The Vancouver Canucks took care of business against a road weary Dallas Stars club on Tuesday night with a 5-2 victory at Rogers Arena to extend their winning streak to five games. The BC Boys jumped out to an early two-nothing lead and forced the Stars to chase matters; tough sledding for a team playing it’s third road game in four nights.
Birthday boy J.T. Miller, now age 30, had a goal and an assist in the win. 25-year-old defenceman Guillaume Brisebois scored his first NHL goal and Thatcher Demko was the winning netminder to run his record to 5-and-1 since coming back from injury.
“I think it’s huge for our group,” Vancouver forward Brock Boeser, who had three assists, said postgame. “To get these wins I think it gives our group confidence. It shows that if we play the right way, we can be a really good team in this league.”
Canucks Goal Scorers:
1st Period
1-0 Canucks – Even Strength – Phil Di Giuseppe (3) from J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, 1:35
The recently re-signed coach’s favourite, PDG went to the net and redirected a pass past (not THE) Matt Murray.
2-0 Canucks – Power play – Andrei Kuzmenko (33) from Conor Garland and Brock Boeser, 6:00
‘Koozy’ took a cross-ice, seam pass and ripped it into a gaping net from the low left wing circle.
2nd Period
3-1 Canucks – Even Strength – Anthony Beauvillier (16) from Christian Wolanin and Elias Pettersson, 11:53
Beauvillier pulled off a delightful deflection of a slapshot from the left point while midway up the left wing circle.
3rd Period
4-2 Canucks – Even Strength – Guillaume Brisebois (1) from Nils Aman and Conor Garland, 4:09
His first NHL goal came in beautiful fashion — a wicked wrister from the slot, high glove.
— “It felt great, I can’t really put words into it,” Brisebois said after the game. “It just happened so quickly and now I can reflect on it and I’m really happy. The guys made an unbelievable play on the sequence so I’m really grateful for that.”
5-2 Canucks – Even Strength – J.T. Miller (25) from Brock Boeser, 16:58
Miller rounded out the scoring with a birthday goal by snapping a rocket high glove on Murray.
— Vancouver continues to creep up the NHL standings with the wins. They’re now tied for 8th worst with the St. Louis Blues with an identical record of 29-32-and-5. It’ll take some work to further destroy their draft lottery odds as they’re still a half dozen points behind the Detroit Red Wings, the next team they could catch.
— Vancouver plays at the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday and then visits the Pacific Division’s second place LA Kings on Saturday. They complete the three games in four nights run at the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
