Roslovic scores twice for Blue Jackets in win against Canadiens

COLUMBUS -- Jack Roslovic scored two goals for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 5-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday.

Roslovic has five goals in the past two games after he scored a hat trick in a 5-4 overtime victory at the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
"When it's going it's going," Roslovic said. "You take moments like this and try to hold onto them."
Patrik Laine had a goal and two assists and Elvis Merzlikins made 20 saves for the Blue Jackets (35-33-6), who have won three of four after a seven-game skid.
Ryan Poehling scored, and Sam Montembeault made 26 saves for the Canadiens (20-43-11), who have lost three in a row. They are 12-13-4 since Martin St. Louis replaced Dominque Ducharme as coach Feb. 9.
"I think this team is mentally tired. I get it," St. Louis said. "They've had a tough season and then coaches change and I'm asking a lot of them, implementing so many things. So, there's a lot going on for them in terms of handling all that mentally."

Forward Kent Johnson, the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, and undrafted defenseman Nick Blankenburg each made his NHL debut for Columbus after finishing their college careers at the University of Michigan last week.
Blankenburg had an assist on the Blue Jackets' fourth goal by Cole Sillinger in the third period.
"There was a sense of relief when I saw it go in," Blankenburg said. "I'm kind of at a loss of words. It's a childhood dream to play your first game in the NHL, let alone get your first point. As the game went on, I felt like I had a little bit more confidence with the puck."
Roslovic scored at 8:36 of the first period when his shot from the right circle went off Montembeault and over his shoulder.
Columbus outshot Montreal 10-4 in the first.
"We've got to perform. Tonight, we didn't do that," Canadiens defenseman Joel Edmundson said. "Give them credit; they played well, but it should have been a closer game."
Roslovic made it 2-0 at 15:52 of the second period on a redirection from Laine, who gave the Blue Jackets a 3-0 lead 1:30 later on a power play at 17:22, his first goal in 11 games.
"It felt pretty good," Laine said. "We were moving the puck pretty good. Jack tried to go back door to [Gustav Nyquist]. It came off the back wall pretty hot, kind of a tight angle. I'm just happy it went in."

Poehling cut it to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 18:09 with a redirection of Nick Suzuki's shot. It was Poheling's first goal since Jan. 17 (27 games).
Sillinger made it 4-1 at 6:24 of the third period with a tip of a shot by Emil Bemstrom, who then scored at 17:38 for the 5-1 final.
"I think you see it in spurts when we're playing good, it's fun, it's hard to play against, we're fast," Poehling said. "But we just need to work on being consistently that good. When you're that good for a bit, you know you have it in you, so we just need to work on keeping that consistency up."
NOTES: Blankenburg had one hit and five blocked shots in 16:01 of ice time. Johnson had one hit in 10:20 and was called for tripping 32 seconds into the third period. … Columbus allowed fewer than two goals for the first time in 13 games since a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators on March 16. … Laine played his 100th game for the Blue Jackets; he has 77 points (36 goals, 41 assists). … Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski played his 400th NHL game. … The Blue Jackets won all three games against the Canadiens this season. … Suzuki won 14 of 17 face-offs (82.4 percent). He has five points (one goal, four assists) in a four-game point streak. … Montreal forward Josh Anderson played in Columbus for the first time since being traded for Max Domi on Oct. 6, 2020. He was minus-2 in 18:36. … Canadiens defenseman David Savard returned to Columbus for the first time since being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 10, 2021. He was minus-3 in 18:30.