Elias Petterson, Nils Hoglander and Pius Suter each had a goal and an assist, and the Vancouver Canucks scored three goals in the first period in a 5-0 victory against the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Arena on Saturday.
Thatcher Demko made 12 saves before leaving 6:40 into the second period with an unmentioned injury.
“I don’t think it’s too serious, but I don’t know,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I can’t speculate. I haven’t talked to the doctor.”
Casey DeSmith made 10 saves in relief, and Quinn Hughes had two assists for the Cancuks (42-17-7), who opened a season-long nine-game homestand with their fourth straight victory after sweeping a three-game road trip.
Vancouver has permitted three goals during the winning streak.
“Feel really good, but I’ll give you the old cliche answer that tomorrow is a new day and we’ve just got to keep going, can’t get too high or too low,” Hughes said. “After beating some of those teams we just beat and the way we beat them, only allowing three goals in four games, obviously [Demko] was a big part of that, and Casey coming in, finishing it off, but feel real good about how we’re playing.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves for the Jets (40-18-5), who were coming off a 3-0 victory at the Seattle Kraken on Friday.
“Whatever my message was before the game was clearly wrong,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “It starts with that, I guess. The bottom line is that’s the worst game we have played in my two years here. By far. Because we didn’t have one player play a good game. Not one. It starts there. And it ends there. It’s as simple as that.”
J.T. Miller put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 2:05 of the first period, poking the second rebound of Hughes’ initial shot over the goal line after Hoglander chipped it behind Hellebuyck.
Hoglander then made it 2-0 off the rush at 13:47 with a wrist shot from the right dot that passed through a moving screen from Suter and in off Hellebuyck. It was Hoglander’s 20th goal of the season, all at even strength.
“He’s been terrific for us, energy-wise,” Tocchet said. “There’s been games where we’re maybe not on our game, and he’ll just do something, whether it’s heavy forecheck or get a big goal, to ignite our team. He’s an igniter.”
Philip Di Giuseppe made it 3-0 at 17:00 on a 2-on-1 that started with Demko making a backdoor save on Mason Appleton with his left pad. The puck bounced out to Teddy Blueger, who skated up on ice and passed across to Di Giuseppe in tight. It was Di Giuseppe’s second consecutive game with a goal after going 29 without scoring.
“I just didn’t get it up,” Appleton said of his shot. “Good save, but I had half of the net to work with. If I elevated that puck. That’s just what it was. Five seconds later, it’s in the back of our net and we’re down [3-0]. That was kind of tough to swallow there.”
Pettersson made it 4-0 on a power play at 4:04 of the second period, sending a bouncing puck past Hellebuyck after Hughes’ point shot hit Conor Garland in the slot and deflected to the left side of the crease.
It was not clear when Demko was injured. He made a glove save off a Vladislav Namestnikov one-timer in the low slot 2:36 into the second period but was on his knees with a skate on each post as the pass was from behind the net and got up slowly. Demko played four more minutes before leaving the Canucks game.
DeSmith said Demko warned him earlier to get ready.
“It was nice to have a little heads up, just to get the mind right before going in, take it from there,” DeSmith said. “I have no idea what’s going on. Obviously, I hope for the best and hopefully, it’s just a couple of days thing and he moves forward with no complications or anything. Obviously, not the circumstances I like to be a part of a game, but that’s a heck of a win against a really good team. And just to go drop off the puck, all the way to the end of the game and really take it to them, that was an impressive win for the team.”
Suter knocked in a loose puck at the top of the crease at 15:06 of the third period for the 5-0 final.
“Huge game, obviously, two top teams in the West, [points] percentage-wise, going at it, and to kind of lay an egg like that is unacceptable,” said Appleton. “We will go home and look in the mirror, try and turn the page. But we’re a lot better hockey club than we showed tonight.”
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