Coyle has hat trick, assist, Blue Jackets defeat Blackhawks to stay hot

CHICAGO -- Charlie Coyle had his second NHL hat trick and an assist for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Friday.

Coyle has nine points (five goals, four assists) in a three-game point streak.

“Hockey’s funny the way it works sometimes,” the forward said. “Sometimes you feel great and you ride it. Sometimes you feel great, it doesn’t work out. Sometimes you feel like crap and you’re on the end of some pretty good plays. But I think just our line, wherever we’re playing, we try to play the right way, put it behind them.

“They (the Blackhawks) played last night (a 6-2 loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins). Just knowing what’s at stake and knowing what’s in front of us and hanging on to the puck, we get our opportunities and things work out. It’s nice when they work out a bunch. It doesn’t always go like that, but if we can do that consistently, no matter what the end result is, I think we’re going to be pretty good.”

Mathieu Olivier had a goal and an assist, and Zach Werenski had two assists for the Blue Jackets (26-20-7), who have won four in a row and eight of nine, including seven of eight since Rick Bowness replaced Dean Evason as coach Jan. 12. Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves.

“I think we did a lot of good things,” Bowness said. “I didn’t like that first goal against late in the (first) period like that. Those are simple things to fix. But it’s on-ice awareness. We score a big goal on the power play and then we give them one. To me, we gave them one.

“But we battled back in the second, and they were coming in the third. We didn’t put enough pucks on the net in the third, so we’re going to keep preaching that. We want to play on our toes, we want to go after them, but it was a solid game. We didn’t give up much in the third, so that’s a good thing, but we still want to generate more.”

Connor Bedard had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Bertuzzi had two assists for the Blackhawks (21-25-9), who are 0-3-2 in their past five. Spencer Knight made 22 saves.

“Just kind of clean things up a bit,” Bedard said of how Chicago can right itself. “It’s a hard league, so just figure out ways to win.”

Coyle put the Blue Jackets ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal at 19:13 of the first period. He lifted in the rebound of his own tip attempt in low slot after Werenski shot from the left face-off circle. With the assist, Werenski extended his point streak to four games (one goal, six assists).

“Obviously when you can get off to a lead early in any game, it’s definitely a bonus,” Werenski said. “I think playing from behind, you can kind of sometimes end up chasing the game a little bit, so I feel for us, to get in front, just establish our game, get to the game we want to play, I feel like maybe we haven’t done that enough this year. We’ve been doing it as of late and it’s a big reason why we’re having success.”

Bedard tied it 1-1 at 19:57. Merzlikins stopped Alex Vlasic’s shot from above the right circle but couldn’t hold on to the puck, and Bedard pounced on the rebound in front.

Coyle gave Columbus a 2-1 lead at 1:23 of the second period. He picked off an attempted clearing pass by Andre Burakovsky out of the left corner and scored from the right hash marks.

Olivier then pushed the lead to 3-1 at 6:47. Coyle brought the puck out from behind the net and around the right post, fought off defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and passed to Olivier, who scored from above the right hash marks while going to one knee.

Frank Nazar brought the Blackhawks within 3-2 at 10:49. Bedard moved into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 and passed into the slot to Nazar, who went backhand to forehand and shot past Merzlikins’ glove.

It was Nazar’s first goal since Dec. 18. He missed 14 games after breaking his jaw in a 6-4 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 20.

“All we look at is what we did well, what we didn’t do well, how we can grow and get better,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “That’s the only thing we look at, to be dead honest with you. So we’ll continue to do that. If I looked at tonight’s game, I think we do more of the second half. That’s when we’re a successful team.”

Coyle scored into an empty net at 18:57 of the third period to complete the hat trick and make it a 4-2 final.

“They don’t happen often, especially for me,” Coyle said of hat tricks. “I mean, I just love when we win. We just want to win in here, and it seems like it’s kind of a new guy, depending on the night and no one really cares who it is. If we get the two points we come here for, everyone’s happy. Tomorrow night (at the St. Louis Blues) it’s going to be a new line, a new someone, whatever. We all just have to play the right way and it’s going to work out for all of us in that way.”

NOTES: Werenski has 40 assists, reaching the mark for a third consecutive season. The defenseman is the only player to have a streak that long for the Blue Jackets. … Coyle’s hat trick marked the NHL’s 31st in January, extending the record for the most in any month. … Blackhawks defenseman Artyom Levshunov was scratched after he was minus-5 on Thursday. Defenseman Sam Rinzel was recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Friday and replaced him in the lineup, finishing with three shots on goal in 22:18 of ice time. … Chicago forward Teuvo Teravainen and defenseman Connor Murphy each played his 800th NHL game.