Canucks 4, Blue Jackets 3: A fifth straight win under a COVID cloud

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The Vancouver Canucks continue to show a lot of life, five games after a coaching change, but overshadowing an exciting comeback performance in a 4-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Rogers Arena Tuesday night was a much more question. important: how did this happen? game happened in the first place?

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Two Canucks were revealed as COVID positive earlier in the day, Luke Schenn and Juho Lammikko, and then, after a new round of testing Tuesday morning, Brad Hunt was also added to the positive list shortly before the game.

Things were on edge and then Tucker Poolman was removed from the game after playing 5:37 in the first period with another positive test.

With so much nervousness swirling the world about an impending Omicron variant wave taking over the world, how the NHL did not see fit to simply delay the game 24 hours, both the Canucks and Blue Jackets did not play again until Thursday, as determined. if there were any more positives to the Canucks, it seemed incredible.

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7:30 pm, SAP Center. TV: Sportsnet Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

The good news is that all the players involved are fully vaccinated, greatly reducing the chances of serious illness and hospitalization. That’s the big difference from the terror posed by the Canucks outbreak last spring, when none of the Canucks and almost none of the coaches had yet to take a single hit.

It is still a nervous time for everyone and many of these players are parents of young children, who are more likely to suffer from a mild illness despite not being vaccinated, but it is still stressful.

A little compassion from the NHL would have made sense in this case.

The Canucks rallied 3-0 with two goals from Bo Horvat, including the winner on a last-minute power play, and singles from Elias Pettersson and Vasily Podkolzin, while the Blue Jackets had two goals from Eric Robinson and another from Max Domi. . .

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This is what we learned …

Oh Captain! My captain!

One thing has become very clear in the eight seasons that Horvat has been a Canuck: no matter the adversity, it shows up.

And with his team on the ropes, both literally and with so much emotion, he scored a goal.

With both teams playing with only four skaters each, the Canucks captain found himself in a 2-on-1 with Quinn Hughes, skating off the wing.

Horvat, a shot from the left, fired a perfect wrist from the right wing and over the shoulder of Columbus goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikins.

It gave his team some faith. And it was fitting that the winner also scored.

Feel it

Pettersson has now scored in two straight games in regulation time, three if you count his spectacular winner on Friday night’s penalty shootout against the Jets. And it sure has a lot to do with finally playing with the club he’s always been most comfortable with. He acknowledged on Saturday that he recently returned to the twig he had played with in the past, after starting the season with a longer club, all because he was originally sent the wrong clubs in the summer, but didn’t realize it.

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His goal Tuesday wasn’t a classic, as the Canucks star scooped up some trash on the side of the fold, tossing a loose puck over a scattered Merzlikins to put his team just one down at the start of the third.

It was Conor Garland who did a lot of the work, winning a couple of disc battles and twice managed to work the disc towards its center.

Pettersson had said Saturday that playing Garland means he always has to be ready to shoot, and he certainly was this time.

“Conor is pretty amazing when he flips back and forth and creates the space that he does,” he said. “Whenever he has the disc, I try to open up.”

Line mate Podkolzin scored his sixth of the year to tie the game at three after another sharp change from his line. it was a sign that this trio, who were also together a few times under the direction of coach Travis Green, are really starting to fit in.

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Help me to help you

Kyle Burroughs pinched.

No one could take over when the rookie defender tried to create a scoring opportunity by going into the slot. And the Blue Jackets went to the races 2v1 to open the scoring.

Alex Texier made a nifty move with the stick to get around slippery Noah Juulsen, playing his first game as Canuck, before sliding the puck cross-fold to Robinson, who covered the puck to put Columbus up 1-0.

Time to play

It had been more than two weeks since Jaroslav Halák had last played. No goalkeeper had played more minutes this season than Thatcher Demko.

He deserved a break.

It was a terrible first period for the veteran, conceding three goals against. The first goal had no chance, but in the second he bounced Domi a rebound and in the third, Halak let Robinson’s shot from the wing slip through his legs.

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The Canucks came out of the period well and truly behind the eight ball, and he couldn’t help but wonder if their minds were elsewhere.

He found his game the rest of the night with the Canucks winning their fifth straight game for Bruce Boudreau.

Tense times

Nerves were a bit frayed Tuesday morning when the Canuck’s two positive COVID-19 cases were first revealed.

It took senior adviser Stan Smyl, one of the few remaining executives from before this new Jim Rutherford era, as well as some of the remaining players from last season, to point out to Boudreau and his coaching staff to skate while some players still It could be positive so last year’s outbreak started.

Boudreau quickly accepted the point and the skate was for the most part abandoned.

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