Blues Handle the Canucks 4-1, Vancouver Finishes Roadie 2-1-1

St. Louis Blues 4, Vancouver Canucks 1

Jaroslav Halak, the winner against the Colorado Avalanche to start this four-game road trip in Denver earned the start Monday night to conclude the trip. With the Canucks seeing the Blues again Wednesday night in Vancouver, Thatcher Demko will get the start in the back-end of the home-and-home.

Ville Husso, who made 38 saves and beat the Canucks 3-1 at Rogers Arena back on January 23rd in the only previous meeting of the two teams this season, picked up the start for the Blues.

Canucks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau, a wee bit superstitious and a firm believer in ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’, started the same forward lines and defensive pairings.

Goal Scorers

1st Period 1-0 St. Louis – Marco Scandella (2) – Vladimir Tarasenko, Robert Thomas (6:37) Even Strength

((– Under pressure, the Canucks Will Lockwood deflected a pass/shot up high on to goalie Halak and Scandella was there to smash in the rebound))

1st Period 2-0 St. Louis – David Perron (23) – Ivan Barbashev (14:02) Even Strength

((– Conor Garland turned the puck over at the Blues blueline and they executed a perfect 2-on-1 going the other way))

3rd Period 3-0 St. Louis – Vladimir Tarasenko (22) – Pavel Buchnevich, Robert Thomas (:49) Even Strength

((– Halak created his own problem by knocking down a shot that was going wide, right back to Tarasenko who ramped it in))

3rd Period 3-1 Vancouver – Brad Hunt (3) – Juho Lammikko, Vasily Podkolzin (2:13) Even Strength

((– A rare 3-on-1 for the Canucks and Hunt the puck carrier decided to hold it and rip it top shelf, glove side on Husso))

3rd Period 4-1 St. Louis – Vladimir Tarasenko (23) – Brandon Saad, Brayden Schenn (17:47) Empty-netter

((– “The Tank” ripped one home for his 500th career NHL point and his third of the night))

Special Teams

The Canucks have been outstanding on the penalty kill dating back to March 13th at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning when the Bolts went 0-for-2 on the power play. Since that game and including Monday night when the Blues went 0-for-3, Vancouver has killed off 21 of its last 23 shorthanded situations.

In terms of the man advantage the Canucks picked up two in the game. Their second effort that came just after Hunt scored in the third period didn’t seem to propel momentum. They finished 0-for-2 against the NHL’s 7th best penalty kill.

The Schenn Boys

Canucks Defenceman Luke: 17:50, 3 hits, 3 blocked shots, 1 shot on goal, minus-1

Blues Forward Brayden: 17:14, 1 assist, 1 blocked shot, 4 hits, 1 shot on goal, 2 takeaways, even

Simmer’s Canucks 3 Stars:

3) Brad Hunt – Bounced back from a leg injury in the first period to scored the only goal of the game for Vancouver.

2) Juho Lammikko – Picked up an assist, won 70% of his draws and was a rare Canuck effective on the forecheck.

1) Quinn Hughes – Ate up 26+ minutes.