After a brutal first period, the Canucks did what you're supposed to do to teams playing their third game in four nights, taking advantage of a tired Columbus team, coming back from two down to win 5-2. This afternoon they have a much tougher opponent as they host the Lightning at Rogers Arena.

Vancouver Canucks (14-7-4) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning  (13-9-2)

1:00 pm PST; 4:00 pm EST

TV: Sportsnet

Radio: Sportsnet 650

It really looked like another edition of "Why the hell are the Canucks so bad at home this year?" on Friday night, as the Columbus Blue Jackets came storming out of the gate to a 2-0 lead. If it were not for Kevin Lankinen shutting the door, they could easily have been up by three or four goals after twenty minutes. And while they haven't really shown it much at home this season, the Canucks have shown that getting down does not rattle them, and they began slowly chipping away at the Columbus lead.

And when Kiefer Sherwood scored on an open net thanks to an ill-advised attempt to play the puck by Blue Jackets G Elvis Merzlikins with just a minute to go in the second, that pretty much sealed their fate. The Canucks were the better team over the last forty minutes, and got some solid efforts from their best players.

A lot of positives to take from this comeback win. Pius Suter continues to be such an important part of this team, proving that given the right linemates and usage, some guys can exceed everyone's expectations. Another plus was Jake DeBrusk finally scoring at home. He's been on an absolute tear of late, and while we know that streakiness is part of his genetic makeup, the timing of him getting hot with JT Miller being out of the lineup couldn't be better.

Kevin Lankinen may not see the crease for a while once Thatcher Demko is ready to roll, as he could start as early as today, so it was nice to see him notch another impact win filling in for the Canucks All Star netminder. With a healthy Demko, the Canucks have a 1-2 punch in goal that is as good as any in the league, and can help them as they look to rack up some home wins and take advantage of the games in hand they have over their Pacific Division rivals.

Today they'll have a little payback on their minds as they take on Tampa Bay. The last meeting between these teams in October saw the Lightning cruise to a 4-1 win that had some people sounding some premature alarm bells, as they Canucks had lost three straight after opening with a win over the Edmonton Oilers.

The key to this game is taking advantage of a subpar Tampa penalty kill, and trying to keep one of the NHL's best at 5 on 5 off the score sheet. Strong team defence and getting a good start is vital to coming out of this one with two points.

LINEUPS

Instead of your dates, the projected lineups for this game were found on the back of bootleg Taylor Swift shirts. You could also find it on nhl dot com...

Lightning projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov

Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Nick Paul

Mitchell Chaffee -- Conor Geekie -- Gage Goncalves

Zemgus Girgensons -- Luke Glendening -- Michael Eyssimont

Victor Hedman -- J.J. Moser

Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak

Emil Lilleberg -- Nick Perbix

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Cam Atkinson, Darren Raddysh

Injured: None

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Dakota Joshua -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland

Nils Hoglander -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood

Aatu Raty -- Max Sasson -- Danton Heinen

Quinn Hughes -- Tyler Myers

Carson Soucy -- Noah Juulsen

Erik Brannstrom -- Vincent Desharnais

Thatcher Demko

Kevin Lankinen

Scratched: Arturs Silovs, Mark Friedman

Injured: Filip Hronek (upper body), Derek Forbort (lower body)

Both teams could get key players back, as the Lightning could have Nikita Kucherov back after missing a couple, while it looks like Thatcher Demko will get the nod as he returns to the lineup after getting injured in the first round series against Nashville back in April. Other than that, it's pretty much the same lineup as Friday night for the Canucks.

GAME DAY CHATTER

As expected, Arturs Silovs will be heading to Abbotsford with Demko ready to go... While it looks like we could see JT Miller return to the team this week, Derek Forbert is also getting closer to returning... The coach on how the improved PK is giving the Canucks a boost...

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

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Enjoy the game, folks. Go Canucks Go!