Brock Boeser scored the winner late in the third period, and Drew O’Connor had a goal and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks rallied to beat the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Saturday night.
Boeser shattered a 3-3 deadlock by knocking a pass out of the air then shooting the puck off the left arm of goalie Elvis Merzlikins at 14:15 as the teams traded goals in the roller-coaster third period.
Jake DeBrusk and Conor Garland also scored for the Canucks, who have alternated between a win and a loss for seven-straight games. Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves for Vancouver.
Kirill Marchenko had two goals and an assist, and Dmitri Voronkov finished with a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, who lost their third-consecutive game. Merzlikins stopped 21 of 25 shots.
DeBrusk opened the scoring at 5:28 of the second for Vancouver. DeBrusk called for a pass and took the puck off his right skate before chipping a shot up high over the glove of Merzlikins.
The Canucks lead didn’t last long. Just 78 seconds later, Marchenko got a big rebound and shot it into an empty net to finish off a Columbus rush and tie it 1-1.
Voronkov gave the Blue Jackets their first lead, 2-1, at 13:02 of the second. The Russian forward drove to the net and was rewarded by finding a loose puck and poking it home between the legs of Lankinen.
O’Connor tied the game 2-2 with just under a minute left in the second. He outbattled defenseman Dante Fabbro in front of the net then showed great hands by stealing a loose puck and beating Lankinen up high.
Garland restored Vancouver’s lead at 6:17 of the third, getting a rebound off a Tyler Myers’ backhand and jamming it home to give Vancouver a 3-2 edge.
Marchenko one-timed a shot from the high slot past Lankinen to make it 3-3 at 9:47 of the third, matching his season high with three points while extending his points streak to seven games.
This is the first of two games between the Canucks and Blue Jackets this season. Columbus will host the Canucks on January 15.
