(SportsNetwork.com) – The Vancouver Canucks attempt to wrap a five-game
residency with an eighth straight home victory over Columbus on Thursday
evening in a matchup with the Blue Jackets.
The Canucks won for the fourth time in five games on Tuesday as they bested
the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 behind Alexandre Burrows’ two goals over a 17-
second span in the third period. Those tallies snapped a 1-1 tie.
Burrows had sat out the previous game with a groin injury, but returned to the
lineup to replace Zack Kassian on the top line with Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
Kassian did not play due to injury and is day-to-day.
Daniel Sedin assisted on both of Burrows’ goals, setting up the former’s
wrist shot for the first goal and then putting a shot on net that Burrows put
home the rebound of.
“It’s always fun to see Burrows score,” said goaltender Eddie Lack, who had 27
saves.
Alexander Edler and Radim Vrbata also scored for the Canucks, who have just a
two-point lead on the idle Los Angeles Kings for second place in the Pacific
Division. The Calgary Flames also are only three points behind and host the
Flyers tonight.
The Canucks have not lost at home to the Blue Jackets since Oct. 5, 2009 and
have picked up a victory in two straight and 14 of the previous 17 meetings
overall. That includes a 5-0 victory in Columbus on Nov. 28.
Ryan Miller, who is expected to miss the rest of the regular season due to a
knee injury with an eye on returning for the playoffs, made 31 saves to blank
the Blue Jackets and five different Canucks lit the lamp.
Lack figures to start tonight and lost the only time he faced Columbus despite
giving up only two goals on 28 shots.
Sergei Bobrovsky allowed four goals on 29 shots to take the loss for the Blue
Jackets and will likely start tonight after backup Curtis McElhinney got the
call on Wednesday versus the Edmonton Oilers. Bobrovsky is 1-2-2 with a 2.41
goals against average and .927 save percentage in six games (5 starts) versus
the Canucks.
McElhinney made a career-high 44 save and another two stops in the shootout
last night as the Blue Jackets topped the Edmonton Oilers 4-3. Alexander
Wennberg had the deciding tally in the tiebreaker.
“It’s always nice to get into a game and see some shots right away,” said
McElhinney.
David Savard, Ryan Johansen and Mark Letestu tallied for the Blue Jackets,
winners in four of their last five.
Columbus snapped a six-game slide in Edmonton by winning the opener of a
three-game tour of Western Canada. It concludes the swing on Saturday in
Calgary.
Forward Brandon Dubinsky did not play last night due to an upper-body injury.
