Charlie Coyle scored a pair of goals as the Columbus Blue Jackets kept their playoff hopes alive with a crucial 5-2 road victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced, Kirill Marchenko finished with a goal and an assist, Adam Fantilli picked up two assists, while Boone Jenner and Sean Monahan also found the back of the net.
Columbus (40-28-12, 92 points) sits just two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division with two games remaining for both teams.
Cole Caufield kept pace in the Rocket Richard Trophy race as he scored his 51st goal of the season.
Josh Anderson also tallied and Jakub Dobes made 28 saves as Montreal (47-23-10, 104 points) lost for just the second time over their past 12 contests.
Jenner gave the Blue Jackets the early advantage as he picked up a rebound, took it to the backhand and slid it into the net with just 1:13 off the clock.
Coyle took a feed from Jake Christiansen and sent it past the pad of Dobes to make it 2-0 for the Blue Jackets 4 1/2 minutes later.
Anderson got the Canadiens on the board with 8:12 left in the first as he received a perfectly placed backhand pass from Jake Evans and placed his shot past Greaves to make it 2-1.
The Blue Jackets regained a two-goal lead less than two minutes into the second period when Marchenko took the puck in on his own and wired a shot past Dobes.
Columbus stretched their lead to three halfway through the contest after Sean Monahan took a feed from Kent Johnson and found the back of the net.
Caufield fired a high shot from the short side on the power play and found a pocket to cut the deficit to 4-2 four minutes into the third period.
The Blue Jackets believed to have recaptured their three-goal lead minutes later as Jenner jammed the puck past Dobes on the man advantage, but it was called off for goaltender’s interference.
Coyle netted his second goal of the contest with a power-play tally to make it 5-2 with 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
