VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Columbus captain Rick Nash was impressed
by his team's ability to get a big lead fast, but not nearly as much by
how they held onto it.
Kristian Huselius, Rostislav Klesla and Nikita Filatov scored over a
3:44 span early in the second period to chase star Vancouver goaltender
Roberto Luongo and lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-3 win over the
Canucks on Monday night.
After Antoine Vermette scored with 42 seconds left in the first period
to tie the game, Huselius started the scoring spree by using Nash as a
decoy off the rush and blowing a wrist shot past Luongo's glove at 2:07.
Klesla scored on a wrist shot through traffic at 5:29, and Filatov
finished a 3-on-2 with a shot through Luongo's legs 22 seconds later to
give Columbus a 4-1 lead.
"It was impressive," said Nash, who had three assists as Columbus
opened the season with consecutive wins for the first time in franchise
history. "We had tones of chances, we were moving it, and we were getting
some good shots off. It was really fun hockey for us."
The fun ended shortly after the Blue Jackets went up by three goals.
Christian Ehrhoff responded three minutes later, and Willie Mitchell
pulled the Canucks within a goal 7:37 into the third period as Vancouver
blitzed the Blue Jackets goal. But Steve Mason, who finished with 40
saves, made a big glove stop off Mikael Samuelsson and another great pad
denial on Alexandre Burrows just before Fedor Tyutin made it 5-3 on the
power play with 4:57 left to play.
"We dominated the first half of the second period and then we really
sat back, Nash added. "We have to find a happy medium, somewhere between
there and how we finished."
Vancouver isn't having problems finishing, but slow starts have been
costly.
Henrik Sedin also scored for the Canucks, who have lost their first
three games of the season for the first time since 2001 despite averaging
40 shots a game.
"We got ourselves into a hole early and kind of like the fist two games
tried to battle back," said Luongo. "But it's tough come back in this
league."
It's even tougher when your star goaltender is struggling.
Luongo, who signed a 12-year, $64-million contract extension late in
the summer, came in with an uncharacteristic .857 save percentage, and
left after giving up Filatov scored having given up four goals on just
12 shots.
"A lot of the chances are coming off the rush so we have to make sure
have a third man high and limit the rushes, but at the same time I've
got to make some saves here," said Luongo.
Sedin opened the scoring with 4:31 left in the first period, and
Vancouver had a great chance to extend its lead with a lengthy 5-on-3.
But after Russian rookie Sergei Shirokov missed a couple of great
chances the Blue Jackets tied it just as the second penalty ended,
with Nash feeding Vermette a backdoor tap in.
"To kill off a 5-on-3 and score that goal and come into the locker
room tied was a huge momentum swing," said Nash.
It kept swinging against Luongo early in the second period.
"You get scored on a backdoor tap-in and all of a sudden you are
subconsciously trying to play both guys," said Luongo. "And you're not
playing the shooter and you end up being deep in your net and that's
how the second goal went in. You just have to focus on your job and
trust your teammates.
Backup Andrew Raycroft stopped 11 of 12 in his surprise regular-season
debut and almost got his first win as the Canucks rallied after Luongo
was pulled.
"He's the least of my concerns, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said.
"Roberto is one of the best goaltenders and definitely one of the
hardest workers in this league, so he's going to find his game, like
he always does."
Columbus forward Jared Boll left the game early in the first period
after being slammed face-first into the boards, first by Rick Rypien
and then by Darcy Hordichuk, who received a roughing penalty on the
play.
"He is not good," coach Ken Hitchcock said of Boll, adding he wasn't
sure if he'd be able to fly to San Jose with the team. "Some kind of
concussion right now and I'm sure the league will be looking at the
hit.
Game notes
Columbus D Mike Commodore has missed both games with a groin strain,
but is skating and could make his season debut as a three-game road
trip continues in San Jose on Thursday. D Anton Stralman, acquired
from Calgary in a Sept. 28 trade, finally joined the Blue Jackets in
Vancouver after a delay getting his U.S. work visa, but did not play.
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