The Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks each entered Friday night’s game at Nationwide Arena needing points in a desperate way. After many huge momentum swings, the Blue Jackets found a way to capture two points.
Kent Johnson scored the only goal of the shootout to lift the Blue Jackets to a 7-6 win over the Canucks. Boone Jenner scored two goals and added an assist while Dante Fabbro recorded a goal and two assists. That helped offset huge nights from Aatu Raty, Kiefer Sherwood and Pius Suter.
The story of this game was the roller coaster of emotions felt on both sides.
Game Reacp
The Blue Jackets got into early penalty trouble that ended up costing them. Sean Monahan cleared the puck into the stands for delay of game. That allowed Linus Karlsson to open the scoring 8:51 into the game.
Brock Boeser quickly made it 2-0 on a snipe from the left circle. Then with Damon Severson in the box for tripping, it was Jake DeBrusk that made it 3-0 Canucks just 13:26 into the game.
The 3-0 hold didn’t stop the Blue Jackets from believing they would come back. Fabbro said postgame “We’re coming back. There’s no way we’re losing this game.” He ultimately was right.
The Blue Jackets responded with three goals of their own in a span of 8:10 to open the second. Jenner made it 3-1 just 34 seconds in. Kirill Marchenko scored his 27th to make it 3-2. Then Dante Fabbro connected from the point on a great screen on Kevin Lankinen to make it 3-3.
The Blue Jackets holding all the momentum then got a four-minute power play when defenseman Elias Petterson sat for high-sticking. But it was the Canucks who scored while shorthanded.
Tyler Myers made it 4-3 to take the momentum back. Then 6:42 into the third, Raty scored his first of two goals to extend to 5-3. The Blue Jackets again had an answer.
Denton Mateychuk cut it to 5-4 on a bomb of a shot. He got promoted at times during the game to play with Zach Werenski. Postgame, Dean Evason called Mateychuk “exceptional” on the night.
The Blue Jackets got a late power play when Adam Fantilli was tripped. Despite an 0-for-25 slide on the man advantage, Jenner connected on his second goal of the game to make it 5-5. Mathieu Olivier then scored 22 seconds later to give the Blue Jackets a 6-5 lead. Earlier, the Blue Jackets had a goal taken away when it was ruled he hit Lankinen in the crease.
The Canucks weren’t done either. It took them just 23 seconds to make it 6-6 thanks to Raty’s second of the night. It was a game of last goal wins.
The rest of the third finished without another goal. Overtime had its moments including some crucial non-calls but no one was able to score. The teams needed a shootout.
In the shootout, Johnson went to the backhand to score the only goal while Elvis Merzlikins recovered from a shaky start to shut the door on all three Canucks shooters to seal the win and the massive two points.
The Blue Jackets have little time to prepare for their next game as they have to play Saturday night in Ottawa against the Senators, the first of three meetings in 11 days.
Meanwhile, the Canucks head to Winnipeg for a Sunday afternoon game with the Jets before they head home from their long roadtrip.