Blue Jackets top Canadiens, stay alive in playoff hunt

MONTREAL -- Charlie Coyle scored twice, and the Columbus Blue Jackets kept their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes alive with a 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Boone Jenner and Coyle scored in the first period, and Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan scored in the second for Columbus (40-28-12), which won for just the second time in its past nine games (2-6-1). Jet Greaves made 20 saves.

“We had a great first period tonight and you give our veterans a lot of credit,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. “They came through when we needed them the most. They did a fantastic job for us. Jet made the saves where he had to. That is probably one of the best games we’ve played all year, but that’s how we’ve got to play. We are solid defensively. We spent a lot of time in their zone, created a lot of scoring chances off the forecheck.”

The Blue Jackets, who began their recent skid with a 2-1 loss at Montreal on March 26, are two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division, and one ahead of the New York Islanders.

All three teams have two games remaining. Columbus hosts the Boston Bruins on Sunday and ends the regular season at home against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

“It definitely was probably our best 60 (minutes) since the last time we were here a couple of weeks ago,” Jenner said. “We needed to get back to it in order to get the result tonight. Throughout the whole lineup, special teams, everybody was chipping in. A huge team effort. We know what’s at stake, so a big effort for us and we’ve got to keep it going tomorrow.”

Cole Caufield scored his 51st goal and Jakub Dobes made 28 saves for Montreal (47-23-10), which had won consecutive games, and 10 of 11.

The Canadiens are tied for second place in the Atlantic Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who hold the tiebreaker, and two points behind the Buffalo Sabres for the division lead.

“I felt like we were just chasing it right off the hop,” Montreal forward Jake Evans said. “Slow start and then started to get some momentum and then kind of died out in the second and we were just playing catch up. Emotionally it’s been a lot of ups recently, but we can’t just sit on that. We have to keep going because we obviously want home ice and to play here more in the playoffs.”

Jenner put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 at 1:13 of the first period. He jumped on a rebound of Zach Werenski’s shot and reached around Dobes to score with a backhand in the goalmouth.

Coyle made it 2-0 at 5:42 when he drove to the right side of the net to put away a pass from Jake Christiansen.

“I think because our backs are against the wall we can’t afford to come out slow and kind of dip our toe in,” Coyle said. “I think everyone knows what’s at stake, where we’re at in the season and what we need right now.”

Josh Anderson drew Montreal within 2-1 at 11:48. He put away Oliver Kapanen’s backdoor pass from the left face-off circle.

Marchenko put Columbus up 3-1 at 1:24 of the second period when he drove in on the right and beat Dobes with a wrist shot from the right face-off dot.

Monahan pushed it to 4-1 at 10:36. He scored from the right face-off circle on a pass from Kent Johnson, who cut off Dobes’ clearing attempt from behind the net on the right half-wall.

Caufield, who became Montreal’s first 50-goal scorer in 36 years on Thursday, cut it to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 3:58 of the third period. He scored on a sharp angle shot from the right side and Nick Suzuki got his 99th point with the primary assist.

Suzuki has the most points by a Canadiens player in a season since Mats Naslund had 110 in 1985-86.

Coyle scored his second of the game, his 20th of the season, on a power play at 9:59 of the third for the 5-2 final.

“We needed a better second period, that’s about it,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I didn’t like our start, but we found our game in the second half of the first. But we weren’t there in the second period. It wasn’t a good game for us.”

NOTES: Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson left the game at 14:36 of the second after Werenski’s shot struck him on the right hand. St. Louis said his status would be evaluated. … Werenski got his 59th assist to tie his previous high set last season and the Blue Jackets team record first set by Artemi Panarin in 2018-19. … Lane Hutson got his 76th point with an assist on Anderson’s goal to tie Guy Lapointe (1974-75) for the third-highest total in a season by a Canadiens defenseman. Larry Robinson had a team-record 85 points in 1976-77, and 82 points in 1985-86. Hutson’s assist was his 64th, to move past Robinson (83 points in 1985-86) for the second highest total in a season by a Canadiens defenseman. Robinson holds the record with 66 in 1976-77.