Blue Jackets top Bruins for 13th consecutive victory
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The streak continues.
Columbus squandered a three-goal lead but recovered to win its 13th game in a row Tuesday night when Nick Foligno scored a power-play goal in the third period to give the Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins at Nationwide Arena.
Foligno rebounded his own shot from just outside the crease after a pass from Alexander Wennberg at 10:46 of the third period and beat Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask for the winner and his 11th goal of the season.
Scott Hartnell, Seth Jones and Matt Calvert also scored for the Blue Jackets.
Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky won his 13th straight game and beat Boston for the first time, finishing with 37 saves.
The Blue Jackets (24-5-4) extended their franchise-record and the NHL's longest winning streak this season. Columbus is also 14-0-1 in its last 15 games.
David Backes, Austin Czarnik and David Krejci had goals for Boston (18-15-4). Rask made 18 saves.
The Bruins had handed the Blue Jackets two of their five regulation losses this season.
The Blue Jackets came out firing after the three-day holiday break, opening a 3-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the first period. But the Bruins responded with two goals to make it 3-2 at the end of the opening period.
Hartnell, who had a hat trick last week against the Pittsburgh Penguins, picked up where he left off before the holiday. He scored the first goal and his ninth of the season at 3:02, collecting a rebound on a shot from the point by Lukas Sedlak and pushing the puck past Rask.
Hartnell set up the second goal just as a Blue Jackets power play ended, centering a pass from behind the net to Jones, whose sixth goal made it 2-0 at 8:48 of the first period. Columbus' third goal came from Calvert, who rebounded his own shot for his fifth goal at 9:39 of the first period.
Whether the Blue Jackets became complacent or the Bruins' ratcheted up their game, a potential blowout suddenly became a game.
Boston scored two goals in 55 seconds to narrow its deficit to 3-2. Backes scored his ninth goal at 11:05 and Czarnik followed at 12:00 with his fifth goal.
There was no scoring in the second period until 18:26, when Krejci tied it at 3 when his seventh goal of the season. The Bruins controlled most of the second period and outshot the Blue Jackets 18-8 in the period.
Boston was also denied on several prime chances in the period by Bobrovsky, who had given up only 14 goals in his past 10 starts coming into the game.
NOTES: The only winning streaks longer than the Blue Jackets' in one season since 2005-06 are the Pittsburgh Penguins (15-0-0) in 2012-13 and the Washington Capitals (14-0-0 in 2009-10). No NHL team is thought to have gone from Thanksgiving to Christmas without losing a game in regulation. ... Bruins D John-Michael Liles (concussion) has yet to be cleared for practice but began skating on his own last week and with the team on Tuesday morning. He has been sidelined for 15 games and his return remains uncertain. ... Boston's last game before the Christmas break was a 3-2 overtime loss at Carolina. Columbus edged Montreal 2-1 at home. ... The Bruins beat the Blue Jackets 6-3 in the season opener on Oct. 13 in Nationwide Arena and 5-2 on Nov. 10 in Boston. In the second game, Boston scored four goals in a 4:01 span in the first period against Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky before he was pulled.