|
 Left winger Daniel Sedin broke a 1-1 tie midway through a wild third
period, and the Canucks defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 Wednesday
night.
Vancouver, which earned a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday,
has back-to-back victories for the first time in more than a month.
The Canucks (11-11-8) regrouped after being badly outplayed in the
first period Wednesday, then didn't lose their cool when the Rangers
tied the game on a questionable penalty shot in the third.
"That's what good teams do," said Daniel Sedin, who scored his 13th
goal of the season and collected his 20th assist. "In the past maybe
we were letting that one slip away.
"We battled hard and got through the first period. It's starting to
go in the right way for us. We're feeling better about ourselves for
sure."
Defenseman Alex Edler scored on a power play and added an assist for
the Canucks. Center Henrik Sedin had two assists.
Defenseman Dan Boyle scored for the Rangers (18-8-3) on a penalty
shot.
Neither team scored during the first two periods even though the
Rangers outshot Vancouver 23-14 and looked to be in control.
Things began to shift in the third when the Rangers took four
consecutive penalties, including a bench minor for unsportsmanlike
conduct.
With the Canucks playing five-on-three, Edler scored the game's
first goal at 3:19, taking a Daniel Sedin pass and drilling a shot
through traffic that beat Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (23
saves).
Boyle tied the game at 8:54 when Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev was
called for putting his hand on the puck in the crease.
Daniel Sedin restored the lead just 40 seconds later. He deflected a
slap pass from Edler at a sharp angle past Lundqvist.
Before the back-to-back wins, the Canucks lost five consecutive
games (0-3-2) and looked to be spiraling out of the playoff race.
Vancouver goaltender Ryan Miller said the team was better than its
record showed.
"When I looked at our game, I saw little things that led to losses,"
said Miller, who made 32 saves and kept his team in the game early.
"You can clean up little things when you have good effort and you
have battle.
"We got our feet moving after the first period and we got some
chances against a good team. In the third period, I thought our
battle level was really high."
The Canucks' win was dampened by an injury to defenseman Dan
Hamhuis. He was hit in the face by a Boyle shot with about 7:30 left
in the third. He left the ice with blood pouring from his face and
didn't return.
[to top of second column] |
Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins said Hamhuis lost some teeth and
probably broke his jaw.
Hamhuis was expected to spend the night in hospital.
"It's scary," Desjardins said. "It's a hard thing to take. He'll
suffer with that for a little while."
The result was disappointing for New York after it dominated the
first half of the game. The Rangers got off to a hot start early in
the season but have cooled down lately. After a streak in which they
went 11-0-1, the Rangers are 2-5-1 in their past eight games.
"There's no doubt in the first two periods I felt we carried the
play," New York coach Alain Vigneault said. "We had some good
opportunities but weren't able to capitalize on them."
Center Jarrett Stoll said the Rangers moved the puck well but
couldn't finish plays.
"We played a really good team game," he said. "We're holding onto
pucks, but that doesn't necessarily lead to a lot of scoring
chances.
"We were putting a lot of pucks to the net and playing well, but it
was hard to create the big chances. They really pack it in and
didn't give us much, but we tried hard."
NOTES: Vancouver rookie LW Jake Virtanen was sent to the Utica
Comets of the AHL for conditioning after missing a week with a hip
injury. ... LW Ronalds Kenins and D Yannick Weber were healthy
scratches for Vancouver. ... Canucks RW Jannik Hansen played in his
500th career game. ... Vancouver last won consecutive games Oct. 30
and Nov. 2. ... The Canucks open a six-game road trip Sunday in
Chicago. ... Rangers RW Emerson Etem was a healthy scratch. ... The
Rangers won their previous three games against Vancouver by a
combined score of 12-2. ... New York C Derek Stepan (broken ribs)
and D Kevin Klein (strained oblique) remain sidelined. ... New
York's Alain Vigneault coached in his 999th game, and 540 were with
Vancouver during seven seasons. ... The Rangers continue their
three-game Western Canadian road trip Friday in Edmonton.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
