COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jake Virtanen scored the tiebreaking goal with less than two minutes remaining and Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 shots as the Vancouver Canucks rallied to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Elias Pettersson got credit for a goal that went in off his skate to tie the game with about 3:04 left, and Virtanen’s goal put the Canucks ahead 78 seconds later.
Josh Leivo also scored in the third period for the Canucks, who have won three straight after losing 12 of 13.
Seth Jones and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored, and Joonas Korpisalo had 22 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four of their last five and dropped their last three at home as they entered a stretch of five home games in nine days.
Jones started 47 seconds into the game when a shot from the high slot glanced off the Canucks’ Jay Beagle and past Markstrom’s glove. The tally gave Jones four goals and four assists in the last eight games.
After a scoreless second period, Leivo scored for Vancouver 8:11 into the third to make it 1-1.
Bjorkstrand snapped a shot over Markstrom’s shoulder less than 2 minutes later to give the Blue Jackets the lead.
That held until a shot by Alexander Edler from just below the blue line bounced off two of his teammates’ skates and past Korpisalo. Pettersson was credited for it. Virtanen then found the back of the net for the winner.
NOTES: Columbus F Josh Anderson left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and didn’t return. … Canucks F Sven Baertschi resumed skating Monday for the first time since suffering a concussion Oct. 24 against the Vegas Golden Knights. … Artemi Panarin’s assist on Jones’ first-period goal gave him a team-leading 25 for the season. … Cam Atkinson, who also had an assist on Jones’ goal, has 13 goals and eight assists in last 14 games.
UP NEXT:
Vancouver: At Nashville on Thursday.
Columbus: Hosts Los Angeles on Thursday.
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Mitch Stacy, The Associated Press