Alex Burrows has had so much success playing with twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin, he could almost be considered part of the family.
Burrows scored three times and the surging Vancouver Canucks routed the slumping Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 on Tuesday night.
He has found chemistry with the Sedins since Daniel returned on Nov. 22 after missing 18 games because of a broken bone in his foot. Burrows has just one goal while Sedin was out.
``The twins, they do their thing and I do mine and it kind of works out,'' said Burrows, who has 14 goals this season. ``They're the ones that are providing the offense. They're the ones that are making plays, especially since Danny's been back.''
Burrows goes to the net when one of the twins has the puck.
``All three goals were unreal plays by my linemates,'' said Burrows, who sparked the Canucks after they fell behind 2-0 early. ``All three of them were tap-ins.''
Burrows' first two goals helped spark the Canucks' comeback from the first-period deficit. He completed his second NHL hat trick with a short-handed goal off a pass from Ryan Kesler in the third.
Henrik Sedin scored his 20th goal and added two assists to move into a first-place tie for the NHL scoring lead with San Jose's Joe Thornton. Both have 58 points.
Daniel Sedin set up Burrows' first two goals and assisted on his brother's winning tally.
Rick Rypien, Sami Salo, on the power play, and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for the Canucks.
R.J. Umberger, Kristian Huselius and Kris Russell had Columbus' goals.
Vancouver got six goals on 17 shots against Columbus' Steve Mason, last season's NHL rookie of the year. Mason was replaced by Mathieu Garon at 14:53 of the second period.
The Canucks moved into a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference with Nashville and Los Angeles. They are two points behind Calgary for the Northwest Division lead.
Vancouver, home after earning seven of eight points on a four-game road trip, won for the sixth time in seven games to improve to 26-16-1.
Free-falling Columbus (15-20-9), which chased goalie Roberto Luongo in a 5-3 win in the Canucks' home opener on Oct. 5, lost for the 13th time in 14 games. It was the Blue Jackets' their 13th straight road loss after a 5-1 start.
``We've been struggling scoring goals and finally we got a couple,'' said Rick Nash, the Jackets' leading scorer, who hasn't had a goal in six games. ``They took it to us and we sat back and let them back in the game. We've seemed to figure out our defensive game in the past five games and couldn't score. Tonight was the opposite.''
The Canucks held a 3-2 lead after the first period. Burrows scored twice in the frame in which the teams combined for four goals in a span of 2:04.
The Blue Jackets had scored only 13 times in their last 10 games, but Umberger and Huselius gave them the lead with goals 61 seconds apart.
Umberger tipped Nash's pass behind Luongo, and Huselius used Umberger as a screen to score his second goal in two games.
Rypien started Vancouver's comeback with a slap shot that dipped under Mason's glove.
Burrows then scored a pair of identical goals by having his stick on the ice while cruising toward the doorstep to convert behind-the-net feeds from Daniel Sedin.
Russell drew the Jackets to within a goal on another shot through traffic, but loose play in front of the Columbus net allowed Salo and Samuelsson to stretch the lead.
Salo scored on a blistering shot when the puck squirted from a scramble, and Samuelsson picked a top corner to make it 6-3.
``They put their weight to us and knocked us off pucks in our own zone and the put it in the net,'' Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. ``We were right in it when the fifth goal unnerved us. We were right there at 4-3 and battling and the fifth goal killed us.''
NOTES: Burrows' previous hat trick was March 27, 2006, against Los Angeles. ... The Canucks will play eight of the next 10 at home. ... Vancouver C Ryan Johnson (broken foot) hopes to resume skating next week. ... Canucks forward Pavol Demitra (shoulder surgery) is practicing with his teammates. ... Columbus RW Jared Boll played despite a hand injury sustained Saturday in the Blue Jackets' loss to Colorado.
