COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Montreal returned to Nationwide Arena seeking redemption for a 10-goal drubbing from Columbus last month but had no such luck as the Blue Jackets came away with a 2-1 win in front of a sellout crowd of 18,147 on Friday night.

Sam Gagner and Brandon Saad scored for Columbus and Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves. The Blue Jackets extended their franchise record for consecutive wins to 12, the longest active win streak in the NHL.

Montreal's Al Montoya returned to the net after giving up all 10 goals the last time the teams met in Columbus. Montoya made 22 saves.

"We were playing the best team in the league tonight," Montoya said. "They were doing something impressive out there."

The Habs have now lost their last four games to the Jackets by a combined score of 22-5.

Columbus struck first on its second power play of the night 17:34 into the first period after Montreal was called for too many men on the ice. Cam Atkinson fired a shot from the left circle and Nick Foligno gathered the rebound before feeding Gagner with a cross-crease pass for the score.

Gagner's goal was his 14th of the season. The secondary assist for Atkinson marked his 200th NHL point and moved his point streak to nine games.

Atkinson is the Jackets' points leader and the fourth Blue Jackets player to reach 200 points in franchise history.

The Blue Jackets' power play remains the best in the league at 26.9 percent through 32 games.

"I don't like the too many men call, I think that was an attention problem," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "The guys should know better. At the end of the day, we got to find a way to win the special teams battles and tonight we lost it again."

Just 1:22 into the second period, the Jackets added a second goal. Foligno picked up his second assist of the night when he set up Saad with a pass from the slot. Saad tucked the puck past Montoya to make it 2-0.

"It's nice to help," Foligno said. "You want to go into the break on the right note. I think it's nice to help out and keep us going in those areas and help this team push forward.

"It's always nice to help on the scoreboard, but I judge myself on how I'm playing the game and what I'm doing away from the puck to then be in a position to score."

The Canadiens controlled the third period. The Jackets' first shot on goal did not come until 12:43.

Montreal capitalized and halved the goal deficit 10:52 into the period. Jeff Petry snuck a shot between Bobrovsky and the post from low on the right side to make it 2-1.

"Coming in to the start of the third and knowing we're down two, we could have backed down and knew we had the break coming up," Petry said. "But we fought to the end and got chances and I think that's a positive we can take from that."

The Canadiens played with an empty net for the final 1:30 but could not even the score. Bobrovsky turned away 11 of the 12 shots he faced in the third period.

"We've run out of good thing to say about (Bobrovsky)," Foligno said. "He was there for us when we needed him and we unfortunately needed him too much tonight. He was really solid part of our whole game.

"When we broke down, he was there. That's the way he plays, that's what he does for us."

With the win, the Blue Jackets remain in first place in the Metro Division and first in the NHL.

"I think we've played well enough long enough here that teams aren't going to take us lightly," Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "I still think we're in the process of trying to gain respect in the league. You don't do it in 30-plus games, you've got to keep on playing.

"It's going to become a lot more difficult because teams are going to be looking at us."

NOTES: Montreal assigned forward Sven Andrighetto and defenseman Joel Hanley to St. John's following the game. ... G Al Montoya started for the Canadiens. It was his first game action since Dec. 16 when he relieved Carey Price in net, and his first start since Dec. 6. Montoya will look to avenge the 10-0 loss to the Blue Jackets on Nov. 4. ... The Blue Jackets hadn't lost in regulation since Nov. 23. ... Blue Jackets D Dalton Prout and D Scott Harrington were scratched. ... Montreal scratches were Alexei Emelin and Sven Andrighetto. ... Canadiens D Joel Hanley remained in the lineup for Emelin, who did not travel with the club after the birth of his daughter Thursday.