Bruins 3, Blue Jackets 2

BOSTON -- Milan Lucic stole a game for the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

The big left winger blocked a Cam Atkinson shot inside the Boston zone, caught up to the puck and scored on a breakaway with 48.6 seconds left to give the Bruins their fourth straight victory, a 3-2 decision over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Lucic beat Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky between the pads for his eighth goal of the season, allowing the Bruins to finish off a 4-0-1 homestand.

The goal made a winner of backup goalie Chad Johnson, making his first home start (third overall) for the Bruins. Johnson (2-1) made 12 saves in the third period and two in the overtime.

The Blue Jackets played well but lost for the seventh time in their last eight games, the last two in overtime.

Bobrovsky, the 2012-13 Vezina Trophy winner, made 28 saves.

Right wingers Loui Eriksson (third goal of the year, two against Columbus) and Shawn Thornton scored for the Bruins in regulation, and left wingers Blake Comeau and Nick Foligno scored for the Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead at 12:48 of the first period when center Mark Letestu out-skated Bruins defensemen Zdeno Chara and Joey Hamilton to the puck, negating an icing, and centered it to Comeau. Chara's flip from the left point then went off Eriksson's skate to tie the score with 1:50 left in the period.

The teams traded goals again in the second period, this time in the opposite order. Thornton took his third shot from the same spot on the same shift. This time, the puck hit defenseman Jack Johnson's stick on the way and went over the shoulder of Bobrovsky at 10:09. But Columbus got that one back when Johnson left a bad rebound and Foligno scored at 16:34.

Johnson made two big stops four minutes into the third period and another after a penalty kill midway through the final period, keeping the score tied.

The Bruins killed off four more power plays (two in the third period) and have 26 straight kills in the last seven games.

NOTES: Bruins D Adam McQuaid missed his second straight game with an undisclosed leg injury and still isn't skating. "He's still day to day and I don't know whether we're going to take him on the trip," said coach Claude Julien, whose team opens a three-game trip at Ottawa on Friday night. ... Columbus hosts the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night. ... Former Bruins RW Nathan Horton, who signed a mega-contract with Columbus, is still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and isn't slated to be ready in time for his new team's other visit to Boston on Nov. 30. That would mean he would miss all three 2013-14 games against the Bruins. ... Two members of the Slovakian National team were on hand, with Chara and Columbus RW Marian Gaborik the focus of their visit. ... Letestu played in his 200th NHL game on the fourth anniversary of his first, also against Boston. He set up the game's first goal. C/LW Derek McKenzie also assisted on the goal, his first assist of the season.