Forward finishes with goal, 2 assists for Columbus; Laine leaves with upper-body injury for Montreal

Canadiens at Blue Jackets | Recap

By Craig Merz

NHL.com Independent Correspondent

December 24, 2024

COLUMBUS -- Kirill Marchenko scored the go-ahead goal at 17:48 of the third period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 at Nationwide Arena on Monday.

Marchenko snapped a shot from the top of the left circle for his 13th goal and third point of the night (one goal, two assists).

“I just closed my eyes and shoot,” he said. “Nothing special.”

Dmitri Voronkov scored twice, and Sean Monahan and Zach Werenski each had three assists for the Blue Jackets (14-15-6). Jet Greaves made 27 saves.

Marchenko, Voronkov and Monahan have been developing chemistry as linemates this season.

“We play a lot of minutes. The coaches trust us and we try to do our best, play hard and compete,” Marchenko said.

MTL@CBJ: Marchenko puts the Blue Jackets in front late in the 3rd

Montreal forward Patrik Laine did not come out for the second period after taking a few big hits in the first, including one from Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro at 14:08. Laine played two more shifts, the last being the final 25 seconds of the period.

It was his first game back in Columbus since being traded on Aug. 19 along with a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to the Canadiens for defenseman Jordan Harris.

Laine had five goals in the previous three games, and eight in nine games since returning from missing the first 24 games because of a knee injury. Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis did not have an update after the game.

David Savard and Jake Evans each had a goal and an assist, and Cole Caufield had two assists for the Canadiens (14-17-3), who had a three-game winning streak end. Sam Montembeault made 27 saves.

“I don't know if we were little sleepy to start the game, but I feel like the first wasn't our best, and I think we turned it around the second and even the third,” Evans said. “I thought we played pretty well for most of it. It's hard to win in this League, and you got to play three full periods.

“We can see what we can do but we can't take a period off at the beginning of the game. They start really strong.”

MTL@CBJ: Voronkov's shot deflects into the net for 1-0 lead

Voronkov made it 1-0 at 12:03 of the first period after Monahan stole the puck below the line and passed to him near the left circle.

Kent Johnson increased the lead to 2-0 at 18:45 when he batted the puck out of mid-air for his 10th goal.

Savard cut it to 2-1 at 2:03 of the second period. He ended a 46-game goal drought when a shot by Caufield came to him off the end boards.

Harris scored his first for Columbus at 3:34 to make it 3-1 on a long slap shot.

Lane Hutson made it 3-2 at 7:03 with a wrist shot that deflected off the stick of Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson.

Evans tied it 3-3 at 14:26 on a partial breakaway off a pass by Emil Heineman to extend his goal streak to three games (three goals).

MTL@CBJ: Evans evens the game at 3 with breakaway goal

Joel Armia made it 4-3 20 seconds into the third period by converting a pass to the slot by Evans.

“The start of the third period, we were awful. We were like, ‘What the heck are we doing?’” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said.

Voronkov tied it 4-4 at 3:24 with a power-play goal, one-timing a pass between the circles from a Marchenko set-up.

Defenseman Denton Mateychuk made his NHL debut for the Blue Jackets and was even in 18:36 of ice time with a hit and a giveaway. The 20-year-old was the No. 12 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.

He was in the starting lineup paired with Ivan Provorov.

“Unbelievable,” Mateychuk said. “Everything that you dream of as a kid finally coming to fruition. It was an awesome moment.”

NOTES: Marchenko has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during an NHL career-best six-game point streak. He had a five-game streak from Nov. 2-11, 2023. … Voronkov has three goals and four assists for seven points in a five-game point streak. Werenski set a franchise record with points in 11 straight home game (eight goals, 10 assists). With his first-period assist, Werenski moved into sole possession of fourth place in franchise history with 335 points. He Had been tied with Nick Foligno. Rick Nash leads with 547. … Fabbro returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. He was plus-1 in 23:38.