In Vancouver, the Canucks got goals from seven different skaters in a 7-2 shellacking of the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. 
Andrei Kuzmenko scored his 35th goal in the win, to set a franchise record for most goals by a Canucks skater in their first year.
“I’m happy. It’s important for my family, for me as well,” Kuzmenko said with help translating from fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin. “It’s good, but I need to be better. I need to score a lot of goals, maybe 40, 45. Keep working.”
Thatcher Demko made 17 saves in the win.
J.T. Miller, opened the scoring to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead in the first period.
“We needed it today,” Miller said of the scoring depth. “I don’t think we were sharp for the 60 minutes, to be honest. Our power play kind of sucked the life out of our game. We’re definitely better than what we’re showing right now.”
Vancouver improved to 32-34-5 off their eighth win in 10 games.
Kuzmenko scored in the first as well to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead.
Tomas Hertl trimmed the deficit to 2-1 for San Jose, but Vancouver scored with less than a second left on the first period clock on a strike by Dakota Joshua for a 3-1 lad headed to the middle frame.
“We got one back but we just killed ourselves in the first because the three goals, we just give it to them,” Hertl said. “It wasn’t like they have to do anything special. It was just three free goals, and after it was too many penalties, and that’s how it’s going for us lately. We just give them the goals by our mistakes, and I just can’t start it. I am one of the guys here and [it] just can’t happen like that.”
The Sharks dropped their eighth straight game and fell to 19-38-15.
“When you make so many changes, some of the things that are happening out there are not really the fault of the new players,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “They just haven’t been accustomed to playing the way you want to play, but the guys that have been here have to keep this thing together and understand we’ve got a season to finish, and we’ve got to do a better job finishing on a strong note.”
Vancouver extended the lead to 4-1 in the second period on a marker from Conor Garland.
In the third, San Jose got one back to make it 4-2, on a strike from Andrew Agozzino, but the Canucks just added three to their total.
Podkolzin scored on the power play for a 5-2 advantage, and Phillip Di Giuseppe scored for a 6-2 win.
Sheldon Dries rubbed salt in the wound with a shorthanded goal for the 7-2 final.
James Reimer made 14 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.