COLUMBUS — It didn’t take long for the cannon to get fired Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.
Eric Robinson opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets only 1:24 into the game when he beat the Canadiens’ Carey Price short side with a one-timer on an almost impossible angle from the bottom of the faceoff circle to the goalie’s left. It was the Blue Jackets’ second shot of the game and the cannon went off, just like it does after every Columbus goal at Nationwide Arena.
The cannon would go off four more times as the Blue Jackets beat the Canadiens 5-2. Columbus improved its record to 8-8-4 in front of 14,118 fans, while the Canadiens fell to 11-6-4.
Pierre-Luc Dubois had two goals for Columbus, while Emil Bemstrom and Boone Jenner also scored for the Blue Jackets. Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia scored for the Canadiens, who outshot the Blue Jackets 32-26.
Canadiens fans will probably never forget the game at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 4, 2016 when the cannon went off 10 times in a 10-0 loss to the Blue Jackets. Former Canadiens goalie Al Montoya, who was beaten 10 times on 40 shots, certainly won’t forget it.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
This night it was just Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! But a loss is a loss.
Lehkonen sent the teams into the first intermission tied 1-1 after scoring his third goal of the season at the 16:31 mark. Lehkonen took a fantastic pass from Phillip Danault in the slot with Brendan Gallagher going hard to the net, attracting a defender and allowing Lehkonen to find some open space. Lehkonen had gone six games without a goal and had only one in the previous 15 games.
Armia gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead with his seventh goal of the season at 4:29 of the second period, deflecting a shot from defenceman Ben Chiarot. Armia had gone nine games without a goal. Dubois tied it up 2-2 at 12:50 of the second period after Chiarot and Tomas Tatar combined to cough up the puck behind the net and that was the score after 40 minutes.
Bemstrom put the Blue Jackets up 3-2 at 6:54 of the third period after Canadiens defenceman Cale Fleury coughed up the puck at the blue line while trying to clear the zone. Bemstrom was left alone in front of Price and missed the net with a backhand, but the puck took a wild and wacky bounce off the glass and hit the goalie, who was now facing the net, before going in.
Jenner’s scored a power-play goal at 11:06 of the third period after Max Domi took an interference penalty and Dubois scored his second of the night at 14:33, delivering the final blow.
Domi, who scored 28 goals last season and led the Canadiens with 72 points, failed to score a goal for the eighth straight game and has only one in the last 16 games and four for the season, putting him on pace for 15 this year.
The Canadiens need more boom.
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