Nick Suzuki's OT tally lifts Canadiens over Jackets

Nick Suzuki scored 44 seconds into overtime to give the visiting Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.

Suzuki fired a wrist shot from the high slot on a three-on-two break that Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins blocked with his glove. However, the rebound went straight back to Suzuki, who chopped it inside the right post for his eighth of the season.

Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist and Cole Caufield and Emil Heineman also scored for Montreal, which snapped a two-game skid (0-1-1) with its seventh consecutive win over the Blue Jackets dating back to Nov. 23, 2022. Cayden Primeau made 21 saves for his second win of the season.

The Blue Jackets' Zach Werenski had a goal, an assist and a fighting major for his first Gordie Howe hat trick. Mathieu Olivier and Yegor Chinakhov also scored for Columbus, which had won three in a row. Merzlikins finished with 19 saves.

Columbus took a 1-0 lead at the 9:08 mark of the first on Olivier's seventh goal of the season. The reigning NHL First Star of the Week, Werenski extended his assist streak to six, tying the franchise record for defensemen set by Bryan Berard in 2005.

Slafkovsky tied it at 1 a few minutes later when he intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and then raced the down the left wing, snapping a wrist shot under Merzlikins' left arm for his second goal of the season and first in 15 games.

The Blue Jackets regained the lead early in the second when Chinakhov broke down the right wing and beat Primeau with a wrist shot on his blocker side for his seventh goal.

Caufield tied it at 2 a few minutes later with a power-play goal, taking from Slafkovsky's bank pass off the center boards and then breaking in and firing a shot past Merzlikins' glove side for his 13th goal and seventh on the power play.

Heineman gave Montreal its first lead at 3-2 midway through the third. He took a crossing pass from Jake Evans and drove hard down the left wing, then circled in front and flipped a backhander over Merzlikins for his fifth goal.

With his seventh goal, Werenski tied it with 7:38 to go when his pass into the crease caromed into the net off the skate of the Canadiens' Kaiden Guhle.

--Field Level Media