The Blue Jackets pinch out the Canadiens

Marchenko's hat trick outburns a Canadiens win

Winning wasn't enough

The Montréal Canadiens won their game and still went out. This was a virtual match: each team played its own game, and the one that scored more went through. In Chicago, the Canadiens beat the Blackhawks 3-2. In St. Paul, the Columbus Blue Jackets scored seven against the Minnesota Wild. Montréal's flame went dark on qualification night for a third straight Gauntlet.

Guhle's late strike

Cole Caufield opened the scoring at 2:45 of the second, batting the puck out of the air on the power play. Sam Rinzel answered, Zachary Bolduc converted another power play, and Connor Bedard tipped in the tying goal at 9:15. Earlier, at 4:58, Kaiden Guhle had dropped the gloves with Louis Crevier. Then came 30:30 without a goal, until Guhle, a defenseman, wristed home the winner with 0:15 left in regulation. It wasn't nearly enough.

Marchenko lights St. Paul

Miles Wood scored first for Columbus at 2:29. Kirill Marchenko struck seven seconds into the second, and after two Wild power-play goals tied it, he scored again at 18:48. Zach Werenski fired a slap shot at 1:11 of the third. Marchenko finished his hat trick on a power-play slap shot at 3:01. Adam Fantilli's deflection and Boone Jenner's empty-netter closed it out, while Elvis Merzlikins made 48 saves on 52 shots. The Blue Jackets burn on, one of 22 flames still lit.