Quinn Hughes had a goal and two assists and Conor Garland added three assists as the Vancouver Canucks defeated visiting Seattle 5-2 Tuesday night, sweeping the four-game season series from the expansion Kraken.
The Canucks (39-30-11, 89 points) built a 3-0 lead in the first period while still in the NHL’s Western Conference wild-card race, but they were eliminated midway through the game when the Vegas-Dallas contest went to overtime, putting the Stars out of Vancouver’s reach.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a goal and an assist and Sheldon Dries, J.T. Miller and Luke Schenn also scored for the Canucks, who snapped a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). Spencer Martin made 30 saves for his second career victory.
Jordan Eberle and Morgan Geekie scored for Seattle (26-47-6, 58 points), which lost its third game in a row. Joey Daccord stopped 22 of 27 shots.
Dries opened the scoring 2:46 into the game on a three-on-one rush, keeping the puck and beating Daccord with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.
The Canucks made it 2-0 just 48 seconds later as Miller buried a one-timer from between the top of the faceoff circles after taking a drop pass from Garland.
Ekman-Larsson extended the lead to 3-0 on the power play at 15:05 of the first, with a snap shot from near the blue line making its way through a screen and into the upper left corner of the net.
The Canucks killed off one five-on-three situation early in the second period, but Seattle finally got on the board at the end of another two-man advantage.
Rookie Matty Beniers took a pass from Jared McCann just outside the top of the crease, and he whipped a backhanded pass to a wide-open Eberle at the left post for a tap-in at 4:59.
The Kraken pulled within 3-2 at 9:12 of the second. They dumped the puck into the offensive zone, and Riley Sheahan won a race into the corner to gain possession and fed Geekie out front for a one-timer into the upper right corner of the net.
Schenn made it 4-2 at 13:10 of the third, tapping a rebound of Matthew Highmore’s shot into the net.
Hughes capped the scoring at 15:59 off a pass from Garland on a two-on-one rush.
–Field Level Media
