Canucks Defeat Blue Jackets 4-3 in Back-And-Forth Affair

The Vancouver Canucks continued their four-game homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. Both teams were coming off tough blowout losses on Wednesday, the Canucks falling 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Blue Jackets losing 5-1 to the Calgary Flames.

The Canucks sent Kevin Lankinen to the crease with Thatcher Demko out for “maintenance” while the Blue Jackets countered with Elvis Merzlikins. Despite the Blue Jackets getting three-point games from Kirill Marchenko (two goals, one assist) and Dmitri Voronkov (one goal, two assists), the Canucks got a late goal from Brock Boeser in the third to win 4-3, notching their first win on the homestand.

Game Recap

The first period was mostly Blue Jackets, as they outshot the Canucks 11-8 and outchanced them 11-5 (7-3 high-danger). But thanks to Lankinen’s solid netminding, they couldn’t open the scoring. The period ended tied at zero, despite both teams having a power play.

The floodgates opened in the second period, with both teams tallying two goals apiece. The Canucks started the action off with Jake DeBrusk’s fourth of the season, as he took a pass from O’Connor and buried it upstairs on Merzlikins for the 1-0 lead. The Blue Jackets answered shortly after, with Marchenko notching his seventh, beating Lankinen before Tyler Myers knocked the net off. Mathieu Olivier got a five-minute major after hitting defenceman Elias Pettersson from behind, but the Canucks couldn’t capitalize on the lengthy man advantage, keeping the score tied at 1-1.

The Blue Jackets used the solid penalty kill as motivation and took the lead on Voronkov’s sixth, as the big Russian found the puck between Lankinen’s legs and jammed it in before anyone else could find it. The Canucks answered back in the final minute with Drew O’Connor’s third, as he stickhandled in a phone booth in front of Merzlikins and popped it over his shoulder after Quinn Hughes threw it at the net from the point. The action-filled second period ended tied at two, with the shots 24-17 in favour of the Blue Jackets.

The Canucks took their second lead of the night early in the third period with Conor Garland’s fourth of the season. It was all created by Myers, though, as he took a drop pass from Elias Pettersson off the bench and deked around Adam Fantilli for a shot on Merzlikins. The Blue Jackets’ goaltender made the initial save, but Garland fought off Marchenko and got it past him for the 3-2 lead. The lead didn’t last long, however, as Marchenko answered back a few minutes later with his second, slapping it past Lankinen, tying the game at three.

The Canucks took the lead again a little less than five minutes later with Boeser’s seventh. Expertly knocking a pass down from Kiefer Sherwood, he went in on Merzlikins and fired it off his glove for the 4-3 lead. The Blue Jackets pressed for the equalizer with the net empty, but couldn’t tie the game again, and the Canucks got their first win on the homestand, evening their record at 8-8-0.

What’s Next?

The Canucks are right back at it tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche, while the Blue Jackets will travel to Edmonton to face the Oilers on Monday.