devils.
Laine played just one period due to an upper-body injury after slamming his former team . He took four hits from the Blue Jackets in 6:15 during the first, which didn’t include a counter-hit from Voronkov that flattened Laine in a corner of the Columbus zone. Laine was credited with the hit. He was also booed every time he touched the puck.
“I didn’t even know that went down," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said of Laine's morning commentary. "But I definitely heard the players talking about it, and I thought our group handled it appropriately. They probably weren’t happy with it and rightfully so, but they did it the right way. I was happy and proud of our guys, how they conducted themselves ... and the fans.”
The Blue Jackets led 2-0 after the first on goals by Voronkov and Johnson.
Voronkov netted his ninth goal of the season off a slick pass from Monahan to open the scoring and Johnson batted a puck out of mid-air off Werenski's rebound for his 10 th goal. Montreal pulled even in the second by outscoring Columbus 3-1 on goals by Savard, Hutson and Evans. Harris mixed in a goal for the Blue Jackets to give his team a brief 3-1 lead after Savard scored, but Hutson and Evans scored seven minutes apart to get the Canadiens even starting the third.
Early in the third, Armia and Voronkov exchanged goals to make it 4-4 in a game that started to seesaw, but Marchenko decided it late with his 13th goal of the season.
Get more on the Columbus Blue Jackets with our Cannon Fodder podcast
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Marchenko goal lifts Columbus Blue Jackets over Montreal Canadiens
