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Defenceman Christian Ehrhoff scored 1:33 into overtime as the Vancouver Canucks rallied to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Tuesday.

U.S. Olympic team member Ryan Kessler missed the net wide right, but the puck glanced off the end boards to Ehrhoff, who snapped home a shot at the other side of the net for his 12th goal.

Kyle Wellwood scored the tying goal, his eighth, with 5:19 left in regulation, converting a pass from Mason Raymond into a wide open net after a horrible giveaway by defenseman Grant Clitsome near the Columbus goal. Wellwood also had an help.

Alexandre Burrows and Pavol Demitra also found the net for Vancouver, who fell behind 2-0 after one period.

Andrew Raycroft finished with 27 saves, filling in for Roberto Luongo, who won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada.

Andrew Murray, Antoine Vermette and Derek Dorsett scored for Columbus. Clitsome, added to the roster as an emergency callup, had two assists in his first NHL game.

Steve Mason had 27 saves for the Blue Jackets, who lost their ninth game when leading after two periods.

Vancouver resumed its 14-game road trip, the longest in league history. The Canucks played the first eight before the Olympic break, going 4-4, and don’t return to GM Place until March 13.

Vancouver carried the tempo most of the first period, but Columbus jumped ahead on two quick-strike scores with Clitsome springing the counterattacks.

Murray got the puck and chipped it past the Canucks defence into open space down the right wing. He zoomed in alone on Raycroft, beating him with a high shot for his first goal in a year.

On a similar play into the zone, Vermette, while falling down, whipped a shot under Raycroft’s glove that trickled over the goal line at 17:30 for his 20th. The goal withstood a video review.

The Canucks countered with two of their own in the middle frame, despite being outshot 16-6.

Burrows converted a between-the-legs pass from Wellwood from near the crease early in the period. The goal was the 27th for the fifth-year winger, setting a personal high in points.

Demitra, who led Olympic scoring playing for Slovakia, followed at the 9:55 mark with his second, scooping up a loose puck in the slot and zipping it by Mason for the power-play tally.

Columbus regained the lead six minutes later when Clitsome cleared the puck to Jake Voracek at the Vancouver blue line. Voracek tapped it to Torres, the centre of several trade rumours. The sturdy winger then set up Dorsett, who converted a 2-on-1 for this third.

Alexei Ponikarovsky was traded to the Penguins on Tuesday. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Alexei Ponikarovsky is headed to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and possibly Sidney Crosby’s left flank.

Ponikarovsky, 29, was traded to Pittsburgh late Tuesday, on the eve of the NHL’s trade deadline, by the Toronto Maple Leafs in return for forward Luca Caputi and defenceman Martin Skoula.

“I didn’t reckon this was a deal we’d be able to do,” Penguins general manager Fred Shero said. “If you’d have told me we could do it a few days ago, I’d have said, ‘No way.’

“This gives us a chance to be a excellent team again. I was pleased with our team. We didn’t have to take anything off our team.”

Ponikarovsky was scratched from the lineup prior to Toronto’s 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, fuelling speculation that he was about to be peddled.

“I don’t reckon you should look at Poni and where he goes as a distraction,” Maple Leafs forward John Mitchell, who scored Toronto’s lone goal, said in trying to clarify the loss.

“We’re all professionals here and we have to go out and play. We know what’s at stake, especially on a day like this. We shouldn’t be distracted by that, but maybe some guys are.”

Ponikarovsky has posted 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points in 61 games this season, his ninth in the NHL.

The rugged left-winger has compiled 114 goals and 257 points in 477 NHL games since he was drafted in the fourth round (87th overall) by Toronto in 1998.

He will be reunited in Pittsburgh with countryman Ruslan Fedotenko, also from Ukraine.

“He is a excellent, hard-working winger who drives to the net hard,” Fedotenko said of Ponikarovsky, who counts $480,000 US against the salary cap for the rest of the season.

“He has excellent size. He is a excellent player. I feel like he is a excellent addition for us.”

‘Luca was the guy they wanted’

Caputi, 21, is an offensive-minded prospect with NHL games to his credit (two goals, three points).

The Toronto native has 47 points in 54 games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season.

“Luca was the guy they wanted,” Shero said. “We had a long discussion internally.

“That was not a guy we wanted to trade or looked to trade. But at the end of the day, Poni was that guy [we needed more].”

Skoula, competing in his 10th NHL season, has played 33 games with Pittsburgh this season and, though affordable at $575,000 US, is eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1.

The 30-year-ancient veteran has totalled 44 goals and 193 points with 324 penalty minutes in 757 NHL games since the Colorado Avalanche selected him 17th overall in the 1998 draft.

He has also played for the Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.

With files from The Canadian Press

Alexei Ponikarovsky was traded to the Penguins on Tuesday. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Alexei Ponikarovsky is headed to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and possibly Sidney Crosby’s left flank.

Ponikarovsky, 29, was traded late Tuesday to Pittsburgh by the Toronto Maple Leafs in return for forward Luca Caputi and defenceman Martin Skoula.

Ponikarovsky has posted 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points in 61 games this season, his ninth in the NHL.

The rugged left-winger has compiled 114 goals and 257 points in 477 NHL games since he was drafted in the fourth round (87th overall) by Toronto in 1998.

Caputi, 21, is an offensive-minded prospect with NHL games to his credit (two goals, three points).

The Toronto native has 47 points in 54 games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season.

Skoula, competing in his 10th NHL season, has played 33 games with Pittsburgh this season.

The 30-year-ancient veteran has totalled 44 goals and 193 points with 324 penalty minutes in 757 NHL games since the Colorado Avalanche selected him 17th overall in the 1998 draft.

He has also played for the Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.

With files from The Canadian Press