In Vancouver, the Canucks built a 3-0 lead on Ottawa after two periods of play on Saturday, and held off the Senators for a 5-2 win. 
Thatcher Demko made 18 saves for the re-energized Canucks in the win.
“We can definitely feel it in the room. I think there’s a buy-in that’s going on right now,” Demko said. “That’s just playing the right way. It’s contagious when everyone’s doing it and it looks good.”
Vancouver improved to 28-32-5 off their fourth straight win.
The Canucks are 7-2-1 in their last 10.
Andrei Kuzmenko, who hit for a double in the game, scored in the first period to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead.
J.T. Miller scored his sixth shorthanded goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0 in the middle frame.
“We’re continuing to go in the right direction,” Miller said. “They got a couple at the end, but we should be proud of our effort against a team on that much of a roll and fighting for their playoff lives. It feels good to beat them.”
The Canucks have 11 shorthanded goals this campaign.
“It’s just a matter of catching our breaks, honestly,” Miller said. “We got gifted a 2-on-1 and [DeBrincat] pretty much fell. So, it’s not like we’re looking for them, they’re just kind of falling on our tape right now.”
Midway through the second period Nils Aman added a marker for the Canucks to send the game to the third period with Vancouver in control, 3-0.
At 6:40 of the third, Sheldon Dries ballooned the Canucks lead to 4-0 on a break out.
“We took six penalties on the road tonight. You’re not going to win,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said.
Ottawa finally got their offense in gear with a pair goals.
The Senators dropped to 33-28-4.
Claude Giroux and Nick Holden scored to trim the deficit to 4-2.
“It’s frustrating,” Ottawa’s Claude Giroux said. “I didn’t think we played that bad. We did a lot of good things but kind of a weird game. to be honest. You think you’re playing pretty good and then you’re down 4-0, so definitely frustrating.”
Kuzmenko’s second of the night was into an empty net for the 5-2 final with 15 seconds left on the game clock.
Mads Sogaard made 25 saves in the Ottawa loss.
“We had an opportunity, 6-on-4 with two minutes to go, to narrow the game to one and we end up in the box,” Smith said.
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