The Columbus Blue Jackets never trailed as they scored a three-goal first period and scored a pair of close games en route to a 5-1 victory over the host Boston Bruins on Monday.

Dmitri Voronkov, Mathieu Olivier and James van Riemsdyk built the Blue Jackets’ 3-0 lead at the first intermission before Justin Danforth and Yegor Chinakhov found the back of the net in the final period.

Sean Monahan dished out two assists and Elvis Merzlikins made 11 of his 29 saves in the first inning for Columbus, which had lost seven of its previous eight games (1-6-1) but won two of three.

Charlie Coyle scored the lone goal and Jeremy Swayman stopped 24 shots for Boston, which lost three in a row (0-2-1).

The Bruins had a 30-29 edge in shots, but went 1-for-6 on the power play.

A wild sequence saw Columbus score first at 5:15. After Boston couldn’t register a shot at Merzlikins – who lost his stick – Dante Fabbro and Monahan broke the puck to Voronkov, whose backhand shot slid past Swayman as he was pulled to the ice.

Olivier doubled the lead when he scored short-handed at 10:39, driving down the right wing and cutting to the front of the net to slot in a tight backhander at the crease.

As Columbus defeated Boston 12-11, Merzlikins denied both Charlie McAvoy and Georgii Merkulov on scoreless turnover opportunities in the final seven minutes.

Former Bruin van Riemdsyk made it 3-0 with 31.5 seconds left in the first, knocking in the rebound of Zach Werenski’s shot from the left circle just past an outstretched Swayman skate.

The Bruins broke an 0-for-20 power play drought at the 2:30 mark of the second. Coyle picked off Justin Brazeau’s pass from behind the goal line and placed a perfect wrist shot over Merzlikins’ glove from the left circle.

Danforth scored the visitors’ second man-down tally of the night when Cole Sillinger set up after a turnover and a rush down the wing at 7:19 of the third.

At 2:10, Monahan came out of the left corner and advanced to Chinakhov for a quick release to round out the scoring.

–Field-level media