Elias Pettersson got a good shot off on Elvis Merzlikins to start this game, but after that, it was all Columbus. After about seven minutes of Columbus completely controlling play, the Blue Jackets scored the opening goal of the game after a nifty backdoor pass made it 1-0. 

We got some 4-on-4 hockey after Erik Brännström and Zach Aston-Reese were called for coincidental minors. It was the Blue Jackets who scored as Damon Severson scored his sixth goal of the year with a slap shot off the rush. 2-0 Blue Jackets.

The Canucks left the first period with just two shots on goal, and gave up 17 shots to Columbus, who lost 6-3 in Edmonton last night. Woof.

This just wasn’t good enough. Desharnais and Brännström (mostly Brännström) are to blame for the first goal, and on the second goal, Soucy overcommits to his man and the Blue Jackets take advantage. The whole team was late getting to pucks, lost every board battle, and couldn’t complete a pass to save their lives. The neutral and defensive zone play were horrible, and the reason we didn’t include offensive zone in that is because they didn’t even get into the offensive zone. Simply put, the Canucks needed to be a whole lot better in the second period.

The second period started with some solid Canucks pressure, but was halted by Elias Pettersson tripping Ivan Provorov. Unfortunately, things looked bad for Provorov, whose thumb looked out of place after going awkwardly into the boards.

The Canucks killed the penalty off and continued their pressure on the Blue Jackets, and this time, Brock Boeser capitalized to cut the Columbus lead down to one. 2-1.

Vinny Desharnais took a penalty, but the real action came when big Vinny stepped out of the box and looked for the second goal of his NHL career. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as Desharnais was stopped trying to beat Elvis Merzlikins blocker side.

The Canucks’ effort in the second period was better than the one they turned in for the first, but that was a low bar to clear.

The Canucks got their first power play of the game when Zach Werenski was called for tripping Quinn Hughes with just over four minutes left in the second. It was a 4-on-3 power play, but the Canucks couldn’t even get a clean shot off until the dying moments. By then, it was too late, and the Canucks seemed poised to enter the third down by a goal after falling right back to sleeping the second half of the second period.

That was, of course, until Elvis Merzlkikins decided to play Santa Claus and give the Canucks a gift:

This one was 2-2 heading into the third. 

Before we get to third, let’s just be honest here.

The Canucks didn’t show up for most of this game. They certainly didn’t start on time, and after gaining a little bit of momentum in the second, they let their play slip up again.

Given who’s coming up on this homestand — Tampa, Florida, the new coach bump Blues, the Avs — it was crucial that the Canucks didn’t pass up on the opportunity to puck up two points against a team that was playing their third game in four nights and just got their lunch fed to them by the Oilers the night before.

They needed put the hammer down in the third, and they needed to walk away from this game with a win.

And who better to start that effort than noted sniper Pius Suter?

The Canucks kept up the pressure despite what the shot totals might tell you (Kevin Lankinen was outstanding in this one).

Upon getting another power play chance, the man advantage unit stayed hot, and Jake DeBrusk stayed even hotter, as he tipped a Quinn Hughes changeup past Merzlikins to make it 4-2. 

That’s four goals in four straight games. 9 goals in 7 games. One goal since Jake talked to me about Taylor Swift. Makes you think.

Oh, and Pius Suter added an empty net goal to give him 11 on the year.

Some takeaways from tonight:

-First periods like that make me question my career choice. Arguably this team’s worst period of the year.
-Why can this team not start on time on home ice? I know Tocchet likes to take the blame for that, but there needs to be more to it than that. These are pro athletes, and they should be able to show up on time for their home fans.
-It’s hard to single out individual performances tonight — either good or bad — but we need to mention that Pius Suter’s 11th goal tonight puts him on pace for 36 goals. He’s scored 14 goals three times, and his career high is just 15. Contract year Pius is no joke. How many does he finish the year with?
-400 career points for Brock Boeser. He’s come a long way.
-Another great start from Kevin Lankinen. Assuming Thatcher Demko starts Sunday vs. Tampa, the Canucks could soon have one of the best and most envious goaltending tandems in the NHL.

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!