St. Louis, Mo – In a week that has had a bit of noise off the ice with trade rumors for the Vancouver Canucks, they emerged victorious Monday night on the road against the St. Louis Blues 5-2 inside the Enterprise Center.
It was Vancouver’s second straight victory after a 2-1 victory at home Saturday night over the Washington Capitals. Canucks captain and all-star defenseman Quinn Hughes said it was really important getting those two back-to-back wins and hopes they can get something going.
Monday night was the Conor Garland show as he tallied two goals. Head coach Rick Tocchet said that’s the kind of player Garland is and how he’s been like that all year. He said in good or even bad times, Garland tries to be consistent. Garland is the type of consistent hockey player the team is looking for according to Tocchet.
Monday night’s game started out quickly as Garland put home the opening goal making it 1-0 Vancouver. Hughes picked up the assist, giving him eight points in six games. Jake Debrusk had the secondary assist. JT Miller dropped the gloves with St. Louis’ Brayden Schenn on the following face-off, sending them both to the box.
With five minutes to go in the first, St. Louis put it home but it was waived off due to goaltender interference. St. Louis challenged, but the call was upheld which gave the Blues a delay of game penalty. Garland would tap it home once again, this time on the power play to pad the Canucks’ lead. Forward Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser picked up the assists.
Hughes said Garland brings a lot of compete and was happy for him getting on the scoresheet.
The Canucks headed to the locker room with their two-goal lead intact.
Vancouver had another chance at the power play at the 12:42 mark of the second period as St. Louis’ Robert Thomas went off for two minutes for tripping Derek Forbort. Vancouver would go two for two on the power play on a breakaway when Miller put it home at the 11:34 mark. Hughes and goaltender Kevin Lankinen picked up the assists giving Hughes his ninth point in six games. This goal forced St. Louis to switch goaltenders from Jordan Binnington to Joel Hofer. Hofer spent his WHL career with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.
St. Louis pulled within two at 3-1 at the 9:52 mark of the period when Dylan Holloway scored on the power play. Vancouver going on the kill was a result of Tyler Myers tripping Holloway at the 10:44 mark.
Vancouver’s Nils Hoglander would go off for four minutes at the 7:58 mark for high-sticking. But Pius Suter found the puck on a breakaway and put it home shorthanded at the 6:24 mark as the Canucks went up 4-1. It was the first time in three weeks that Vancouver had scored four goals in a game. The Canucks would go to the dressing room with momentum for the third period.
St. Louis would pull within two on a goal at the 15:38 mark of the third period by Colton Parayko to make it 4-2 Vancouver. With 4:38 to go the Blues pulled Hofer in favor of the extra attacker. Vancouver would seal it with an empty net goal by Myers with 2:03 left.
It was Myers’ first game back after dealing with a suspension with Hughes noting how huge it was to have him back. He noted Myers’ play with the puck, on the penalty kill, good defensive skills and just overall leadership. Lankinen echoed Hughes about Myers’ leadership ability and how he covers a lot of space.
“He’s just a good guy to have on your side,” Lankinen said of Myers.
Tocchet said he thought Myers was one of the best players on the ice for Vancouver and was terrific for them.
“When he’s out you really miss a guy like that,” Tocchet said. “His breakouts were great, he was excellent. Those three days he was out he worked really hard, he didn’t miss a beat.”
It was simply a solid team effort with contributions from across the board Monday night. Hughes noted the team’s solid play in Monday night’s game.
“I thought we played good defense in the third and we were ready to go in the first, so lots to like about tonight,” Hughes said.
It was a solid night in net for Lankinen as he finished with 24 saves on 26 shot attempts in addition to the assist on Miller’s goal. Tocchet said he gave them a great start against both the Capitals and in Monday night’s game.
“He’s pretty solid for us right now,” Tocchet said of Lankinen’s recent performances.
Hughes also had praise for Lankinen saying how terrific he’s been and how it was nice for him to get on the scoresheet.
Lankinen getting the victory Monday night gave him a career-high in victories with 18, but it was a big win as the Canucks are now four points ahead of the Blues in the wild card race.
“Every win means a lot, it’s never easy to win in this league,” Lankinen said. “You have to be thankful whenever you get the two points.”
Lankinen said he was really happy with the effort from all of them and noted how his teammates made his job easy Monday night.
With his performance Monday night, Hughes became the 77th defenseman in NHL history with 100 career multi-point games.
Tocchet said it was a big four-point game as they’re both going for playoff spots. Going into Wednesday night’s 6 p.m. game in Nashville against the Predators, Vancouver sits at 22-17-10. Vancouver will then wrap up the three-game road trip Friday at 5 p.m. against the Dallas Stars.
He noted the good start to the game for Vancouver and the power play unit getting that early goal for them.
“I thought we started on time, so the first period kind of set us up for the game, so it was a nice win for us,” Tocchet said.
On another note, the former Winterhawk goaltender Hofer finished with 10 saves on 11 shot attempts for St. Louis after coming on in relief of Binnington.
Northwest Sports Desk 