Columbus (22-30-6-2) at Vancouver (36-16-9-0)
Unbeaten in a club-record 12 straight games and in hot pursuit of Western Conference-leading Dallas, the Vancouver Canucks look to resume their amazing run as they take on the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets at General Motors Place.
The Canucks improved to 8-0-4 during their run with Saturday's 3-2 overtime victory at Edmonton.
Brendan Morrison scored the game-winner 82 seconds into the extra session, helping Vancouver pull within two points of Dallas for the best record in the West.
``We're just a confident team right now,'' said Trevor Linden, who has amassed two goals and six assists during a five-game points streak. ``We're making a habit of doing the little things well and giving ourselves a chance to win the game.
``We're doing a good job in our end. We're trying to make our end the key. There's no reason you can't be a good offensive team and still be good in your own end.''
The Canucks aren't just winning, they're also getting healthier. Both Sami Salo (shoulder) and Ed Jovanovski (flu) returned to the lineup on Saturday.
Vancouver is also riding a five-game home unbeaten streak (3-0-2).
The Blue Jackets have lost four in a row, including back-to-back shutout defeats at Anaheim and San Jose.
On Friday, Columbus managed just five first-period shots and went 0-for-6 on the power play en route to an embarrassing 6-0 loss to the Sharks, dropping to 0-3 on its five-game trip.
Surprisingly, the Blue Jackets are unbeaten in two games against the Canucks this season, including a 3-2 triumph at General Motors Place on Jan. 11 that snapped an eight-game winless skid (0-7-1) in the series.
STANDINGS: Blue Jackets - 52 points, 5th place, 24 PB, Central Division. Canucks - 81 points, 1st place, Northwest Division.
TEAM LEADERS: Blue Jackets - Geoff Sanderson, 23 goals; Ray Whitney, 43 assists and 57 points; Jody Shelley, 208 PIM. Canucks - Markus Naslund, 38 goals and 73 points; Naslund and Brendan Morrison, 35 assists; Todd Bertuzzi, 114 PIM.
SPECIAL TEAMS (through Feb. 21): Blue Jackets - Power play: 17.7 percent (52 for 293), 11th in NHL. Penalty killing: 86.3 percent (253 for 293), 7th. Canucks - Power play: 19.9 percent (61 for 306), 5th. Penalty killing: 86.1 percent (253 for 294), 8th.
GOALTENDERS: Blue Jackets - Marc Denis (21-30-6, 3 SO, 2.96 GAA); Jean-Francois Labbe (1-2-0, 4.15). Canucks - Dan Cloutier (29-13-6, 1, 2.42); Peter Skudra (7-3-3, 1, 2.30).
SEASON SERIES: Predators, 1-0-1.
LAST MEETING: Feb. 5; Tied, 4-4. At Columbus, Darren Van Impe scored a short-handed goal with 2:26 left in regulation as the Blue Jackets rallied from a three-goal deficit. Bertuzzi, Salo and Linden scored in an 8:01 span of the second period to stake the Canucks to a seemingly safe 4-1 lead.
ROAD/HOME RECORDS:
Blue Jackets - 7-20-3-1 on the road
Canucks - 16-9-5-0 at home
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks can establish the NHL's longest unbeaten streak of the season when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday afternoon.
Unbeaten in a club-record 12 games (8-0-4), the Canucks have tied Dallas for the league's longest unbeaten streak this season. Dallas went 9-0-3 from December 27-January 22.
Vancouver's streak is its second of at least 10 games this season. Prior to its 10-game winning streak from November 9-30, Vancouver's lone 10-game unbeaten streak was from March 5-25, 1977.
In Saturday's 3-2 win in Edmonton, Trevor Linden and defenseman Mattias Ohlund tallied before Brendan Morrison tallied 82 seconds into overtime.
The win pulled Vancouver within two points of Dallas for first place in the Western Conference. Dallas visits Chicago on Sunday night.
The Blue Jackets have been outscored, 20-3, during their four-game losing streak and come off consecutive shutouts, including Friday's 6-0 loss in San Jose.
Columbus was 0-for-6 on the power play and has not scored in 157 minutes, 5 seconds.
The Blue Jackets also have lost eight of their last nine road games and key scorers Geoff Sanderson and Ray Whitney are slumping.
Sanderson, who played nine games with the Canucks in 1997-98, has just one goal in his last 18 games and Whitney has gone 12 games without a goal.
Columbus is 1-0-1 vs. the Canucks this season after going 0-6-0-1 in the first seven meetings.
