Bruins Suffer Third Straight Loss with Setback in Columbus

COLUMBUS -- Yegor Chinakhov had a goal and an assist, and the Columbus Blue Jackets handed the Boston Bruins their third straight loss, 5-2 at Nationwide Arena on Monday.

Dmitri Voronkov, Ivan Provorov, Kirill Marchenko and Justin Danforth scored, and Spencer Martin made 31 saves for the Blue Jackets (7-12-4), who have won three of four after a nine-game skid (0-7-2).

Matthew Poitras and John Beecher scored for the Bruins (14-4-3), who have been outscored 17-8 in three straight regulation losses. Jeremy Swayman made 17 saves on 19 shots in 26:14 before being replaced by Linus Ullmark, who made 18 saves.

“I don’t pin it on the goalies,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “I pin it on the lack of cohesion in front of the goalies.”

Voronkov gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 15:52 of the first period. He shirked a check by Boston defenseman Derek Forbort in the right corner and jammed the puck inside the near post.

Provorov made it 2-0 at 5:38 of the second period, using a screen by Voronkov to score from the left face-off circle.

Swayman was pulled less than a minute later at 6:14.

“Tried to get a spark there. We were a little bit dead there,” Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm said.

Chinakhov’s breakaway extended the lead to 3-0 at 16:42.

Marchenko made it 4-0 at 4:51 of the third period during a 5-on-3 power play.

Poitras cut it to 4-1 at 8:24 off a feed from Charlie McAvoy. It was the rookie’s fifth goal of the season.

Danforth gave the Blue Jackets a 5-1 lead with an empty-net goal at 13:41 before Beecher scored at 17:40 for the 5-2 final.

“We got a little bit loose defensively, a little loose with the puck,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said. “Probably our biggest problem this year is we give up too many odd-man rushes. That was a big problem tonight. … We need to be much tighter all over the ice defensively.

“In this league, now especially, there’s so much parity. You see it tonight and every night -- a last-place team can win any night, so you have to be dialed in on the details.”

NOTES: Columbus ended a six-game skid against Boston (0-3-3). It hadn’t defeated the Bruins since Jan. 14, 2020...McAvoy’s assist was his 200th in the NHL in his 397th game.