Adam Boqvist’s second goal proved to be the game winner as the Columbus Blue Jackets snapped their four-game losing skid Sunday with a 6-4 win over the visiting San Jose Sharks.
After Jack Roslovic’s go-ahead marker broke a 3-all tie early in the third, Boqvist made it 5-3 nearly four minutes later with a shot from the back door on a three-on-two rush.
A healthy scratch by Columbus coach Brad Larsen in Washington the night before, Roslovic responded to the benching by taking a clever pass from Max Domi off the neutral zone board and sweeping in for his fourth.
Alexandre Texier scored into an empty net at 18:53 — his eighth — to secure the victory.
Twelve of 18 Blue Jackets produced points in the win. Sean Kuraly and Cole Sillinger tallied for Columbus, Andrew Peeke handed out two assists, and Elvis Merzlikins (10-4-0) made 30 saves.
The Blue Jackets moved to 9-3-0 on home ice.
Nick Bonino, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl netted for the Sharks, who lost their second straight and finished 3-2-0 on the road trip.
Matt Nieto and Timo Meier posted two assists, and Adin Hill (5-7-0) totaled 24 saves in his first start against Columbus.
After missing the last three games to be with his hospitalized daughter, Andrew Cogliano returned the San Jose’s lineup and assisted on Bonino’s tally.
Late in the first period, Boqvist had a loose puck slide over to him from behind the goal and into the right circle. The defenseman then teed off on a slapper that beat Hill high for his fifth marker.
With just three seconds left, Bonino matched Boqvist when he popped in a pass that Nieto banked off the side of the cage. It was Bonino’s fourth of the year.
After scoring to end the first, the Sharks opened a busy second by scoring 21 seconds in when Karlsson leaned into a drive for his sixth marker and a 2-1 lead.
But Kuraly answered 32 seconds later on a deflection off San Jose defenseman Mario Ferraro for his first marker ever against the club that drafted him in 2011.
With one foot on the blue line, Burns drove home his second of the year at 8:44 for a 3-2 advantage, but Sillinger tied the game for the third time with a wrister on a two-on-one — his fourth tally, at 17:49.
–Field Level Media