Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars

Canucks, Demko Beat Stars In OT, 5-4

Maybe the Dallas Stars thought it was going to be easy. They didn’t look fully engaged in the first period and the energetic Canucks took advantage while playing in front of goalie Thatcher Demko for the first time since December 1st.

The big Californian finally made his long-awaited return.

Canucks Goal Scorers:

1st Period

1-0 Canucks – Even Strength – Anthony Beauvillier (14) from Andrei Kuzmenko and Elias Pettersson, 3:27

Goalie Jake Oettinger spit out a huge rebound on a harmless shot and “Beau” ripped it home from the left wing circle just as the puck landed on the ice.

2-1 Canucks – Power Play – Sheldon Dries (9) from Conor Garland and Christian Wolanin, 9:00

After giving up a shorthanded goal, Vancouver went ahead again with Dries’s tip-in of a Garland slapshot.

3-1 Canucks – Even Strength – Vasily Podkolzin (2) from Aatu Raty and Quinn Hughes, 15:03

“Pods” took a feed at the blueline, cruised to the slot and wired a shot past goalie Oettinger.

2nd Period

4-2 Canucks – Even Strength – Anthony Beauvillier (15) from Quinn Hughes and Andrei Kuzmenko, 11:28

A cross-slot pass from Hughes was deflected and ended up right in “Beau’s” wheelhouse in the right wing circle.

Holy Breakaways!

Sportsnet had the Dallas Stars with five breakaways in the game through the first 25-minutes and on that fifth one Evgenii Dadonov scored to cut the Vancouver lead to 3-2 that early in the 2nd period.

The Stars gradually took over control of the game as the second period moved along into the 3rd period, but found themselves tied with Vancouver late, 4-4.

Demko came up big for Vancouver, shots were 38-20 through regulation in favour of Dallas.

OT

5-4 Canucks – Even Strength (3-on-3) – Andrei Kuzmenko (28) from Anthony Beauvillier and Quinn Hughes, :48

“Koozy” deflected home a Beauvillier shot on the doorstep for the win.

Canucks 3 Stars:

1) Thatcher Demko – Like he has so often in recent years, Demko saved Vancouver time and time again.

2) Anthony Beauvillier – Two snipes featuring remarkable hand-eye coordination.

3) Quinn Hughes – The architect of the Vancouver offence, with 26:48 of ice time and three assists.

Rob Simpson

Rob Simpson has covered the NHL in five different decades. He’s authored 4 books on hockey and is a veteran TV and radio play-by-play man and reporter.