The Canucks entered “The Fortress” looking for their second consecutive big win on the road, having defeated the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night 4-3. Brock Boeser entered with an eight game point streak.
Boeser would continue his streak as the Canucks win 5-1.
First Period
Spencer Martin helped matters immensely by robbing Golden Knights forward Chandler Stephenson on the doorstep one minute into the match. A goal there and the building goes koo koo and the initial Vegas wave grows in size.
That aside, it still took Vancouver more than seven minutes to get its first shot on goal. Once they did, they played a dominant thirteen minutes, taking full advantage of two of their three power play opportunities and killing off one penalty of their own.
Canucks Goals
1-0 Vancouver – Power Play – Brock Boeser (3) from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland, 9:22
Boeser quickly extended his point streak to nine games with a tip-in of an OEL point shot.
2-0 Vancouver – Power Play – J.T. Miller (11) from Quinn Hughes and Bo Horvat, 18:57
Heavy wrister from the left circle, goalie Logan Thompson was late getting set and it snuck through him.
2nd Period
Sound play all around once again for the Canucks as they once again take advantage of the Golden Knight’s lack of discipline. VAN piles on at the end of the period.
3-0 Vancouver – Power Play – Elias Pettersson (11) from Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller, 11:33
‘Petey’ unloads from his spot at the top of the right wing circle and beats Thompson clean.
4-0 Vancouver – Even Strength – Andrei Kuzmenko (9) from Nils Aman and Dakota Joshua, 13:19
Left alone cruising into the low slot, Koozy one-timed a sweet feed from Aman behind the net.
5-0 Vancouver – Even Strength – Bo Horvat (17) from J.T. Miller and Nils Hoglander, 19:58
It started with hard work and a steal by Hoglander and it ended up with Horvat alone in front.
— The boo birds were out at “The Fortress” as the home team melted down.
3rd Period
Not much to say from the Canucks perspective: Keep playing your game as much as possible, avoid a catastrophe, and notch your second consecutive huge western conference road win. It also allowed head coach Bruce Boudreau a chance to even the ice time with a game the next night in San Jose.
The period featured the always classic Conor Garland – Jonathan Marchessault fight at 8:36.
At 13:23 we watched Dakota Joshua and Keegan Kolesar drop the mitts.
Marchessault ruined Martin’s shutout at 16:43 of the 3rd.
Canucks 3 Stars:
1) J.T. Miller – A goal, 2 assists, 3 shots. Power play catalyst.
2) Quinn Hughes – Team high time on ice and two assists.
3) Spencer Martin – Vegas did have chances, and by stopping the ones in the first two minutes, he changed the game.
