VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The Vancouver Canucks' power play woke up just in time to keep the Columbus Blue Jackets slumbering. Rookie Justin Kurtz and Harold Druken scored power-play goals in the first period and Dan Cloutier stopped 22 shots as the Canucks sent the lowly Blue Jackets to their fifth straight loss Tuesday night, 3-1.
Vancouver was just 1-for-38 on the power play in the previous nine games and was next-to-last at home at 1-for-28. But Kurtz and Druken struck in a 42-second span and the Canucks never were seriously threatened en route to their second win in eight games (2-5-1-0).
Playing his fourth game, Kurtz scored his first NHL goal at 13:05. With four seconds left on defenseman Deron Quint's holding penalty, Kurtz fanned on a bouncing puck, then sent a shot off the left goalpost. But he put in his own rebound to put Vancouver ahead for good.
Espen Knutsen followed Quint to the penalty box 14 seconds after the goal and the Canucks needed just 28 seconds to make it 2-0. Defenseman Ed Jovanovski's shot from the blue line caromed to the side of the net, where Druken swept in the puck for his third goal of the season.
Vancouver had not scored more than one power-play goal since a 3-for-6 effort on Oct. 9 in a 5-4 loss at Colorado.
Mike Sillinger notched the lone goal for the Blue Jackets, who have opened the season with one win in 12 games (1-7-4-0).
