The Columbus Blue Jackets will look to keep up with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference wild-card race when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
The Blue Jackets (34-30-9, 77 points) trail the Canadiens and Rangers by two points for the final wild-card spot, with a game in hand on Montreal and two games on New York.
Columbus recorded its third win in four outings with an 8-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Kirill Marchenko had a hat trick and an assist, Sean Monahan added two goals and two assists, and Adam Fantilli tallied two goals and one assist for the Blue Jackets, who improved to 22-9-5 on home ice this season.
Marchenko paces the Blue Jackets with 31 goals in 70 games this season, including goals in four straight games.
“The reason he’s had success is because he has been hard, because he’s been heavy, because he’s been tenacious on pucks,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “He’s getting more opportunities because he’s getting it back. He’s not just one and done. He’s not just fanning out and looking for a one-timer, which was fantastic tonight.”
Kent Johnson added three assists and Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves.
Columbus captain Boone Jenner added two assists to extend his point streak to five games (five goals, three assists).
Merzlikins is 25-19-5 with an .894 save percentage and a 3.11 goals-against average in 49 games this season. Fellow goalie Daniil Tarasov has 18 starts this season and is 7-9-2 with an .882 save percentage and a 3.49 GAA.
Thursday will be the second and final meeting between the Blue Jackets and Avalanche this season. Columbus topped Colorado 6-4 on Oct. 12 in Denver.
The Avalanche travel to Ohio after erasing a 2-0 deficit in Chicago to edge the Blackhawks 3-2 in a shootout on Wednesday night.
Colorado (46-26-4, 96 points), third in the Central Division, remains seven points up on the fourth-place Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues and six points back of the second-place Dallas Stars.
Artturi Lehkonen scored the winner on Wednesday, and defenseman Cale Makar and Martin Necas each scored third-period goals for the Avalanche, who have points in back-to-back games and 15 of its last 17 (13-2-2).
“I thought we generated a lot of really good scoring chances (on Wednesday),” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Didn’t manage the puck that well at times, so being able to kind of dig in the third period and finally capitalize on a couple of chances and come away with the two points is always encouraging.”
Makar added an assist on Necas’ goal and has six points over his last five games (three goals, three assists).
With the tally, Makar set a Colorado franchise record for goals in a season by a defenseman (29). His 87 points this season are second to only Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the club with 111 (30 goals, 81 assists).
Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves on Wednesday night.
The Avalanche recalled goaltender Kevin Mandolese from the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. Mandolese, who backed up Wedgewood in Chicago, has not appeared in an NHL game since the 2022-23 season with the Ottawa Senators.
Mandolese was 10-6-0 with a .905 save percentage and a 2.86 GAA in 17 games this season with the Eagles.
–Field Level Media
