Blue Jackets top Canadiens, stay alive in playoff hunt

Boone Jenner and Coyle scored in the first period, and Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan scored in the second for Columbus (40-28-12), which won for just the second time in its past nine games (2-6-1). Jet Greaves made 20 saves.

The Blue Jackets began their recent skid with a 2-1 loss at Montreal on March 26.

Cole Caufield scored his 51st goal and Jakub Dobes made 28 saves for Montreal (47-23-10), which had won consecutive games, and 10 of 11 (10-1-0).

Jenner put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 at 1:13 of the first period. He jumped on a rebound of Zach Werenski’s shot and reached around Dobes to score with a backhand in the goalmouth to give Columbus a lead it would not relinquish.

Coyle made it 2-0 at 5:42 when he drove to the right side of the net to put away a pass from Jake Christiansen.

Josh Anderson drew Montreal within 2-1 at 11:48. He put away Oliver Kapanen’s backdoor pass from the left face-off circle.

Marchenko put Columbus up 3-1 at 1:24 of the second period when he drove in on the right and beat Dobes with a wrist shot from the right face-off dot.

Monahan pushed it to 4-1 at 10:36. He scored from the right face-off circle on a pass from Kent Johnson, who cut off Dobes’ clearing attempt from behind the net on the right half-wall.

Caufield, who became Montreal’s first 50-goal scorer in 36 years on Thursday, cut it to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 3:58 of the third period. He scored on a sharp angle shot from the right side and Nick Suzuki got his 99th point with the primary assist.

Suzuki has the most points by a Canadiens player in a season since Mats Naslund had 110 in 1985-86.

Coyle scored his second of the game, his 20th of the season, on a power play at 9:59 of the third for the 5-2 final.

Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson left the game at 14:36 of the second after Werenski’s shot struck him on the right hand.