Blue Jackets cruise in win over Golden Knights
Joonas Korpisalo had 37 saves and Pierre-Luc Dubois and Artemi Panarin each had a goal and two assists to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-1 victory over the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Defensemen Zach Werenski and Ian Cole also scored for Columbus (34-28-5), which won despite getting outshot, 38-21. Korpisalo, filling in for starter Sergei Bobrovsky who was ill, snapped a personal three-game losing streak.
Erik Haula scored for the lone goal for Vegas (42-19-5), which lost for the fourth time in five games. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 17 saves, suffering just his ninth loss in 34 games (22-9-3).
Columbus needed just 18 seconds to get the first goal of the game as Panarin scored his third goal in two games, putting in a rebound over Fleury's blocker side for his 21st goal of the season.
The Blue Jackets appeared to take a 2-0 lead six minutes later when Dubois beat Fleury stick-side but Vegas successfully challenged that Cam Atkinson, who initially brought the puck into the attacking zone 33 seconds earlier, was offside.
Haula, getting a nice pass from David Perron while cutting to the left side of the net, tied it at 1:30 of the second period but the Blue Jackets answered with two goals 1:46 apart to take a 3-1 lead after two periods.
Werenski got the first goal, one-timing a pass from Panarin from the left point over Fleury's right shoulder for his 13th of the season, a franchise single-season record for a defenseman. Cole than followed with his fourth of the season and first with Blue Jackets, sending a knuckler from the left boards that Fleury misjudged.
Vegas coach Gerard Gallant pulled Fleury with three minutes remaining and Dubois, taking a pass from Panarin at center ice, sealed the win for Columbus 21 seconds later with his 15th of the season into the empty net.
--Field Level Media
