MONTREAL — Even goalie Elvis Merzlikins was impressed by the Patrik Laine blast that gave the Columbus Blue Jackets a last-minute 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
With just 6.5 seconds left on the game clock and the Blue Jackets on the power play, Laine fired a one-timer past Habs' goalie Samuel Montembeault for the win.
It was a shot no netminder would have a chance on, Merzlikins said.
“I’m going to be honest, I’ve never seen something like that in my life," he said. "No chance even if we would both be in that net. That was a powerful and accurate shot. That was something crazy.”
Laine also registered an assist Saturday, extending his scoring streak to six games (seven goals, five assists). It's the best hockey Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen has seen the Finnish forward play.
“You could notice it in practice and coming out of the (all-star) break,” Larsen said. “They start to score and things just seem to start clicking and what has come so natural to him for so long you start to see it at the highest level in the game. And that’s neat to see with a guy of his calibre with how he can fire the puck and how dangerous he can be.”
The win put Columbus (23-22-1) back over .500 with five straight road wins, but Laine feels there's still much the Blue Jackets need to accomplish.
“First of all we’re not in a good spot, we’re not in the playoffs right now but we’re working hard and it’s obviously nice to get wins,” he said. “You need to get wins this time of the year if you want to make it and we gotta capitalize when other teams are losing and try to get back into the race that way.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored for the Blue Jackets and Merzlikins made 30 saves for the win.
Cole Caufield replied for Montreal, putting away his third goal of the season 2:55 into the third period.
Montembeault had a busy day at the office, blocking 37-of-38 shots for the Canadiens (8-32-7).
It was the Blue Jackets' second victory at the Bell Centre in 14 days, extending their win streak to five games and six in their last seven.
The Habs slumped to a nine-game winless streak and fell to 0-2-0 under newly minted head coach Martin St. Louis.
Columbus' last-minute goal came after Montreal's Jeff Petry was called for tripping with 1:27 to go in the third period.
Despite the untimely call, St. Louis was supportive of the veteran defenceman.
“I think in any walks of life, you can do anything right and still get it wrong. I think Petry’s doing a lot of good things out there right now and I think that somehow something bad happens for him," said the 46-year-old Hall of Famer.
“I’m going to talk to him and keep trying to support him. I’m gonna try to watch his games a little more closely and if I can see stuff or ideas to help him keep moving in the right direction and hopefully get through this hump of bad stuff happening for him.”
Columbus were wide awake for the matinee game, scoring only 1:16 in.
Ben Chiarot’s clearance attempt deflected off Laine and onto Bjorkstrand’s stick. The Dane skated towards the slot, bounced the puck off of Alexander Romanov and beat Montembeault with the fourth shot of the game.
After a scoreless second period, Caufield took advantage of a defensive mistake to score in a second consecutive game.
Vladislav Gavrikov gave the puck away to Chiarot along the boards. The defenceman found Caufield in the high slot who shocked Merzlikins to tie things up at 1-1.
The Blue Jackets didn't panic when the score was levelled, Bjorkstrand said.
“It proves that we stick with it and we don’t get frustrated towards the end of the game,” he said. “It was tied but we stuck to the game plan and we kept pushing so that’s why we were able to get those goals.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2022.
Tristan D’Amours, The Canadian Press
