MONTREAL (AP) – Marc-Andre Bergeron scored his second goal of the game 4:46 into the third, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.

Bergeron tied the game at 2 with his fourth goal midway through the second. He scored his second goal of the game – Montreal’s second in a span of 2:28 early in the third – to give the Canadiens the lead for good.

Carey Price stopped 33 shots and Mike Cammalleri and Glen Metropolit also scored for Montreal, which improved to 3-0-1 in its last four games, including a 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit on Saturday.

Antoine Vermette scored twice and Anton Stralman and Rick Nash also had two points for Columbus, which has lost three straight to fall to 1-2-1 on its season-high five-game trip.

Garon started for the Blue Jackets and made 24 saves one night after he relieved Steve Mason and gave up three goals on 15 shots in a 7-4 road loss to the New York Rangers.

The former Canadiens goalie made a fine pokecheck to deny Max Pacioretty’s scoring chance moments before he was down and out when Bergeron took Ryan White’s pass from behind the goal line and put a shot into the left side of the net.

Lapierre’s goal at 15:25 gave Montreal its first two-goal margin.

Sergei Kostitsyn assisted on the goal after he was recalled from Hamilton of the AHL earlier in the day.

Vermette restored Columbus’ 3-2 lead 11:46 into the second period with his second of the game, the Blue Jackets’ second straight power-play goal. He and Stralman also scored 1:36 apart in the first.

Metropolit drew Montreal even for the second time 2:18 into the third. Roman Hamrlik’s point shot struck the crossbar and Metropolit swooped in to backhand home the loose puck in the crease after it dropped behind Garon.

Cammalleri gave the Canadiens a short-lived 1-0 lead 5:50 in when his long wrist shot trickled past Garon for his fourth goal in three games.

Vermette tied it at 6:36 with his fifth goal when he finished off Nash’s nifty backhand pass through the crease.

Stralman, who also got an assist on Vermette’s goal, put Columbus ahead with an unassisted power-play goal at 8:16. Nash got his second straight assist when his pass from the right side struck a few sticks before it wound up at the feet of Stralman, who beat Price with a shot inside the left post.

Canadiens enforcer Georges Laraque did not dress after he received a five-game suspension for injuring Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall with a leg-on-leg hit on Saturday.

NOTES: Garon spent parts of four seasons with Montreal from 2000-04 at the beginning of his career. … Canadiens RW James Wyman was also called up from Hamilton and made his NHL debut.

Copy the Story Link