Canucks rally past Blue Jackets, win fifth straight under Boudreau

VANCOUVER --Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game with 59 seconds left in the third period and the Vancouver Canucks won their fifth straight game under coach Bruce Boudreau, 4-3 against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

Quinn Hughes had three assists for the Canucks (13-15-2), who trailed 3-0 in the first period. Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves for his first win with Vancouver.
The Canucks have won five in a row for the first time since Jan. 16 to Feb. 1, 2020. They were 3-9-1 in their previous 13 games before firing coach Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning on Dec. 5.
"I just think we believe in each other," said Horvat, the Canucks captain. "A lot of guys are playing good hockey. Obviously there's just a new life, a new energy in the room and it's showing on the ice. I just find this team right now has no quit."

Eric Robinson scored twice, and Elvis Merzlikins made 35 saves for the Blue Jackets (14-12-1), who opened a five-game road trip with a 5-4 overtime win against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, when they also surrendered a three-goal lead in the third period.
"We know we're a good team and if we stick to it, we can finish those games out. We were doing it in the beginning of the year," Robinson said. "We've just got to grab a hold of ourselves, maybe make the simple play a couple times to get back into it and get on the forecheck and just simplify things and calm it down."
Horvat gave the Canucks a 4-3 lead on a backdoor pass from J.T. Miller after Blue Jackets defenseman Andrew Peeke was penalized for holding with 1:12 remaining.
"I knew it was going to have to be a bullet pass from 'Millsy' and he did it right in my wheelhouse and I just wanted to be strong with my stick and get it on net," Horvat said. "And thankfully it got up for me and went in."
Horvat scored his first of the game off the rush with a wrist shot over Merzlikins' blocker from just above the right face-off dot to make it 3-1 at 7:41 of the second period.
Elias Pettersson made it 3-2 on a rebound in tight at 4:07 of the third period, and Vasily Podkolzin converted a backdoor pass from Hughes at 9:35 to tie it 3-3.
Boudreau said the comeback was more impressive after defensemen Luke Schenn and Brad Hunt and center Juho Lammikko were placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol earlier Tuesday. Defenseman Tucker Poolman was pulled from the game at 15:15 of the first period and was also placed in COVID-19 protocol.
"They got the win for themselves, not for me, but it proves they have character," Boudreau said. "Sometimes people didn't think they had character at the beginning, but you can tell. This is a team with five defenseman the last 50 minutes, down 3-0, and they battled back."
Robinson made it 1-0 at 4:25 of the first period by finishing off a backhand pass from Alexandre Texier (two assists) on a 2-on-1.
Max Domi gave the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead at 11:37 by tapping in a loose puck behind Halak.

Robinson scored his second goal off the rush at 16:18 to make it 3-0, winning a race down the ice against Hughes to create a partial breakaway with a wrist shot between Halak's pads.
"We knew they weren't just going to roll over, they were going to have their push," Robinson said. "We've just got to be able to weather that and get back on the attack. We never were really able to get back on our toes."
Vancouver outshot Columbus 31-11 over the final two periods.
"We didn't play for two periods," Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. "I'm not sure what happened, why we stopped playing. You knew they were going to be better. It wasn't like that was a big surprise, but we just didn't have the jam for two periods. We hung on and hung on and hung on, but we didn't deserve to win."
NOTES: It was the first time Vancouver won after trailing by three goals since Oct. 16, 2016, a 4-3 overtime victory against the Carolina Hurricanes. … Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had three shots in 25:20 of ice time after missing three games because of an undisclosed injury. … It was the 10th time Hughes scored three points since entering the NHL in 2018-19. John Carlson of the Washington Capitals is the only defenseman who has scored three points in a game more in that span (13). … Defenseman Noah Juulsen, who is from the Vancouver area, played 14:51 in his Canucks debut after being recalled from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League on Dec. 9.