NHL

Montreal Canadiens at Columbus Blue Jackets

· National Hockey League
Montreal Canadiens
8-11-3
Final
4 - 3
Columbus Blue Jackets
9-9-3

Suzuki scores in OT to give the Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Blue Jackets

Montreal Canadiens vs. Columbus Blue Jackets: Game Highlights

Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist, Cole Caufield added a power-play goal and Emil Heineman also scored. Cayden Primeau made 21 saves for Montreal (8-11-3).

Mathieu Olivier and Yegor Chinakhov scored for Columbus (9-9-3). Zach Werenski had a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a fight. Elvis Merzlikins made 19 saves.

Takeaways Canadiens: Despite playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road, the Canadiens skated hard and rallied when they needed to before securing the win in overtime.

Blue Jackets: Columbus squandered the lead twice as its three-game win streak ended.

Key moment Kent Johnson lost an edge while skating up the ice in overtime, leading to an odd-man rush. Suzuki then buried his own rebound for the winning goal.

Key stat Werenski’s assist on Olivier’s goal was his eighth in six games, tying Bryan Berard for the longest streak by a Blue Jackets defenseman. Werenski leads the team with 21 points (six goals, 15 assists). His 21 points in 21 games rank third among NHL defensemen this season.

Up next The Canadiens visit the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon, while the Blue Jackets host Calgary on Friday afternoon.

Regular Season Series

MTL leads series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 9:08 Mathieu Olivier Goal (7) Snap Shot, assists: Zach Werenski (15), Zach Aston-Reese (4)
Goal 1st Period 13:00 Juraj Slafkovsky Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: none
Goal 2nd Period 4:27 Yegor Chinakhov Goal (7) Snap Shot, assists: Adam Fantilli (7), Kent Johnson (6)
Goal 2nd Period 6:34 Cole Caufield Goal (13) Wrist Shot, assists: Juraj Slafkovsky (11)
Goal 3rd Period 8:24 Emil Heineman Goal (5) Backhand, assists: Jake Evans (7), Joel Armia (8)
Goal 3rd Period 12:22 Zach Werenski Goal (7) Snap Shot, assists: Damon Severson (6), Dmitri Voronkov (3)
Goal 4th Period 0:44 Nick Suzuki Goal (8) Snap Shot, assists: Lane Hutson (12)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/mtl.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originMTL https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/cbj.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCBJ
14 Blocked Shots 16
24 Hits 25
5 Takeaways 2
23 Shots 24
1 Power Play Goals 0
2 Power Play Opportunities 3
50.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
32 Faceoffs Won 29
52.5 Faceoff Win Percent 47.5
9 Giveaways 14
5 Total Penalties 4
13 Penalty Minutes 11
Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Kirill Marchenko, RW Day-To-Day Feb 5
Montreal Canadiens Montreal Canadiens Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Alexandre Texier, LW Day-To-Day Feb 5
Patrik Laine, RW Injured Reserve Jan 10

Game Information

Nationwide Arena

Location: Columbus, OH
Attendance: 15,485 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Tampa Bay 37 14 78 4
Montreal 32 17 72 8
Detroit 33 19 72 6
Buffalo 32 19 70 6
Boston 32 20 69 5
Ottawa 28 22 63 7
Toronto 27 21 63 9
Florida 29 25 61 3

2025-26 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Carolina 36 15 78 6
Pittsburgh 29 15 70 12
NY Islanders 32 21 69 5
Columbus 29 20 65 7
Washington 29 23 65 7
Philadelphia 25 20 61 11
New Jersey 28 27 58 2
NY Rangers 22 29 50 6
Full Standings