Pierre-Luc Dubois happily shed one of the longest scoreless slumps of his career.
Dubois had a goal and an assist and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky returned from injury to stop 21 shots as the Columbus Blue Jackets improved their playoff chances with a 5-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.
Even after his breakout game, Dubois was looking for answers.
“I’ve never been in a slump like that probably in my life,” he said. “I have been in a slump where I wasn’t playing well, and I wasn’t getting points and didn’t wonder why because I wasn’t playing well.
Dubois had gone 11 games without a point and 13 games without a goal.
Josh Anderson had two goals and an assist, and Ryan Dzingel and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored for the Blue Jackets (41-30-4), who moved within two points of the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Columbus also snapped a three-game road winless streak.
“We needed a win tonight,” Anderson said. “You look at the standings and every team is winning, not really helping us out too much.
“We have to treat every game from now on as a must win, really. This is the time of year where it’s fun hockey. We are playing for something here, we all know that.”
The shutout was the seventh of the season for Bobrovsky, who had missed one game due to an upper-body injury. Two of his best saves came in the second period when he stopped Bo Horvat and Markus Granlund on power plays.
“I felt pretty good,” Bobrovksy said. “I felt comfortable to play and I thought the guys helped me a lot out there. It’s a good team win.”
Thatcher Demko stopped 28 shots for Vancouver.
The Canucks (32-34-10) trail the Colorado Avalanche by seven points for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Vancouver lost 3-1 to the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.
It was the 10th time this season the Canucks have been shutout, the most of any team in the NHL.
A pair of turnovers helped the Blue Jackets build a 3-0 lead after two periods.
Dubois made it 2-0 with just 56 seconds gone in the second. Artemi Panarin picked off a pass then fed Dubois, who scored on a screened shot. Another turnover in the neutral zone allowed Anderson to carry the puck deep into the Vancouver zone. He passed to an open Dzingel, who scored on a backhand.
Comments