In Vancouver, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (three assists) and Conor Garland (goal) led the Canucks to a 5-1 win on Tuesday night over their former team, the Arizona Coyotes.
Thatcher Demko made 35 saves in the Vancouver win.
“It was tough, to be honest with you,” Ekman-Larsson said. “A lot of emotions and just seeing the guys on the other side. I thought it was going to be easier. I didn’t feel good in the game tonight. I thought I probably had more tape-to-tape passes with their team than our team, but hey, we take the win and it was good to see the guys and it was nice to get two points.”
Lawson Crouse scored the lone Coyotes goal in the middle frame.
“We did that to ourselves,” Crouse said. “A couple mistakes that led to the first one, and then we took a penalty and they scored right away, and then it seemed like right away again.”
The Coyotes dropped to 11-31-4.
“I was happy about most of the game, to be honest,” Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said. “Okay, we had that stretch in the second period, three or four minutes where we didn’t play really well, but at the same time we play against a good NHL team, you won’t have the momentum for 60 minutes. We could not stop the bleeding, but I don’t mind the way we fought. Our forecheck was really good, we create a lot in the [offensive] zone, their goalie was the best player on the ice, so that’s the difference.”
Vancouver benefited from their front line skaters getting on the scoresheet, again.
J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Bo Horvat had a goal apiece in the win.
“If your best players aren’t your best players, you very rarely win, and tonight they stepped up and did the job when they had to,” Vancouver head coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I thought the best players did what they had to, and that’s score some goals.”
The Canucks improved to 21-20-6.
Brock Boeser scored off the power play in the third period for the 5-1 final count.
Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves in the Arizona loss.
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