Tuesday December 11 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Columbus Blue Jackets 2
For just the second time this season, the Vancouver Canucks recorded a regulation win despite trailing after two periods. On Tuesday, Jake Virtanen capped off the scoring with a seeing-eye game-winning goal from along the goal line. It squeaked past Joonas Korpisalo with just 1:46 left on the clock in the third period to give the Canucks a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets and stretch their current winning streak to three games.
Here are your highlights:
A dull game was redeemed by the fun finish at Nationwide Arena. After Seth Jones gave the Blue Jackets an early 1-0 lead when he deflected a puck off Jay Beagle and past Jacob Markstrom just 47 seconds into the first period, we didn't see another goal until nearly the midway mark of the third.
Shots were 9-7 for the Jackets in the first period, then jumped to 17-9 for Columbus in a middle frame that saw all three of the game's penalties—two on the Canucks and one on the Blue Jackets. Neither team was able to capitalize on its opportunities, and Vancouver has now gone three straight games without giving up a goal while shorthanded—and taken just five penalties in those three games. Funny how that lines up with the winning streak, isn't it?
On such a low-event night, the Blue Jackets had to feel good about their chances of delivering their first home win in three games. They went into the final frame with a 10-0-0 record when leading after two periods.
But the Canucks were able to save their best for last, outshooting Columbus 11-10 in the third and relying on a heavy dose of puck luck to eke out the win.
The scoring started at 8:11, when Josh Leivo was able to get a piece of a Chris Tanev shot for his second goal in his four games as a Canuck. There was some talk that the goal might be credited to Jake Virtanen, but it ended up standing as Leivo's. And Tanev got to keep his primary assist this time around, after having one snatched away against Nashville last week. The apple was Tanev's fourth of the year—but his first in nearly two months. After picking up three assists in Vancouver's six games this season, Tanev had gone pointless in 21 games played before finally getting back on the scoresheet on Tuesday.
That's Leivo's goal IMO. Please do not shotgun any beers at this moment. If you have already shotgun some beers, please vomit it up and keep it in a bag for safe keeping while we figure this out. pic.twitter.com/aABgf4JJaN
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) December 12, 2018
After the Canucks needed nearly 50 minutes to get on the scoreboard, it felt disheartening that it took less than two minutes for the Blue Jackets to reclaim the lead, on Olvier Bjorkstrand's third of the year.
But wait. Cue the NHL's First Star of the Week:
Elias Pettersson was in the right spot in the slot to create a deflection off his body and tie the game at 2-2 with 3:04 left in the third.
They all count the same Petey! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/afu2fQc702
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 12, 2018
That set the stage for Shotgun Jake's celebratory heroics:
#ShotgunJake gets his 10th of the season. 3-2 #Canucks pic.twitter.com/MiraR0HoID
— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) December 12, 2018
It's a pretty big shift to see Jake even on the ice in the last two minutes of a game. Remember all those third-period benchings he took last season?
Green on Jake: He's becoming the player we envisioned. The onus is still on the player to find the consistency in his game & to try and take his game to the highest level he can. I don't think we've seen the best of Jake Virtanen yet but I think we're seeing a lot of improvement
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) December 12, 2018
Tuesday's goal was Jake's 10th of the year, tying his previous career high from last season, which took him 75 games. This year, he's in Game 33. Virtanen played a total of 17:36 on Tuesday, including a whopping 7:14 in the third period. It seemed like he was constantly on the ice.
Considering Columbus coach John Tortorella's recent talk of wanting to see more 'hate' in NHL games, Tuesday's contest wasn't an overly physical affair. The Blue Jackets led the Canucks 15-14 in the hit department, but Elias what-can't-he-do Pettersson tied Derrick Pouliot and Alex Edler for the team lead with three hits—and this one caught particular attention.
.@_EPettersson leads all rookies in goals, assists, points, plus/minus, points per game, power play points and game winning goals.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 12, 2018
And now he's only 43 hits from leading rookies in that as well 😉 pic.twitter.com/8BP8FLkaGd
With a goal and an assist on Tuesday, Pettersson continues to dominate the rookie scoring race.
#Canucks Elias Pettersson is the first player with 32 points thru first 27 NHL games since Alexei Yashin in 1993-94
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) December 12, 2018
Ottawa's Colin White currently sits in second place with 19 points.
If, like me, you were surprised to see the Canucks come back for the win—there's a good reason. A comeback that late hasn't happened for nearly a generation!
The @Canucks won in regulation after trailing in the last 4:00 of the 3rd for the 8th time in franchise history.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 12, 2018
The last such instance was Oct. 8, 2000 at TBL when they trailed 4-2 before scoring 3 goals in the final 2:55 to win, including the GWG by Denis Pederson. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/p7GyBJIwxR
Moments like this help bond a team together and positively reinforce good behaviour, too.
“This feels great. We couldn’t get much going in the first two periods, but in the 3rd we were ready to go and this was a great team win. We didn’t quit.… - @jleivo17
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 12, 2018
On December 12, the Canucks have already collected as many wins this month as they did in all of November. They'll ride their momentum into their rematch against the Preds to close out the road trip in Nashville on Thursday.