CHICAGO (AP) — Alexandre Texier opened the scoring in the first minute, Zach Werenski added a pair of assists, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Saturday night.
The victory by the Eastern Conference’s worst team over the Western Conference’s worst team halted the Blue Jackets’ two-game losing streak, and dropped Chicago to 0-4-2 in its last six games.
Boone Jenner, Mathieu Olivier and Cole Sillinger scored and Johnny Gaudreau added an empty-netter for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 26 shots and picked up his 12th win of the season.
Philipp Kurashev and Ryan Donato scored for the Blackhawks as goaltender Arvid Soderblom made 26 saves.
Texier took advantage of Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones’ giveaway in the Chicago zone to score 33 seconds into the game. Texier picked up the loose puck Jones left in the slot and whistled it past Soderblom within a stride of collecting it.
The Blue Jackets made it 2-0 on Jenner’s waist-high deflection of Werenski’s shot at 14:05 of the first.
The Blackhawks scored with 2:28 left in the first on Kurashev’s 10th goal of the season. He beat Merzlikins from six feet on rookie of the year candidate Connor Bedard’s setup. It was the first goal for the Blackhawks in almost 100 minutes, going back to the second period of last Sunday’s loss to Detroit. Opposing teams scored nine times between Nick Foligno’s goal against the Red Wings and Kurashev’s tally.
Werenski would set up Olivier at 3:09 of the second to make it 3-1. Sillinger made it 4-1 midway through the second period.
Donato, set up by Kurashev, added a third-period goal for Chicago. Gaudreau scored into an empty net with 2:25 to play.
Soderblom lost his 14th straight game.
Chicago is 1-6-3 in its last 10 home games. The Blackhawks’ last road win was in Tampa on Nov. 9, and they start a three-game road trip on Monday.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: Host Vegas on Monday.
Blackhawks: At Colorado on Monday.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
