In Vancouver, the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets’ Elvis Merzlikins made 26 saves in a 2-1 win over the Canucks on Sunday night.
Emil Bemstrom and Eric Robinson were the Jackets’ strikers with both goals coming in the middle frame.
“I’m happy for the team, happy we showed the great character, the strong character we have,” Merzlikins said. “We came in really late last night. We could take a lot of excuses that we are really tired, we slept just five hours, but we didn’t. We were really working hard and I’m really proud of my team.”
The Blue Jackets still hold the first wild card in the Eastern Conference by virtue of everyone around them losing.
‘”All three games this trip we have played good hockey and to come in on a back-to-back, grab the two points, get three out of six on the trip, we just keep on scratching,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “But I think all three games we played really well and the way we have to play.”
Elias Pettersson scored midway through the third period but that was all the Canucks could muster.
“You’ve got to push through it and focus on ourselves,” the Canucks’ Bo Horvat said. “The more you scoreboard watch, the more you focus on other teams instead of yourself and it’s going to bite you.”
[WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Canucks highlights]
Thatcher Demko made 20 saves in the loss.
“It’s frustrating but you have to give them credit,” Horvat said. “They buy into their system, they’ve won in the playoffs, and they know what it takes to get there. They go out and protect leads.”
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