Sutter scores tiebreaking goal as Canucks beat Blue Jackets
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Putting Jannik Hansen on the top line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin worked out well for the Vancouver Canucks.
Brandon Sutter scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:08 remaining, and Hansen had a career high four points with a goal and three assists, to lift the Canucks to a 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
''He skates well, Jannik fit in,'' Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins said of slotting him on the right side. ''He's played well though this whole year.''
That line picked the Columbus defense apart, getting behind them and finding open seams in high-chance scoring areas all night.
Henrik Sedin had two goals and an assist and Daniel Sedin added a goal and three assists to help the Canucks snap a three-game losing streak. The weary Canucks were playing their third game in four days in the midst of a season-high, seven-game road trip.
''We just stuck with our game and just found a way,'' said Sutter, who has two game-winning goals in his first season with Vancouver. ''On the road you need to do that and our goalie played well.''
Jacob Markstrom, out since Oct. 9 with a hamstring injury, stopped 42 shots in his season debut. His best stop came in the third period when he dove across the goal mouth keeping the puck out with the shaft of his stick.
''He was great,'' Sutter said. ''The goals we gave them, not much he could do there. Not goals or chances you want to give up. He played really well and made some big saves for us.''
Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist, and Jack Johnson and Cam Atkinson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who remain the only NHL team without a home win this season (0-6-0). Ryan Johansen had two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves in coach John Tortorella's first game against his former team.
Columbus took the lead in the third period but it all fell apart on home ice, again, for the Blue Jackets.
Tied at 2 in the third period, a buzzing Atkinson scored on a breakaway to give Columubs the lead at 8:01. But just over two minutes later, Henrik Sedin and Sutter scored in a span of 4:47 to put the Canucks ahead for good.
''We score two power play goals, we scored short-handed to go up 3-2,'' said Tortorella. ''We were working, forechecking, creating chance after chance but we just find a way to lose. Their goals were just freebies.''
Again breaking free of coverage, Hansen slid a pass from the left side to Sedin for the tap in to tie the score. Sutter then motored down the left wing around Ryan Murray and curled the puck past Bobrovsky for his fourth.
''That was a big goal for us,'' Sutter said. ''We just needed a win.''
Henrik Sedin added an empty-netter for his fifth with 1:39 remaining to close the scoring.
Columbus cashed in quick on its first power play. After a Blue Jackets face-off win and a series of nice passes, Jenner stuffed home a loose puck in the crease for his eighth at 6:35 of the first period.
Near the midpoint of the period, the Blue Jackets' Brandon Saad skated the puck deep into his own zone, then had it stripped by Daniel Sedin. Sedin found Hansen in front for the easy goal at 10:19.
''It's nice, you get a lot of opportunities,'' Hansen said of playing with the Sedins. ''It's a matter of getting open for them and finding them and getting them the puck.''
Seven minutes later, Daniel Sedin found an open seam and calmly converted a pass from Hansen for his fifth.
Johnson, a defenseman, pinched in to tie it 2-2, also just after a Columbus power play began, with 16 seconds left on a feed from Jenner.
Columbus sent 22 shots on Markstrom in a scoreless second period and he didn't flinch.
Midway through the period, Scott Hartnell threw a spin-around-backhander at the goalie and Nick Foligno was stopped on a breakway. Then it was Vancouver applying pressure, but Jared McCann couldn't beat Bobrovsky on a 2-on-1 .
''Great win for us,'' Markstrom said. ''We really showed character in the third period period being down with half the third left.''
NOTES: Vancouver received a second-round draft pick from Columbus as compensation for the Blue Jackets hiring Tortorella, who spent a tumultuous season with the Canucks in 2013-14. ... Ryan Johansen and Nick Foligno, Columbus' top scorers and All Stars last season, each have one goal. ... Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller had started 14 of his team's first 15 games, ranking as the league leader in starts and saves. ... After playing seven of eight on the road, the game was the first of five of seven at home for the Blue Jackets.
