In Vancouver, the Canucks found a solid, complete game and defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 on Thursday night.
Jake Virtanen struck twice for the Canucks.
“It was one of our better games of the year,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “That’s a really good hockey team over there and it’s nice to get a win. I love how our team responded.”
The Maple Leafs were coming off a three-game sweep of the Oilers in Edmonton.
“It’s disappointing,” the Maple Leafs’ John Tavares said. “We really wanted to come in off of three really good games to build on that, to not take this one lightly and really continue to find growth and challenge ourselves. Obviously, it didn’t go our way. We had some opportunities. We’ve probably got to make it a little more difficult around their net.”
Thatcher Demko made 32 saves to get the win.
“The biggest takeaway from the game is going into the third period up one and being able to not only play smart but continue playing our game, and continue playing aggressive and keeping the puck down in their end,” Demko said. “A huge step in the right direction for our group.”
Vancouver improved to 10-15-2.
“I feel like the last couple games I’ve gotten my confidence back,” Virtanen said. “I felt like I didn’t have it as much earlier in the season, but I feel it right now. Even in practice, I feel like I’ve just been handling the puck better, skating a little bit quicker, getting places quicker.”
After Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the first period, Pierre Engvall tied it at 1-1, but that was all the offense the Leafs were able to muster.
Bo Horvat scored in the third period for the Canucks.
Michael Hutchinson made 24 saves in the loss.
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