COLUMBUS — Vladislav Gavrikov buried the game winning goal in overtime as the Columbus Blue Jackets came from behind to beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Tuesday night for their first victory of the season.
Johnny Gaudreau's third period goal was tremendous individual effort as he would skate around two Canuck defenders, circle behind the net and shovel the puck in on a wrap had a goal to tie the game at 3.
Johnny Hockey also added an assist on the evening as well.
Justin Danforth and Zach Werenski also added a score, and Gavrikov added an assist before his goal at 3:21 of overtime on a pass from Yegor Chinakhov. Elvis Merzlikins made 32 saves as the netminder for Columbus. Vancouver's Elias Pettersson scored his 100th career goal and added an assist, and Bo Horvat scored twice. Spencer Martin stopped 28 shots for the Canucks.
Vancouver would get on the board at 7:51 of the first period on short-handed goal off the stick of Horvat, who would field a pass from Pettersson and drill the one-timer past Merzlikins with 13 seconds left in Columbus power play.
Pettersson followed at 11:11, burying a rebound from inside the right circle to notch his third goal in four games.
But much like every game this season, the Vancouver lead would eventually evaporate.
Danforth would get the Blue Jackets on the board at 15:42 of the second, beating Martin over his left shoulder, and Werenski pulled Columbus even at 6:18 of the third, finishing a cross-crease pass from Boone Jenner. Vancouver would pull ahead again 41 seconds later on Horvat’s dribbler before Gaudreau skated in to beat Martin with his wraparound goal at 9:27 of the third. The Canucks still remain winless after four games and became the first team in NHL history to give up four straight multi-goal leads to begin a season. Columbus returns to action on Thursday as they host the Nashville Predators.
Vancouver 2 0 1 0 = 3
Columbus 0 1 2 1 = 4
First Period
VAN — Bo Horvat (2) (Shorthanded) — Assists: Elias Pettersson (3), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2), 7:51
VAN — Elias Pettersson (3) — Assists: Vasily Podkolzin (2), Nils Hoglander (1), 11:11 Second Period
CBJ — Justin Danforth (1) — Assists: Vladislav Gavrikov (1), Yegor Chinakhov (1), 15:42 Third Period
CBJ — Zach Werenski (1) — Assists: Boone Jenner (2), Johnny Gaudreau (2), 6:18
VAN — Bo Horvat — (3)Assists: Tucker Poolman (1), Quinn Hughes (4), 7:00
CBJ — Johnny Gaudreau — (2)Assists: Boone Jenner (3), Jakub Voracek (1), 9:27 Overtime
CBJ — Vladislav Gavrikov (1) — Assists: Yegor Chinakhov (2), Jakub Voracek (2), 3:21
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