Marchenko, Johnson help Blue Jackets defeat Canucks

COLUMBUS -- Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson each had a goal and an assist for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Charlie Coyle and Zach Werenski each scored a power-play goal, and Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves for the Blue Jackets (21-19-7), who have won three straight, the past two under coach Rick Bowness, who replaced Dean Evason on Monday.

Merzlikins won for the first time since Dec. 4. He was 1-2-1 in five starts since then and had started one of the final 10 games in Evason’s tenure. This was his first start for Bowness.

“Of course I'm happy. It took me a while to win a game,” Merzlikins said. “It means a lot to me for confidence for myself, and honestly the boys did an amazing job.

“Nothing against Dean. His decisions were his decisions. I'm mature enough. I'm obviously happy that we have a new coach because it's new energy right now. The guys don't know what are the expectations here.”

Brock Boeser scored, and Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves for the Canucks (16-26-5), who have lost nine in a row (0-7-2), including all six on their road trip that concluded Thursday.

“There's some tough times right now and the only way to get out of these tough times is hard work,” Boeser said, “and our team needs to understand that.”

Coyle made it 1-0 at 17:25 of the first period. He had his back to Lankinen when he took a pass from Marchenko at the left post and went forehand to backhand before lifting the puck under the bar for his fourth goal in three games.

“We had to be better, especially at the start,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “They won the battle, so they were in our face. We had to match that intensity. I felt like it took us a little bit too long to get in the game.”

Bowness was not happy with his team’s play in the first period either, but liked the way the Blue Jackets responded.

“We really want to emphasize that we want to become a pressure team and that's pressure with the puck, but that's also pressure without the puck,” Bowness said. “They get it, man, we want to go at them. We don't want to give them time and space.”

Marchenko upped the lead to 2-0 at 5:49 of the second period. After Columbus forward Adam Fantilli won a face-off, Marchenko outmuscled Marcus Pettersson for the puck near the left wall and stick-handled toward the net before scoring with a wrist a shot to the upper right corner.

“You get beat off the wall,” Foote said. “You go in the wrong side of a bigger man. Marchenko on the one. You know he's good at that. He's a big man. You've got to stand on the defensive side of a guy like that and respect that. When he gets that space, he's going to make you pay.”

Werenski then extended it to 3-0 at 10:14, scoring with a wrist shot from the right circle for his team-leading 18th goal of the season after a setup by Johnson.

“I was just attacking,” Johnson said. “I was looking for [Marchenko] actually, and then two guys kind of went to ‘Marchie,’ so I just dropped it for ‘Z’ and he did the rest. He has a great shot.”

Boeser cut it to 3-1 on the power play at 14:09. He scored from the left circle off a cross-ice pass by Elias Pettersson for his first goal in 22 games since Nov. 28.

“It definitely feels good, but it doesn't feel that good because of the result of the game,” Boeser said.

Johnson made it 4-1 on the rush at 10:13 of the third period. Boone Jenner skated down the right wing and fed a pass to Johnson in the slot, where he slid the puck through the five-hole. Jenner got his 200th NHL assist on the play.

NOTES: Werenski has five points (two goals, three assists) during a three-game point streak. He extended his personal home point streak to 16 games (30 points; 12 goals, 18 assists). … Coyle also has five points (four goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak, as does Marchenko (one goal, four assists). … Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson returned after missing 38 games with a hip injury. He had three hits, two shots on goal and two takeaways in 16:19 of ice time in his first game since Oct. 25.