Marchenko has 3 goals and an assist to lead Blue Jackets to 8-4 win over Predators

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko scored three goals for his third career hat trick and added an assist, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Nashville Predators 8-4 on Tuesday night.

Sean Monahan had two goals and two assists, Adam Fantilli had two goals and an assist, Dante Fabbro had a goal and an assist, and Zach Werenski and Kent Johnson each had two assists for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 24 shots.

Filip Forsberg, Michael Bunting, Justin Barron and Jordan Oesterle scored for Nashville, and Luke Evangelista had two assists. Juuse Saros gave up a season-high seven goals on 26 shots through two periods, and Justus Annunen had 10 saves in the third.

Marchenko scored from between the circles 1:15 into the game, Fantilli doubled the lead with 3:26 remaining in the first from the right circle, and Monahan made it 3-0 on the power play from nearly the same spot with 1:50 left in the period.

Forsberg got the Predators on the scoreboard 24 seconds later with his 29th of the season, but Marchenko got his second of the night at 4:12 of the second to restore Columbus' three-goal lead.

Bunting and Barron scored 43 seconds apart to pull Nashville to 4-3 at 6 1/2 minutes into the middle period.

Fantilli, Monahan and Fabbro all scored in the final 8 minutes of the period to help the Blue Jackets pull away, and Marchenko finished off his first hat trick since Dec. 19, 2023, at 5:23 of the third to make it 8-3.

Takeaways

Predators: Nashville, languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, has lost four straight and five of six.

Blue Jackets: Columbus won for the third time in four games, and remained two points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the East.

Key moment

After Nashville closed to 4-3 early in the second period, Columbus' Boone Jenner picked off Fedor Svechkov's pass toward the front of the goal, brought the puck up the middle and found a streaking Fantilli near the blue line. Fantille skated in and beat Saros to make it 5-3 with his fourth multigoal game of the season, and the Blue Jackets took off from there.