By james art The Canucks scored a few goals early and held onto that lead to secure the win and complete their four-game road trip with three straight wins and a 3-1 record.
Danton Heinen had two goals, JT Miller had a three point night and Connor Garland had a goal and an assist.
Head coach Rick Tocchet was pleased his team was able to generate scoring chances and the power play worked like a well-oiled machine, with Vancouver scoring on two of its three opportunities with the man advantage.
“Overall, I’m happy with the game, but I still think the insides of the ice are something we’re not as good at as we were last year. We have to really start to understand that, I think we’re missing too many opportunities in the middle of the ice. We scored six goals in total, I’m happy,” Tocchet said.
Garland credited the Heinen-Teddy Bluger-Kiefer Sherwood line for setting the tone of the game and helping the team take an early lead. Sherwood had a career-high 12 goals as well as two assists.
“Great job on Teddy’s line tonight, probably our best line by a mile. [They] got us into the game tonight, got us going and carried it through the rest of the 60 [minutes]. They played really well for us tonight,” Garland said.
Tocchet also mentioned that Bluger’s first goal from the line was the perfect example of a play within the system.
“They were close together, they played the right way, they were very rarely out there with odd shots. I think they were just in good places, and when you’re in good places, good things happen,” Tocchet said.
Heinen said the early goal gave the team a boost. His line was centered on playing up north, strong forechecking and playing towards the Canucks’ structure.
“I think we just kept it simple, trying to get pucks deep, drive the cycle and not get too fancy,” Heinen said.
Kevin Lankinen picked up his third win in as many games, stopping 31 of 34 shots he faced.
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The two teams combined for six goals in the first period alone, with Heinen wasting no time scoring 21 seconds into the game. Heinen’s line got the puck back on the forecheck and made quite a passing play: Sherwood with a diagonal cross pass to Blueger, finding Heinen trying in the slot, firing a quick wrist shot to the goal.