Brandon Dubinsky said it best in the locker room: the Blue Jackets have been on the other side of games like Monday night’s, and far more often than they’d like.
So, as you can imagine, this one felt pretty good.
Locked in a 2-2 after 40 minutes at Nationwide Arena against a desperate Montreal Canadiens team fighting for its playoff life, the Blue Jackets put the pedal down and pulled away – making for a welcomed, needed celebratory finish on home ice.
Cam Atkinson led the way with his third career hat trick and Brandon Saad supplied the other two goals, giving Joonas Korpisalo more than enough breathing room after a 32-save performance and 5-2 win, snapping a three-game losing skid.
“We played hard. We were opportunistic,” said Brandon Dubinsky, who had three assists in nearly 20 minutes of work. “We buried some of our chances. (Montreal) had a real strong push there, especially in the third period. We weathered the storm and we buried our opportunities.”
The line of Atkinson, Dubinsky and Boone Jenner was active and involved right from the start, causing problems for Montreal on the forecheck and establishing zone time in the first period. Atkinson’s first goal answered a Brendan Gallagher tally 10:39 into the game (a 5-on-3 goal), and he capped off a great piece of puck pursuit work by his linemates, beating Mike Condon from the hash marks at 14:40.
Atkinson’s second gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead early in the second period, this time scoring on a sneaky backhand shot from the right circle that eluded a handful of bodies and also Condon before going into the net.
But this game had its bizarre moments, the first coming off the stick of PK Subban, who was a game-time decision for Montreal due to the flu.
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