Vancouver Canucks Shut Out Blue Jackets, Win 7th Road Game

After a disappointing loss on Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks pulled off an improbable 3-0 road win against the league’s third-best team.

The Vancouver Canucks are still alive.

After losing four games in a row, they had fallen to seven points below the playoff bar. To make matters worse, they were heading out on a six-game road trip — and they had the worst road record in the NHL.

Beating the Columbus Blue Jackets at home is a tall order for any team. But Vancouver exceeded expectations and played an excellent road game. Ryan Miller stopped all 33 shots, and the Sedins combined for four points to lead their team to victory.

Final Score:

Recap:

Coming into this game, Daniel Sedin had not scored in nine games. After a scoreless first period, Sedin bumped that slump just 44 seconds into the second period. A shot from new linemate Markus Granlund bounced straight onto his stick, and he beat Sergei Bobrovsky:

Speaking of slumps, fellow Swede Loui Eriksson had gone eight games without goal himself.

After ending his own drought, Daniel was more than happy to help his countryman:

This goal was vintage Sedinery.

More from The Canuck Way

The twins made a total of four passes, each prettier than the last. Upon gaining the zone, Henrik Sedin dropped the puck through his legs. Daniel took it skated to the left, then reversed to Henrik, who was in the faceoff circle. Hank found his brother again with a long cross-ice pass, which landed right on the tape.

Finally, Daniel sent it through the legs of Seth Jones to Eriksson, who will never score an easier goal.

Vancouver is starting to put the “power” back into the power play. They are converting at 33.3-percent in the month of February. That is tied with the Calgary Flames for fifth in that time frame. Overall, they are still near the bottom for the season, but these last few games has seen their average rise from 14.1 to 15.2-percent.

After the Sedinery

Henrik assisted on both of the Canucks’ first two goals. Those two points tied him with Bo Horvat for the team scoring lead.

Horvat did his part to try to break that tie, pulling off a sweet dangle on Ryan Murray, and barely missing a backhand chance:

That would have been a highlight reel goal. But where Horvat failed, Jayson Megna succeeded:

Troy Stecher threw a slick pass up the ice, sending Megna in on a partial breakaway. Megna faked to his left, then pulled the puck back and roofed it for his fourth of the year. Stecher picked up his 13th assist in his rookie season.

After falling behind, the Jackets fired 24 shots on goal in the final 40 minutes. Miller turned them all aside. The closest the Jackets came was this jam play by Scott Hartnell:

Though the puck crossed the line, the refs immediately waved the goal off and did not bother to review the play before resuming play. Miller preserved his third shutout of the season, and ended his personal four-game losing streak.

Jacob Markstrom looked a touch out-of-sync last game, and now Miller is back to his winning ways. It was already tough for the younger goalie to get starts, and now you have to wonder how long it will be before he see game action again.

That is a question for another day. For now, the Vancouver Canucks can sleep on their 7th road win, which has kept their desperate playoff hopes alive. They will put themselves to the test again Saturday against the Boston Bruins.