Blue Jackets hang on for win against Blackhawks, extend point streak

CHICAGO -- Joonas Korpisalo made 31 saves, and the Columbus Blue Jackets extended their point streak to seven games with a 2-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Friday.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a goal and had an assist for the Blue Jackets (4-2-3), who are 4-0-3 during the streak.
"[Korpisalo] is our best player tonight," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "We looked like a tired team. We played a lot of hockey, first back-to-back traveling, we weren't as sharp as we'd like to be, but Korpisalo was easily our best player."
Korpisalo said, "I felt good. Not playing yesterday and having fresh legs and fresh mind for today, it felt good."
Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins have alternated starts through nine games. Merzlikins made 33 saves in a 3-2 shootout victory against the Florida Panthers at home Thursday.

Dylan Strome scored, and Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves in his fifth start in six games for the Blackhawks (2-4-3), who had their point streak end at five games (2-0-3).
"I think both teams did a pretty good job defensively, not giving up much," Lankinen said. "I think we as a defense played pretty well. Our defense has been better, so much better the last few games. I'm seeing a lot of good progress there."
Chicago has allowed two goals or fewer in four of the past five games.

The Blackhawks and Blue Jackets are scheduled to play here again Sunday.
Bjorkstrand scored a power-play goal from the left face-off circle to give Columbus a 1-0 lead at 8:53 of the first period.
The Blue Jackets have scored a power-play goal in two straight games after going 1-for-19 in their first seven games.
"Honestly, early on in the season here, I thought we've gotten a lot of chances. They just didn't really go in," Bjorkstrand said. "Maybe a few games where we struggled a little but overall, I think we've been pretty good on the power play, and it's definitely nice we're putting the puck in the net now."
Korpisalo made a right-pad save on Carl Soderberg's backhand shot on a short breakaway at 10:58 to keep the Blue Jackets in front.
Eric Robinson scored on a breakaway off an outlet pass from Bjorkstrand to make it 2-0 at 3:39 of the second period.

Strome got the Blackhawks within 2-1 at 10:47 of the second with a power-play goal from the slot.
"I thought we played well enough to win," Strome said. "We did a lot of good things. We had the puck quite a bit. Obviously came up short. We need to find a way to score more 5-on-5, but [we] created a little bit more. I thought we got better as the game went on, but [Korpisalo] played great. He's a good goalie. He moves quick, made some big saves. I think we missed a couple chances too."
Korpisalo made 18 saves on 19 shots in the second period and nine more in the third, including against Patrick Kane all alone from in close with 3:11 remaining.
"Find a way (to win)," Tortorella said. "I don't think we were that good tonight. I thought the best part of our game, which I was really happy about, the first 12 or 13 minutes of that third period, I thought we played great hockey. We checked better, we ended up with some chances, didn't finish but ended up with some chances."
Chicago played 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the second straight game.
"I thought overall we played a pretty solid game," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "They're a good team. They work hard, they make you earn what you get. Obviously, it's tough to come from behind against a team like that. They've got really good goaltending. We did a lot of good things and we created more than enough to score more than one goal, and we were fairly solid defensively. By no means are we satisfied, and we expect to get better."
NOTES: Tortorella coached his 400th game with the Blue Jackets. He is 213-142-45. ... The Blackhawks went 1-for-2 on the penalty kill after going 8-for-8 in their past two games against the Nashville Predators. ... Chicago has scored on the power play in eight of its nine games. ... Kane played a game-high 27:14 and had six shots on goal. It was the eighth time the Blackhawks forward has played at least 27 minutes in a regular-season game in 14 NHL seasons.