It’s becoming a habit for the Blue Jackets of late, and it earned them another two points in Vancouver on Thursday night and their first win at Rogers Arena since Oct. 5, 2009.
The Blue Jackets were winners for the fourth time in their last five games, with all four wins requiring a comeback effort. Recent wins over Edmonton required some third period heroics, but the Jackets took care of business earlier in Vancouver for only their ninth win this season when surrendering the first goal.
After falling behind 2-0 in the opening minutes of the second period, the Jackets finished the frame with three unanswered goals of their own and carried that momentum to a 6-2 victory, the most goals they’ve scored in a game since a 7-1 win over the Blues on Feb. 6.
Another trend continued, that being the recent dominance of Marko Dano and Scott Hartnell. Dano scored two goals, the first multi-goal game of his young career. The youngster tied the game at 10:01 of the second period when Artem Anisimov, camped behind the Vancouver net and threaded a pass to the rookie for a one-timer between the circles. He added his second goal at 5:31 of the third, shoveling home a rebound off the end-boards at the side of the net to make it 4-2.
Dano wasn’t finished, passing up a chance for his first NHL hat trick and instead sliding the puck across to Hartnell on a 2-on-1 for a 5-2 lead, putting the Canucks away. It was Hartnell’s sixth goal in six games, while Dano now has three goals and six points in his last four contests.
“The whole line has been playing great and it’s easy to score a couple of goals when the guys are making chances for you,” said Dano.
The Blue Jackets found their legs early in the second, controlling play for most of the first three minutes. But for all their hard work they found themselves behind by two in the blink of an eye.
Though the Canucks weren’t able to break through Sergei Bobrovsky in the first period, outshooting the Jackets 20-10 through the first 20 minutes, they did break the scoreless tie on their first shot of the second. A misconnected breakout pass from Jack Johnson to Mark Letestu instead found Canucks rookie Bo Horvat, who fired the puck past the glove of Bobrovsky.
Just 40 seconds later Daniel Sedin extended the lead, walking out from behind the net and firing a sharp-angled shot stopped by Bobrovsky. Sedin found his own rebound and squeaked the puck through the pads and into the net. The goal was initially disallowed when referee Tim Peel thought that the puck had gone underneath the net from the tight angle, but video review upheld the 2-0 Vancouver lead.
The Jackets had registered the first four shots of the period and managed to regroup after the two quick tallies for the Canucks. Before the Jackets found offense they found their fight again, when Corey Tropp dropped the gloves with Derek Dorsett after the former Jacket was harassing Hartnell.
“I loved our response and it all started with Corey Tropp sticking up for a teammate,” said Ryan Johansen, who won his first NHL game in his native Vancouver. “It got the guys going and after that we made some plays.”
Rene Bourque got the Blue Jackets on the board with a long slap shot from the left wing just 3:24 after the Sedin goal, a shot on which Canucks goaltender Eddie Lack might have been partially screened by his defenseman. Dano tied the game shortly after, and Cam Atkinson’s power play deflection gave the Jackets a lead late in the second they would not relinquish.
“I think it says a lot about our group,” said Todd Richards of the comeback effort. “Having traveled last night and gotten in late, it could have been one of those games. I think Tropp’s altercation helped us and I think Bourque’s goal helped us as well because we talked about scoring the next goal.”
The Blue Jackets have now won five straight road games as they prepare to face another team fighting for seeding in the Western Conference playoff picture. The Jackets face the Flames on Saturday, their first meeting since Oct. 17.
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