In Columbus, the Blue Jackets needed overtime to get their first win of the season on Tuesday night over the Vancouver Canucks..
They also needed to rally back from a two-goal deficit to do it.
Vladislav Gavrikov scored at 3:21 of extra time to give the Jackets a 4-3 win.
“We had a couple of opportunities to finish the right way and finally we did it and won that game,” Gavrikov said. “That happened fast. I knew [Chinakhov] tried to hide the pass because the [defenseman] was all over him. He just made a great play to me. The net was open.”
Elvis Merzlikins made 32 saves in the Columbus win.
Bo Horvat scored the first of his two goals on the night in the first period,and Elias Pettersson scored in the opening frame for the early 2-0 lead to Vancouver.
“We didn’t hang our heads and sulk,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We came out, we played. I thought we played hard and we played to win, and that’s what I want them to do.
“I thought in the last 10 minutes of the game, we had 75 percent of the chances. We just didn’t score.”
In the middle frame, Justin Danforth and Zach Werenski scored to tie the game, 2-2, in the third period.
“The first period, we were flat,” Columbus coach Brad Larsen said. “We just had no jump and I’m not sure why. We’re trying to figure that out. “But to get some shifts together in the second, we started to put some pressure on and build a few shifts and that helped get us rolling. Even though we were down we started to play, and the last two periods were much better.”
Horvat scored his second in the third period for the 3-2 lead to the Canucks.
Johnny Gaudreau scored to force the extra session.
“I was going to curl back and come back up the ice with a lot of speed,” Gaudreau said. “I kind of faked a shot and thought the goalie wouldn’t be ready for a wraparound.
“It was a great team effort. It was fun to be a part of that.”
Spencer Martin made 28 saves in his Vancouver loss.
“That was a really good effort from our guys, and I wish I could win it,” Martin said. “Our leadership group hasn’t been quiet at all. We’ve been grinding to get this thing going the right way. Going into the third, I had a really good feeling that we’re going to convert it.”
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