Brandon Saad of the Blue Jackets skates the puck away from Michael McCarron and Shea Weber during the second period.Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
The Columbus Blue Jackets made it 12 straight wins Friday night, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 to maintain the best record in the NHL.
Columbus, improved to 23-5-4 — its best start in franchise history — and has not lost since Nov. 26. Montreal, which outshot Columbus 37-24, fell to 21-9-4.
The win was a league-leading 20th for goalie Sergei Bobvrosky, who kept Columbus in the game despite an apathetic third period in which the Blue Jackets took just five shots.
Sam Gagner put Columbus on the board at 17:50 of the first period, 16 seconds into a Canadiens bench minor for too many men on the ice. It was his 15th goal on the season and sixth on the power play.
The Jackets made it 2-0 with Brandon Saad's 13th goal of the season, just 1:22 into the second period.
The Canadians dominated the puck in the third period, and made it 2-1 with Jeff Petry's goal at 9:08.