Alexander Nylander strikes twice as Jackets beat Avalanche

Alexander Nylander scored two goals and rookie Daniil Tarasov made 46 saves to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-1 win against the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.

Kirill Marchenko had a goal and an assist, Cole Sillinger also scored and Erik Gudbranson had two assists for the Blue Jackets (25-38-12, 62 points), who have won two in a row following a six-game losing streak.

Chris Wagner scored and Justus Annunen made 21 saves for Colorado (47-22-6, 100 points), which has lost three of four.

The Avalanche remain three points behind the idle Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division with seven games left for both teams, including their final meeting of the season next Sunday in Denver.

The Blue Jackets scored three goals in the second period to take a 3-0 lead into the third.

Columbus took a 1-0 lead at 9:35 after Gudbranson and Marchenko entered the Colorado zone on a 2-on-3 rush.

Gudbranson slid a pass between the skates of Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard and onto the tape of Marchenko, who collected the puck as he cut to the net and shot it between Annunen's pads for his 20th goal of the season.

Columbus stretched the lead to 2-0 at 14:12.

Dmitri Voronkov stole a pass from Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson in the Colorado zone and made a stretch pass to Nylander near the blue line. He skated to the top of the right circle before scoring with a wrist shot.

The Blue Jackets tacked on one more in the period when Nylander scored again at 18:03.

Jake Bean took a wrist shot from the left point that was blocked by Sean Walker in front of the net. Nylander got to the loose puck first and backhanded it into the net for his 10th goal of the season.

Wagner tipped in a shot by Walker to cut it to 3-1 at 4:39 of the third period, his first NHL goal since Feb. 10, 2021, when he played for the Boston Bruins and scored in a 3-2 overtime win against the New York Rangers.

Sillinger sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1:33 left for a 4-1 lead.