{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Vancouver 3, Columbus 0
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 9, 2017
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Referees: Eric Furlatt, Frederic L'Ecuyer
Linesmen: Ryan Gibbons, Bryan Pancich
Attendance: 13979

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Going into Thursday's game, the mission for the Columbus Blue Jackets was to establish themselves as a strong-starting, dominant home team.

The visiting Vancouver Canucks had other plans.

Daniel Sedin, Loui Eriksson and Jayson Megna scored goals, and Ryan Miller made 33 saves as the Canucks shut out the Blue Jackets 3-0 on Thursday.

Vancouver (24-24-6) posted its first road shutout of the season and first win in five games. Columbus (34-14-5) fell in the opener of a seven-game homestand.

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced.

The first goal came 44 seconds into the second on Daniel Sedin's 12th goal of the season. The left winger collected the rebound off Markus Granlund's shot and put the puck past Bobrovsky's glove to make it 1-0. Henrik Sedin also drew an assist on the play.

The marker was Daniel Sedin's first in 10 games.

"The last three to four games, it hasn't been easy," Daniel Sedin said. "We've been losing games and we haven't been scoring, so it's nice to get one tonight."

The Sedins weren't done. Just 53 seconds into the Canucks' first power play of the night, Daniel Sedin passed across the slot to Eriksson, who beat Bobrovsky to make it 2-0 at 8:53 of the middle period. It was Eriksson's 11th goal of the season.

Henrik Sedin again drew the secondary assist.

It marked the 695th and 696th time both Sedins were in on the same goal, a mark that is second best in league history.

With 17 goals and 34 assists, Daniel Sedin is the all-time leading scorer for the Canucks against the Blue Jackets.

"(The Sedins) have got pretty remarkable demeanor about them," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. "They to come the rink every day ready to play and every shift they think is going to be a good shift. They sit on the bench and they think 'OK, the next shift is going to be our best.' They've got a great attitude."

Megna added a third goal 10:47 into the third. He received a pass from Troy Stecher at the top of zone and skated past Ryan Murray and down the right side to beat Bobrovsky again glove side and make it 3-0.

"At times we were good tonight," Murray said. "We put a lot of pucks on net and outshot them, but we had some big errors, including myself. In the end, that's what cost us, they just scored more."

While the Blue Jackets owned the shots-on-goal advantage (33-24), they could not mount much sustained offense. Their power play, ranked first in the league, could not convert on its two opportunities and has now gone seven games without a score. Columbus' second man advantage was negated 1:04 in by a Brandon Saad tripping penalty.

The Jackets were coming off a 4-3 overtime win in Detroit. Since their franchise-record, 16-game winning streak, they've gone 7-8-1 and have strung two wins together just once.

In his postgame comments, Jackets coach John Tortorella described his team as "flat" and lacking emotion in its play.

"It's not the X's and O's," Tortorella said. "We can't talk about mistakes. The first thing we have to solve is our consistency as far as emotion and so we're going to bang away at that tomorrow and see where we go.

"In all pro sports, if you're not attached emotionally, you're going to flip flop as we've doing. I thought we had a good showing against Detroit. It made me feel better about the team, but to go back to this in our building again, it's frustrating. So we're going to have to get together as a team and try to solve that problem."

Vancouver came into Columbus with the fewest road points (15) and road wins (six) in the league.

NOTES: Canucks C Michael Chaput played in his 100th NHL game. It was also his first game in Nationwide Arena after being non-tendered by the Columbus organization during the offseason. In 58 games with the Jackets, he had two goals and eight assists. ... Vancouver F Reid Boucher drew in for the concussed Sven Baertschi and played for the first time in a Vancouver sweater since being claimed off waivers from the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 4. ... Jackets D David Savard (back) was on the ice with the team at the morning skate but did not play Thursday night. He is still considered day-to-day. ... Blue Jackets F Oliver Bjorkstrand and D Dalton Prout were healthy scratches. ... The scratches for Vancouver were Baertschi, D Alex Biega and D Philip Larsen.
Top Game Performances
 
Vancouver   Columbus
Daniel Sedin 2 Points N/A
Daniel Sedin 1 Goals N/A
Henrik Sedin 2 Assists N/A
Loui Eriksson 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Ryan Miller 1.000 Save Percentage Sergei Bobrovsky .875
Ryan Miller 33 Saves Sergei Bobrovsky 21
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Vancouver 24 3 1-2 2-2 8 29
Columbus 33 0 0-2 1-2 8 28
Upcoming Games
  • Columbus will play their next game at home against Detroit. The Blue Jackets have a W/L % of .629 after a win and .667 after a loss.
  • Vancouver will play their next game on the road against Boston. The Canucks have a W/L % of .458 after a win and .433 after a loss.