By Canadian Press

Bemstrom’s OT tally lifts Blue Jackets over Senators 4-3

Feb 24, 2020 | 8:28 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Emil Bemstrom scored 4:35 into overtime, and the Columbus Blue Jackets snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday.

Bemstrom knocked home a rebound for his seventh of the season. Nick Foligno scored twice for the Blue Jackets, and Stefan Matteau tied it with his second of the season midway through the third period.

Columbus’ first win since Feb. 7 might have been a costly one after goaltender Elvis Merzlikins departed in the second following a big collision at the net with former Jackets forward Anthony Duclair.

The Blue Jackets have been ravaged by injuries this year. Merzlikins was replaced by Joonas Korpisalo, who was just activated after sitting out with a knee injury since Dec. 29.

Merzlikins had 16 saves, and Korpisalo made 14 stops.

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Connor Brown had two goals for Ottawa, which traded away two of its top offensive players at the deadline earlier Monday. Colin White also scored, and Marcus Hogberg had 41 saves in Ottawa’s third straight loss.

The Blue Jackets’ slide had reached eight, but they managed to get a point in five of the losses to stay in contention. The win enabled them to jump over idle Carolina into the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card slot.

Foligno — still sporting two black eyes from taking a puck in the face Thursday — got the Blue Jackets on the board 4:10 into the first when he swept the puck in from the slot. Gustav Nyquist got the primary assist with a sharp pass from behind the goal line.

Brown tied it at 10:48 when he banged a shot off the near post and past Merzlikins from close in.

A wrist shot by Brown from the top of the circle just 9 seconds into a power play put the Senators up 2-1 halfway through the second.

Foligno got his ninth of the season with 7:28 left in the second, a tap-in after a nice play by Boone Jenner.

The teams traded goals again in the third period, with White tapping in a rebound and Matteau getting credit for a tip-in of Scott Harrington’s long shot 29 seconds later.

Before the game, the Senators traded centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the New York Islanders for a trio of draft picks, including a conditional 2020 first-rounder. The team also dealt forward Vladislav Namestnikov to Colorado for a fourth-round pick.

Both players are eligible for free agency after the season.

The Blue Jackets made no big changes to their roster at the deadline. They dealt Sonny Milano to San Jose for Devin Shore, who will join the team on Tuesday. And they traded forward Markus Hannikainen to Arizona for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.

NOTES: Columbus C Riley Nash left with an injury in the second period. … Columbus brought up C Calvin Thurkauf on emergency recall from the minors and sent D Gabriel Carlsson back down. … The Senators recalled D Christian Jaros from the minors. … Ottawa forwards Matthew Peca and Rudolfs Balcers were late arrivals to Nationwide Arena after being acquired in trades earlier Monday. Peca played in the game, but Balcers’ equipment didn’t arrive in time. Peca got an assist on White’s third-period goal.

UP NEXT

Senators: At Predators on Tuesday.

Blue Jackets: At Minnesota on Tuesday.

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Follow Mitch Stacy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mitchstacy

Mitch Stacy, The Associated Press