The Vancouver Canucks continued their four-game homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. Both teams suffered tough losses on Wednesday, with the Canucks losing 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 while Thatcher Demko was taken 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. winning 4-3earning their first homestand victory.
Summary of the game
The first period was largely Blue Jackets’, as they outscored the Canucks 11-8 and outscored them 11-5 (7-3 with high danger). But Lankinen’s solid netmind ability prevented them from opening 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 scoring two goals each. The Canucks started the action with Jake DeBrusk’s fourth of the season, when he took a pass from O’Connor and buried it above Merzlikins for the 1-0 lead. The Blue Jackets answered shortly after, with Marchenko getting his seventh-place finish and beating Lankinen before Tyler Myers knocked the net off. Mathieu Olivier was awarded a five-minute major after hitting defenseman Elias Pettersson from behind, but the Canucks couldn’t capitalize on the long man advantage and kept the score at 1-1.
The Blue Jackets used the stiff penalty kick as motivation and took the lead on Voronkov’s sixth, when the big Russian found the puck between Lankinen’s legs and rammed it in before anyone else could find it. The Canucks answered back in the final minute with Drew O’Connor’s third, as he stood in a phone booth in front of Merzlikins and threw it over his shoulder after Quinn Hughes put it toward the net from the point. The action-packed second period ended tied at two, with the shots 24-17 in favor of the Blue Jackets.
The Canucks grabbed 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 an Elias Pettersson drop pass off the bench and spun around Adam Fantilli for a shot at Merzlikins. The Blue Jackets goaltender made the first save, but Garland fought Marchenko and got him past for the 3-2 lead. The lead didn’t last long, however, as Marchenko answered back with his second a few minutes later, hitting it past Lankinen to tie the game at three.
The Canucks took the lead again just under five minutes later with Boeser’s seventh. He expertly knocked down a pass from Kiefer Sherwood, went into Merzlikins and fired it with his glove for the 4-3 lead. The Blue Jackets pushed for the tying goal with the net empty but could not re-tie the game, and the Canucks earned their first homestand win, tying their record at 8-8-0.
What’s next?
The Canucks are back at it tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche, while the Blue Jackets travel to Edmonton on Monday to take on the Oilers.
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