Jenner's first NHL hat trick lifts Blue Jackets past Bruins

COLUMBUS -- Boone Jenner had his first NHL hat trick when the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Boston Bruins 7-4 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.

Jenner, who did not play in a 2-0 loss at the New York Islanders on Monday because of an illness, scored his third goal of the game into an empty net at 19:13 of the third period to make it 7-4. It was his 25th goal of the season.
"It felt good to get back out there," Jenner said. "It was not fun yesterday not feeling well and not being with the guys."
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Josh Anderson and Zach Werenski each had NHL career highs with four points (one goal, three assists) for Columbus (39-28-3), which is tied with the Montreal Canadiens in points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Brad Marchand scored two goals for Boston (42-19-9), which has lost back to back games after a 19-game point streak (15-0-4). The Bruins are second in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, 17 points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and four points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"We've been behind too many teams too many times and now we've been bitten twice by it," Bruins forward David Backes said. "We're playing desperate teams playing for their lives. We need to realize that and get in that mode."

Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves for the Blue Jackets, who led 5-1 in the second before the Bruins scored three straight, including two by Marchand, by the end of the period to make it 5-4.
"Sooner or later you're going to have a game where the other team is just better than you for a variety of reasons," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "The fact the guys had the will to come back is a good positive. I tend to be an optimist, but there's a lot of things we need to do better."
Tuukka Rask made 19 saves on 24 shots in 28:09 before being replaced by Jaroslav Halak, who made nine saves.
The Blue Jackets had been shut out three times in losing four of their previous six games.
"We were feeling confident," Anderson said. "The last three, four games we've been playing pretty good hockey, but we obviously haven't been rewarded like we wanted to."

Patrice Bergeron's shorthanded goal at 4:00 of the first from Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Three of Bergeron's four shorthanded goals this season have been scored in the past five games.
Anderson tied it 1-1 at 7:19, and Ryan Dzingel's first goal with the Blue Jackets made it 2-1 at 14:18. It was his 23rd goal of the season to match his NHL high, set last season with the Ottawa Senators.
Jenner extended the lead to 3-1 with a shorthanded goal at 19:54 of the first period.
Matt Duchene scored from a centering pass by Dzingel at 7:09 of the second to make it 4-1, and Jenner scored again for his 100th NHL goal at 8:09 to give the Blue Jackets a 5-1 lead.

"[Jenner] is just a guy you pull for," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "He doesn't know how to do it any other way than work hard."
Marchand cut the margin to 5-2 at 13:07 on a rebound of Charlie McAvoy's shot, and Chris Wagner made it 5-3 at 15:36.
Marchand scored at 18:37 of the second period for his 30th goal after Bergeron won the draw to him to make it 5-4.
"It takes one goal to feel good and kind of get back on the train," Marchand said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get that last one we needed."
Werenski scored his first goal since Dec. 31 (31 games) on the power play at 12:21 of the third period to give the Blue Jackets a 6-4 lead.

They said it

"Little bit sick of hearing that cannon, Finally, maybe it woke us up on the fifth time and we got to our game." -- Bruins forward David Backes
"It was a little scary there in the second period, a close game, but we believe in ourselves. We thought we were playing good hockey and stuck to what we knew best and got the job done." -- Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson

Need to know

Marchand became the sixth player in Bruins history to have four consecutive seasons with at least 30 goals. He has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) during an eight-game point streak. … Bergeron has nine points (five goals, four assists) in the past eight games. He is one point from 800 in the NHL (315 goals, 484 assists).

What's next

Bruins: At the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN3, NESN, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-O, FS-CR, NHL.TV)