Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and an assist in returning to the lineup from a concussion, and the injury-riddled Columbus Blue Jackets snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.
Recently acquired defenseman Justin Falk got his first points of the season with a goal and an assist. Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves as Columbus beat the Devils for the first time in three meetings this season.
Marko Dano also scored on a night the Blue Jackets set a single-season team record for total man-games lost to injury with 413, two more than the old mark.
Jordin Tootoo and Peter Harrold scored for New Jersey, which remains eight points behind Boston for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Cory Schneider had 21 saves for the Devils, who lost at the Prudential Center for only the third time in 12 games (8-3-1).
The Devils dominated the final two periods and came close to tying the score. Harrold, a defenseman playing a forward position, cut the lead to 3-2 with a great move on Falk and a shot over Bobrovsky's shoulder at 6:36 of the third period.
Bobrovsky made an outstanding save on a blast by defenseman Eric Gelinas less than a minute later and he got lucky later when a deflection by Jacob Josefson hit off the post and slid across the crease.
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The Devils pulled Schneider with less than a minute to play and got a good shot by defenseman Adam Larsson. Mike Cammalleri scored a couple of seconds after the final buzzer.
Falk and Dubinsky, who missed three games with his concussion, staked the Blue Jackets to a 2-0 lead with goals in the first and second periods, respectively.
Falk, acquired on Monday, gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead with a shot from the left point that beat Schneider, who was being screened by Brian Gibbons.
The goal was originally credited to Artem Anisimov, but it was changed late in the second period.
Dubinsky, who got the secondary assist on Falk's second career goal in 144 games, beat Schneider with a wrist shot early in the second period. Nick Foligno set up the goal, stealing Patrik Elias' no-look pass at the Blue Jackets blue line and leading a 2-on-1 that Dubinsky capped with his ninth goal.
Tootoo got the Devils back in a game with a power-play goal. Adam Henrique set it up with a pass between his legs that Tootoo slammed home from point-blank range.
Dano stretched the margin to 3-1 with a goal that developed quickly. Falk sent a cross-ice pass that Alexander Wennberg redirected to Dano for a shot into the top of the net. The puck was in and out of the net so fast the shot had to be reviewed, and the goal was upheld.
