Blue Jackets move back into wild card in East with shootout win against Canucks

COLUMBUS -- Boone Jenner and Dante Fabbro each had three points, helping the Columbus Blue Jackets rally for a 7-6 shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks at Nationwide Arena on Friday.

Jenner had two goals and an assist, Fabbro had a goal and two assists, and Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves for the Blue Jackets (33-29-9), who trailed 3-0 in the first period and fell behind 5-3 early in the third.

Kirill Marchenko, Denton Mateychuk and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist, and Kent Johnson scored the lone goal of the shootout.

The Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers each have 75 points, six behind the Ottawa Senators for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference. Columbus has played 71 games, Montreal 72 games and New York 73 games.

“Obviously, you don't want to be coming back all the time,” said Jenner, the Columbus captain. “But it says a lot about our group and how we stay resilient, stay with it and it's a character win.”

Aatu Raty scored two goals, Brock Boeser had a goal and an assist, and Pius Suter and Kiefer Sherwood each had three assists for the Canucks (34-26-13). Quinn Hughes and Dakota Joshua each had two assists, Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves.

Vancouver moved within four points of the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card from the Western Conference with one game in hand.

“It was a high, emotional game, and we didn't quit,” Boeser said, “but saying that, we let them score three goals straight twice, so that's obviously unacceptable, and we’ve got to clean up whatever happened.”

Jenner tied it 5-5 on the power play at 16:46 of the third period, and Olivier gave Columbus a 6-5 lead at 17:08 before Raty tied it 6-6 just 23 seconds later, scoring from in front off a Joshua pass.

“I think what stood out there was the resiliency of our group, coming back from two deficits,” Olivier said. “They get a quick one after we go ahead there, and we just find a way to get it done.”

Linus Karlsson put Vancouver up 1-0 at 8:51 of the first with a power-play goal.

“Obviously, our starts haven't been very good lately,” Olivier said of Columbus, which trailed 2-0 in the first period of its previous two games. “I think it's more mentally than physically.”

Boeser increased the lead to 2-0 at 10:35 with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle, and Jake DeBrusk made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 13:26.

“We had some great moments, and so did they and obviously we'd like to play a little bit better when we have the lead and not give it away,” Raty said.

Jenner cut it to 3-1 at 34 seconds of the second period when a shot from the left point by Mateychuk deflected off Jenner’s hand, giving him a three-game goal streak (four goals).

Marchenko scored from the inside edge of the left circle make it 3-2 at 4:54 before Fabbro tied it 3-3 at 8:44 with a wrist shot from the left point.

Tyler Myers put the Canucks ahead 4-3 with a short-handed goal at 11:23 off a setup by Sherwood during the first of a double-minor for high-sticking by Elias Pettersson.

Raty made it 5-3 at 6:42 of the third, scoring from above the left circle off the rush, before Mateychuk scored with a one-timer 21 seconds later to cut it to 5-4.

“When pressure hits, you’ve got to face it, Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I think sometimes we're sinking but it’s a learning process. That's why we learn. Some young guys, they're trying hard, but this is a good lesson for them.”

Justin Danforth appeared to tie it 5-5 at 11:53, but his goal was overturned after Vancouver challenged for goaltender interference.

“We've talked all year about learning from different experiences and situations, and you build up that memory that it's OK if things go a little sideways and get a little adverse,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “I don't think it's a shock that this team handles adversity pretty well, and we did. I mean, you get down 3-0. We had some calls and some whatever, and they just went about their business and kept playing hard.”

NOTES: Prior to Jenner’s power-play goal, the Blue Jackets were 0-for-25 on the man-advantage since March 1 and had allowed three short-handed goals during that span. … The Blue Jackets got their eighth three-goal comeback win in franchise history. … Columbus forward Cole Sillinger had an assist and three shots on goal in 13:50 of ice time after missing 11 games with an upper-body injury. … DeBrusk has four points (one goal, three assists) in a four-game point streak. … Suter extended his point streak to three games (seven points; one goal, six assists).