Connauton helps lead Blue Jackets over Bruins 6-2

By foxsports
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Kevin Connauton had a goal and two assists and the Columbus Blue Jackets scored four times in the second period for a 6-2 win against the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.

Scott Hartnell, in his first game back after missing five games with a broken finger, scored the Blue Jackets' first two goals for a 2-1 lead early in the second. Nick Foligno and Connauton made it 4-1 before Craig Cunningham scored for the Bruins (18-15-3). Matt Calvert regained the three-goal lead with 51 seconds left in the second.

Jeremy Morin added a goal for Columbus in the third.

Patrice Bergeron scored in the first period for the Bruins, 20 seconds after Hartnell had given the Blue Jackets (15-16-3) a 1-0 advantage.

Columbus backup goalie Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves. He replaced Sergei Bobrovsky, who did not play because of a stomach virus. Boston backup Niklas Svedberg stopped 12 of 15 shots before being pulled for Tuukka Rask, who also had 12 saves.

Hartnell scored his first goal on a rebound of a Connauton shot that Svedberg took off his shoulder. Hartnell put a backhander off the inside of Svedberg's pads at 8:11.

The Bruins came back with Bergeron, who has seven goals, stickhandling around Columbus defenseman Fedor Tyutin then getting a wrist shot past McElhinney.

Hartnell, who has eight goals, made it 2-1 in the second with a redirect of Connauton's shot from the left point 51 seconds into the period.

Connauton upped the score to 3-1 at 6:32 with his fourth goal in 14 games since being claimed off waivers from the Dallas Stars on Nov. 18.

Foligno followed at 9:26 by converting a pass from Jack Johnson during a Columbus power play for a 4-1 lead. Foligno's 17 goals are one shy of his career best, which he set in 70 games last season.

Cunningham cut the deficit in half with 3:32 remaining after a shot from the right blue line by Gregory Campbell. The puck hit Cunningham in front then went off Johnson for Cunningham's second goal.

Calvert capped the second period scoring with an unassisted goal. He has four goals. Morin scored his first goal early in the third period.

NOTES:

Columbus goalie Anton Forsberg was on emergency recall from Springfield of the American Hockey League and did not count against the 23-man roster. Columbus forward Cam Atkinson left the game in the first period with an upper body injury after being checked by Matt Bartkowski and did not return. The Bruins had won seven straight vs. the Blue Jackets since a 3-2 loss in Boston on Jan. 21, 2010. Boston had four consecutive wins in Columbus since a 2-0 loss on March 10, 2009. Columbus killed all three Boston power plays to run their successful penalty kill streak to 23.