Late barrage helps Blue Jackets beat Islanders 6-2

By foxsports
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Jack Johnson, Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones each had a goal and an assist as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the New York Islanders 6-2 on Saturday night for their sixth straight win.

Josh Anderson, Brandon Saad and Lukas Sedlak also scored for Columbus and Sergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves.

Josh Bailey and John Tavares scored for New York, which had earned a point in a season-high five straight games (4-0-1). Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves until he was pulled after the Blue Jackets scored four consecutive goals in the third period.

Anderson put Columbus ahead 3-2 at 2:19 when he picked off a defensive pass and banged it in from the slot seconds after coming onto the ice for his shift.

Saad, Sedlak and Jones scored in a 5-minute span to make it 6-2 with 5:37 to go.

New York's third-string goalie Jean-Francois Berube then replaced Halak and stopped the one shot he faced in his season debut.

The Islanders came out quick and it took Columbus a while to get going. New York took a 1-0 lead 5:59 in when a defensive pass by the Blue Jackets' Sam Gagner at the boards was deflected by Bailey, and the popup was bobbled by Bobrovsky into the net. Bailey was given credit for an unassisted goal.

The Blue Jackets tied it up on a power play with 6:01 left in the first when Johnson wound up from just inside the neutral zone and fired a bullet past Halak. It was Johnson's first goal of the season.

Columbus' Brandon Dubinsky and New York's Travis Harmonic went to the penalty box for 5 minutes each when both threw down the gloves and threw punches near the end of the first quarter.

Columbus took a 2-1 lead when a speeding Atkinson took a pass from Johnson in the neutral zone and beat Halak on the breakaway 10:16 into the second. New York tied with 7:28 left in the period when Tavares lifted the puck over Bobrovsky's pad from in front of the net.

The Blue Jackets took off in the third period.

After Anderson gave Columbus the lead for good, Saad made it 4-2 on a wrister from the high slot at 9:23.

Sedlak, who scored his first NHL goal on Friday night, scored another when he tapped in a loose puck with 7:21 to go. Jones capped it with just over 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

NOTES: Columbus is 9-1-1 in its last 11 home games. ... Blue Jackets F Nick Foligno was a scratch because of illness for the second straight day. Oliver Bjorkstrand was called up from Cleveland (AHL) on Friday to replace him. ... The Blue Jackets loaned D Dalton Prout to Cleveland on a conditioning assignment. ... C Ryan Strome was back in the lineup for the Islanders after missing one game due to illness. ... Islanders scratched G Thomas Greiss, D Scott Mayfield and LW Anthony Beauvillier. ... Bobrovsky has allowed two goals or fewer in 18 of 23 games.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Host Washington on Tuesday night.

Blue Jackets: At Edmonton on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game trip to western Canada.