COLUMBUS (AP) — Boone Jenner had two goals, Kent Johnson had the lone score of the shootout and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied from a pair of multi-goal deficits to beat the Vancouver Canucks 7-6 on Friday night and move into a tie for the final wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Blue Jackets trailed 3-0 less than 14 minutes into the game, but evened it midway through the second period. Vancouver scored the next two to go up 5-3 before Columbus rallied again.
Jenner, who also had an assist, has scored in three straight games. The Blue Jackets are tied with Montreal and the New York Rangers for the second wild card with 75 points.
It is the first time since 2016 Columbus has trailed 3-0 after the first period and come back to win.
Columbus’ Dante Fabbro had a goal and two assists while Olivier, Denton Mateychuk and Kirill Marchenko each had a goal and an assist. Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves.
Aatu Raty had two goals, Brock Boeser scored for the sixth time in six games and Tyler Myers notched his seventh career short-handed goal for Vancouver.
Pius Suter tied a career high with three assists and posted his third straight multi-point game.
Linus Karlsson and Jake DeBrusk also had goals for Vancouver. Kiefer Sherwood also had three assists, and Quinn Hughes and Dakota Joshua had two apiece. Kevin Lankinen stopped 33 shots
Takeaways
Canucks: Myers moved past Pittsburgh's Kris Letang (6) and Edmonton's Darnell Nurse for most short-handed goals by an active defenseman.
Blue Jackets: With Fabbro's score, Columbus has had 44 goals come from defensemen, second in the league to Colorado's 45.
Key moment
Jenner's power-play goal with 3:14 remaining in regulation tied it at 5-all and started a wild sequence where the Blue Jackets and Canucks scored three times in 45 seconds. Jenner's goal also snapped Columbus' 0-for-25 drought with the man advantage. Olivier gave Columbus their first lead of the night with 2:52 remaining, but Raty evened it at 6-all with his second goal of the third period.
Key stat
The Blue Jackets have eight three-goal comeback wins in franchise history, including two this season. They beat Tampa Bay 7-6 in overtime on Nov. 21.
Up next
Blue Jackets travel to Ottawa on Saturday while the Canucks are at Winnipeg on Sunday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Joe Reedy, The Associated Press
