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Columbus Blue Jackets drop third straight game on late stumble against Vancouver Canucks
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- Columbus Blue Jackets drop third straight game on late stumble against Vancouver Canucks
The Blue Jackets lost their third straight game Nov. 8 at the Vancouver Canucks , 4-3, because they can't shake their two biggest issues.
They can't seem to beat a goalie with anybody other than Kirill Marchenko or Dmitri Voronkov , and they're now crumbling in tight games. This time, despite outshooting the Canucks 32-25, the Jackets let another golden chance to win slip through their fingers when Canucks forward Brock Boeser beat goalie Elvis Merzlikins off a rush with 5:45 left to play.
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That broke a 3-3 tie less than five minutes after Marchenko pulled the Blue Jackets (7-7-0) even with his second goal of the game and team leading eighth of the season.
Nov 8, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen (32) watches as Columbus Blue Jackets forward Dmitri Voronkov (10) battles with defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) in the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Skating with Fantilli at center instead of Sean Monahan , Marchenko and Voronkov excelled in the offensive zone. Their impressive performance just wasn't enough to edge the Canucks (8-8-0), who got goals in the third from Conor Garland at 6:17 and Boeser at 14:15.
The Blue Jackets got a late power play, trailing by a goal, but failed to score before Yegor Chinakhov was called for tripping off a faceoff at the end of it. Kevin Lankinen , who started in net for Vancouver, made stops against Voronkov and Marchenko in the final 2:19 among his 29 saves, improving to 9-3-1 in 14 career appearances against Columbus.
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Elvis Merzlikins (21 saves) started for the Blue Jackets and dropped to 4-3-0 with his second straight loss decided late in the third period.
Nov 8, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk (74) stick checks Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov (9) in the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Columbus successfully killed a five-minute Canucks power play in the second that started 7:00 into the period after Mathieu Olivier was assessed a boarding major and game misconduct for driving defenseman Elias Pettersson headfirst into end boards in the Vancouver zone.
It happened 14 seconds into a shift that followed Marchenko's first goal of the game to tie 1-1 at 6:46 of the second and counter Jake DeBrust's goal for the Canucks at 5:28 that opened the scoring. Voronkov put the Blue Jackets up 2-1 with 6:58 left in the middle period, but Drew O'Connor tied it 2-2 with 57 seconds remaining.
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Vancouver went ahead 3-2 at 6:17 of the third on a rebound goal by Garland, but Marchenko's second of the game tied it 3-3 just 3:30 later.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets losing streak hits three after loss to Canucks
