Blue Jackets earn 6th straight victory
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, Elvis Merzlikins stopped 27 shots, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 on Wednesday night for their sixth straight win.
Bjorkstand broke the tie with a top-shelf shot over the shoulder of Winnipeg goalie Laurent Brossoit with 5:38 left in the game. Bjorkstrand had his second twogoal game in a row since missing 13 games with a rib/ oblique injury.
Seth Jones and Gustav Nyquist also scored for the host Blue Jackets, who go into the All-Star break and their NHL-required winter break 16-2-4 since Dec. 9. Merzlikins won his fifth straight start, and PierreLuc Dubois tied a careerhigh with three assists.
Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist, and Mason Appleton and Neal Pionk also scored for Winnipeg, Brossoit finished with 25 saves.
Winnipeg scored on its first shot 4:38 into the game when Appleton jumped on a loose puck in the slot and rifled a shot past Merzlikins’ glove. The Blue Jackets tied it quickly when Jones got a drop pass from Nick Foligno on the left wing, drove in hard and slipped a shot between Brossoit’s pads. WILD 4, RED WINGS 2 » Eric Staal and Mats Zuccarello each had a goal and assist, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 25 shots as Minnesota beat visiting Detroit.
Jordan Greenway and Jason
Zucker also scored for Minnesota, which enters the All-Star break with three wins in four games. The streak comes in the midst of a season-high seven-game homestand that continues after this weekend’s break.
Detroit’s Filip Zadina was credited with two goals, his first NHL multigoal game, but both came on deflections off a Wild player. Jimmy Howard had 29 saves for the Red Wings, who will head into their break having lost six in a row overall and eight straight on the road.
Minnesota honored the 35-year-old Staal’s 1,000-point NHL career Wednesday in a pregame ceremony with his family. The Wild presented Staal with a crystal and golden hockey stick to celebrate his point total, which reached 1,012 — sixth highest among active NHL players.
ALL-STAR CAPTAINS » The All-Star Game in St. Louis on Saturday will again feature a three-game, three-onthree tournament. The captains will be Boston’s David Pastrnak, Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.
LEADERS AT THE BREAK » Goals: David Pastrnak (Boston), 37; Assists: Connor McDavid (Edmonton), 49; Points: McDavid, 76; Wins: Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay) 24; Goals-against average: Ilya Samsonov (Washington), 2.06; Save percentage: Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh), .929.