If all around you are going to lose, then you may as well go ahead and keep winning.
On Thursday night, the Vancouver Canucks downed the Arizona Coyotes, 7-1. In the meantime, the Dallas Stars were losing in overtime, and the Nashville Predators were being shut out.
The win pulled the Canucks within five points of the wild card in the Weste4rn Conference.
Vasily Podkolzin and Alex Chiasson each hit for doubles in the win.
J.T. Miller recorded five assists for the Canucks.
“I try to feel like I’m never satisfied. I’ve got an amazing opportunity since I’ve been here, I’ve gotten to play in every situation, which is something I’ve worked for my whole career,” Miller said. “But that being said, it doesn’t really mean [much] to me if we don’t play in the playoffs. It’s great, but I’m not in this for the personal game. … I really just want to play in the playoffs because when you score in the playoffs, that’s when it means a lot.”
Thatcher Demko made 21 saves in the Vancouver win.
Andrew Ladd was the lone striker for the Coyotes.
“I like the way we played in the third period,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “We showed more pride in the third period. For me, that’s our team. That’s the way we have to fight. … We gave up, what, 27 shots? There are some positives there.”
The Canucks improved to 37-28-10.
Chiasson and Sheldon Dries (power play)struck for goals to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead.
“We don’t want to waste this opportunity,” Chiasson said. “[Miller] has been the head of the bus all year and I’m just trying to help with the injuries and stuff.”
Elias Pettersson hit off the power play for a 3-0 lead to Vancouver.
Arizona dropped to 22-47-5.
Vancouver was 3-for4 with the extra skater.
“You get that third goal when your team is losing a lot like they are, it becomes a really daunting, uphill battle,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said.
Podkolzin also scored off the power play.
“It’s just one of those games, I guess, where we seem to have open ice a little bit and guys are driving the net,” Miller said of his line with Podkolzin and Chiasson. “I’m just passing it to them, they’re the ones putting it in the net.”
Conor Garland also scored for the Canucks.
Karel Vejmelka got the start for the Coyotes and surrendered six goals while making 16 saves.
Harri Sateri made four saves in a mop up role.
“I’m disappointed about the number of penalties and the way we took our penalties,” Tourigny said. “We know they feed off their power play a lot, so we give them the opportunity and they did what they had to do.”
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