With a new man in charge, the Columbus Blue Jackets have engineered some immediate success.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks remain mired in an extended run of futility.
After winning Rick Bowness’ first game as coach, the host Blue Jackets can record a third straight victory by handing the Canucks their ninth consecutive defeat Thursday night.
One day after coach Dean Evason was fired, the 70-year-old Bowness stepped behind the Columbus bench and watched his new club post a 5-3 home victory over Calgary on Tuesday. Charlie Coyle and Zach Werenski each recorded three points and Boone Jenner notched a late tiebreaker for the Blue Jackets, who have won two straight after losing four in a row.
“You want to learn about each other as quickly as you can and what (Bowness) expects of us and the other way around,” Coyle said.
“It’s always nice when it goes your way, you get the win right away and everyone feels good. And then you move forward, learn some things and then go on to the next one.”
Werenski has eight goals with 12 assists during his last 12 games. Meanwhile, Coyle has three goals with an assist in the last two games after being blanked in his previous five contests.
Columbus will now try to win back-to-back home contests for the first time since a three-game winning streak there that spanned Oct. 29-Nov. 13.
“We have to take care of business and string together some wins here in our building,” Coyle said.
Werenski, Jenner and Coyle were all held without a point during the Blue Jackets’ 4-3 loss at Vancouver on Nov. 8.
Since that victory, Vancouver has won just eight times in 30 games. With Tuesday’s 2-1 loss at Ottawa, the Canucks are 0-5-0 entering the final game of this six-game road trip. Their current eight-game losing streak (0-6-2) is tied for the club’s longest since a record 10-game skid early in the 1997-98 season.
“I feel like we have been showing up, working hard, but we’ve just been on the wrong side of way too many games,” Vancouver star Brock Boeser, a six-time 20-plus goal scorer whose most recent tally came on Nov. 28, told Sportsnet.
Elias Pettersson had the lone score Tuesday for the Canucks, who have totaled 16 goals during the last eight games. Pettersson has recorded four goals in the last six games to take the team lead with 28 points but remains frustrated with the team’s current state.
“It (stinks). I hate losing,” said Pettersson, who posted an assist against the Blue Jackets in November.
“The message is to try to do whatever to get the next win.”
Vancouver’s Kevin Lankinen (3.34 goals-against average) made 29 saves versus Columbus earlier this season and stopped 38 of 40 shots at Ottawa on Tuesday. With Thatcher Demko on injured reserve (lower body), it’s possible Nikita Tolopilo, who made 35 saves during Monday’s 6-3 loss at Montreal, could get another start here for the Canucks.
Jet Greaves (2.72 GAA) has stopped 54 of 59 shots while winning the last two games in net for the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins, who has made just one start in the last 11 games and lost four consecutive outings for Columbus, stopped 20 of 24 shots at Vancouver in November.
–Field Level Media
