Blue Jackets win 12th straight game

COLUMBUS -- Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves and the Columbus Blue Jackets extended their win streak to 12 with a 2-1 victory against the Montreal Canadiens at Nationwide Arena on Friday.
The Blue Jackets (23-5-4) also ran their point streak to 14 (13-0-1), breaking the Columbus record set from March 18 to April 11, 2015, and will go into the Christmas break atop the NHL standings.

"To have 50 points come the Christmas break, they should feel really proud of themselves," coach John Tortorella said.
WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Canadiens highlights
Bobrovsky stopped 11 shots in the third period while the Blue Jackets went the first 13 minutes without a shot on goal.
"The guys work hard and it's fun to watch them play," he said. "It's good for me to step up some nights and help them."
Sam Gagner and Brandon Saad scored and Nick Foligno assisted on each goal when Columbus took a 2-0 lead after two periods.

Jeff Petry scored in the third period and Al Montoya made 22 saves for Montreal (21-9-4). The last time the Canadiens were in Columbus on Nov. 4 he allowed all the goals in a 10-0 loss.
"[Montoya] was special for us, especially for what happened the last game," Canadiens forward Alexander Radulov said. "We wanted to get the result for him."
Petry scored at 9:08 to make it 2-1 when his low-angle shot slipped between Bobrovsky and the post. Petry has eight goals.
Montreal pulled Montoya for an extra attacker for the final 90 seconds but didn't have a shot on goal.
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead on Gagner's 14th goal at 17:50 of the first period, his sixth on the power play this season. Saad made it 2-0 at 1:22 of the second for his 13th goal off a pass from Foligno.

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Goal of the game

Blue Jackets forward Alex Wennberg dug the puck out of the corner and fed Foligno in the left circle. He passed it to Saad at the edge of the paint for a one-timer

Save of the game

Bobrovsky preserved a 2-0 lead by stopping a shorthanded breakaway by Paul Byron with 1:44 left in the second. Byron stole the puck from Saad and put several moves on Bobrovsky, forcing the goaltender to lunge to his left. Byron reached back to try and slip the puck past Bobrovsky, but he stuck out his right pad for the save.

Unsung performance of the game

Montoya kept the Canadiens within two goals in the second period by stopping a rushing Foligno as he cut through the crease.

Highlight of the game

Cam Atkinson had the initial shot and Foligno gathered the rebound and slid a backhanded pass through the low slot to Gagner for a 1-0 lead on the power play.

They said it

"The fans got us going a little bit. When you have a jam-packed arena behind you like that it's such a good relationship we're building with our fans again. It's been a long time coming." -- Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno
"The effort was there. Coming into the third down two we could have backed down. We knew we had the break coming but we fought to the end. That's a positive we can take from it." -- Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry
"You could tell at the beginning of the third period that we stopped skating and thought that Montreal was just going to roll over, finish the game and go home. They're one of the top teams in the League for a reason. They check very well. They're fast. You could see it mounting on us. After they scored the goal you could see we were starting to play better." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella

Need to know

Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin missed his second straight game to be with his wife for the birth of their child. … Montreal has six more road games before returning to Bell Centre to play the Washington Capitals on Jan.9. … The Blue Jackets played their eighth of 19 back-to-backs. They are 11-2-3 in those games, including 4-1-3 in the second game. On Gagner's goal, Atkinson got his 200th NHL point with the secondary assist. Atkinson has seven goals and 14 points in a nine-game point streak. Gagner is 6-7-13 in the past nine games and Saad has seven goals along with four assists in his past 11 games.

What's next

Canadiens: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SUN, RDS, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: Host the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-O, NESN, NHL.TV)