VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Columbus captain Rick Nash had a goal and two assists in regulation and scored the winning shootout goal in the Blue Jackets’ 6-5 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.
Jason Williams also scored in regulation and the shootout as the Blue Jackets overcame a two-goal deficit late in the second period, and then recovered after blowing a two-goal lead of their own early in the third.
Williams and Nash, playing his first game after missing four because of a knee injury, scored in the final 3 minutes of the second period to tie it at 3, and Mike Commodore and Raffi Torres scored 55 seconds apart early in the third to make it 5-3.
The Canucks called a timeout and quickly tied it again on goals by Henrik Sedin and Kevin Bieksa 90 seconds apart.
Manny Malhotra and Jason Williams also scored, and Kristian Huselius added two assists for Columbus. The Blue Jackets won for the fourth time in five games to move two points back of the slumping Canucks for seventh in the Western Conference.
Steve Mason, who came into the game with the NHL’s best goals-against average (1.81) and second-best save percentage (.936), was beaten five times on 30 shots, but stopped Kyle Wellwood and forced Mats Sundin to shoot wide in the shootout.
Roberto Luongo, playing his second game after missing almost two months because if a groin injury, made 23 saves before Williams beat him with a backhand deke and Nash fired a low shot past his blocker.
Sundin, Taylor Pyatt and Steve Bernier also scored for the Canucks, who recorded their only point in a five-game homestand (0-4-1) but fell to 1-6 in shootouts this season, and have just two wins in their last 10 games overall.
Nash got off to a quick start after being out almost two weeks, setting up Malholtra midway through the first period. Malhotra went unchecked to the net to tap Nash s centering pass through Luongo’s legs after combining with linemate Huselius on some pretty tic-tac-toe passing into the offensive zone.
Nash was stopped on a breakaway 2:30 into the second period, and Sundin gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead on a 2-on-1 down low 41 seconds later. Bernier made it 3-1 midway through the period before Nash helped spark a Columbus comeback.
Defenseman Kris Russell took a pass from Nash, faked a shot from the point that dropped Luongo to the ice, and slipped the puck over to Williams, playing his second game since being acquired from Atlanta to bolster a 30th-ranked power play. Williams one-timed a shot before Luongo recovered as Columbus converted its first advantage of the game with 2:56 left in the second period.
Nash tied it on a wraparound with 1:01 left in the period.
Commodore wired a shot past Luongo after he lost his goal stick 1:16 into the third period and Torres, playing his second game since missing 19 after knee surgery, banged in his own rebound of a wraparound less than a minute later.
Luongo, who returned Thursday and was beaten on the first shot 65 seconds into a 4-1 loss to Phoenix, was tested early again after a defensive breakdown. But this time he kicked out the left pad to stop Huselius on a breakaway just 11 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Notes: Canucks LW Pavol Demitra left in the third period and did
not return. … To make room for Nash’s return from injured reserve, Columbus sent Craig MacDonald, who had a goal and an assist in eight games, down to Syracuse of the American Hockey League earlier in the day. … G Wade Dubielewicz, who was claimed off waivers from the New York Islanders after spending the first half of the season in Russia, joined the Blue Jackets in Vancouver late Saturday night and backed up Sunday. Vancouver played its 3,000th game in franchise history.
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