Jones leads Blue Jackets past Canucks in OT for 9th in a row

By Josh Taylor and AP
Published

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Seth Jones scored 46 seconds into overtime lead Columbus to a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, giving the Blue Jackets their ninth straight win and coach John Tortorella the 500th of his career.

Brandon Saad had two goals and Cam Atkinson added a goal and an assist for Columbus, which has earned points in 11 straight games (10-0-1). Alexander Wennberg had two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 14 saves for his league-leading 19th win.

Brandon Sutter, Daniel Sedin and Jannik Hansen scored for Vancouver, while Ryan Miller stopped 21 shots.

Jones scored his fifth of the season on a 2-on-1 break with Atkinson in the extra period after Vancouver's Ben Hutton hit the post at the other end.

The Canucks trailed 2-0 after two periods before getting on the board when Sutter scored his ninth of the season on a power play, and third goal in as many games, at 2:51 of the third.

Vancouver, which picked up a much-needed 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Friday following a demoralizing road trip, then tied it when Daniel Sedin's slap shot from well out deflected off Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson's skate and past a surprised Bobrovsky at 7:42.












The Blue Jackets retook the lead with 4:39 left in regulation when Saad scored his second of the game on a nice feed from Wennberg, but Hansen tied it on a shot that went off Columbus defenseman Ryan Murray with 1:09 left.

Tortorella, the all-time wins leader among American-born coaches, got his milestone win in a building where he had one of his most forgettable seasons behind an NHL bench. Tortorella was dismissed after one tumultuous year with the Canucks in 2013-14, a campaign that saw the club miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

The fiery Boston native got off to a good start in Vancouver, but things quickly started to unravel. Tortorella was involved in an ugly incident where he attempted to charge into the Calgary Flames' locker room, and he also benched star goalie Roberto Luongo for the showcase Heritage Classic game, a move that ultimately led to the netminder's trade to the Florida Panthers.

The Blue Jackets' top-ranked power play went to work in the second. Atkinson scored his 11th goal of the season on a rebound off a point shot from Zach Werenski at 1:10 with Vancouver defenseman Luca Sbisa off for interference.

Sbisa was then whistled for slashing midway through the period, and Columbus, which entered play clicking at 25.9 per cent with the man advantage, made Vancouver pay when Scott Hartnell fed a no-look, cross-crease pass to Saad at the side of the net for his 10th with 6:42 left.

The teams combined for just nine shots in a sleepy and scoreless first period -- six by Columbus and three from Vancouver -- but each had a great opportunity to grab the lead.

Henrik Sedin missed a wide-open net after taking a slick saucer pass from Daniel Sedin in the game's opening moments for the Canucks, while Miller stretched to make a tremendous pad save on William Karlsson at the other end off a feed from Matt Calvert with eight minutes left.

NOTES: The Canucks announced Sunday that D Erik Gudbranson will undergo surgery to repair ligament damage in his wrist. The team said a timeline on his recovery will be provided after the procedure.

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Blue Jackets: Host Los Angeles on Tuesday night.