The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Cam Atkinson helped deliver a rare feel-good night in Columbus and maybe brought a puppy—or three—into a young fan’s home.
Atkinson had his third-career hat trick and Brandon Saad scored twice to help the Blue Jackets beat the struggling Montreal Canadiens 5-2 last night to snap a three-game losing streak.
Atkinson scored three goals after seeing a girl in the stands with a sign claiming her father had promised her a puppy for her birthday—if Atkinson scored.
Bobby Ryan came through for a fan with a similar sign Sunday in Ottawa.
“I actually saw the Ottawa game that they had a sign for Bobby Ryan,” Atkinson noted.
“I just hope that little girl tonight names her dog after me.”
And as far as the three goals?
“We’ll see how generous her dad and mom are feeling,” Atkinson grinned.
Linemates Brandon Dubinsky and Boone Jenner each had three assists while rookie Joonas Korpisalo turned aside 32 shots.
“We worked hard,” Dubinsky said. “We worked to get pucks back.
“We were opportunistic,” he added. “We buried some of our chances and that was the difference.
“They [Montreal] had a really strong push there, especially in the third period, and we weathered the storm.”
Columbus played a second-straight game without coach John Tortorella after he broke two ribs falling after a collision with a player at practice Friday.
P.K. Subban tied it 2-2 midway through the second but Columbus scored three goals in the third, including a go-ahead score from Saad 9:06 into the period.
“We just had bad execution again,” said Canadiens’ coach Michel Therrien.
“We give up three goals that we had the puck. We give them the puck,” he noted.
“It’s unacceptable.”
Subban and Brendan Gallagher each had a goal and an assist while Mike Condon made 20 saves for Montreal, which hasn’t won consecutive games since late November.
Montreal is 7-17-2 since Carey Price, last season’s Vezina Trophy winner, suffered a lower-body injury back on Nov. 25.
They were 17-4-2 when Price went down—and the goalie is expected to miss another three weeks.
Montreal faces Columbus again tonight at home.
“Those moments where we lose the puck or we lose our heads, it’s costing us games right now,” said Subban, who was feeling ill last night.
“The good thing is we don’t have much time to think about it,” he reasoned.
“We turn around and play the same team on our ice in our barn.”
“It wasn’t always pretty,” said Blue Jackets’ associate coach Craig Hartsburg. “We weren’t perfect.
“I thought tonight we stayed with it,” he noted. “We didn’t crack.
“We made Montreal make some mistakes, which we capitalized on.”
Saad scored his 18th into an empty net at 18:48 before Atkinson finished a tic-tac-toe passing combination with Dubinsky and Jenner at 19:35 to score his 16th.
The fans littered the ice with hats.
“It was nice that ‘Hartsy’ threw our line out there and just got an odd-man rush,” Atkinson said.
“I knew right then and there,” he added.
“I was kind of smiling the whole way just because I knew at some point someone was going to try and get me the puck.”
Subban had drawn Montreal even at 2-2 on what initially looked like an innocent play.
Pulling his stick back a stride inside the red line, Subban rifled a high shot that made its way past a surprised Korpisalo at 8:36.
“That should never happen,” Korpisalo said. “It’s on me.
“You’ve just got to bounce back from that,” he added.
“I was like OK, that’s it. I can’t let in any more goals and I’m going to help the team win.”
Elsewhere in the NHL, Dallas beat Calgary 2-1, Arizona nipped Minnesota 2-1 (SO), Detroit doubled the N.Y. Islanders 4-2, Boston edged Philadelphia 3-2, and the N.Y. Rangers dumped Buffalo 6-3.
