Strong defensive effort helps Canucks pull even with Knights

[August 26, 2020]  Bo Horvat scored two goals and Tyler Toffoli and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and two assists as the Vancouver Canucks bounced back to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night in Edmonton.

Jacob Markstrom, pulled in the third period of a 5-0 loss in Game 1 on Sunday, stopped 38 shots and also got plenty of help from his defense, which blocked a franchise-postseason-record 40 shots.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night.

Horvat, who had gone five games without recording a point, leapfrogged Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon and Dallas' Joe Pavelski into sole possession of the league lead for postseason goals with eight while also winning 21 of 26 faceoffs.

Tanner Pearson had an empty-net goal and Alexander Edler added a pair of assists for the Canucks.

Alex Tuch and Max Pacioretty scored goals and Shea Theodore had two assists for Vegas, which lost for the first time in regulation in 12 games in franchise history (9-1-2) against the Canucks. Robin Lehner finished with 22 saves.

Vancouver took a 1-0 lead at the 1:29 mark of the first period when Toffoli, playing his first shift after missing 10 games with an injury, poked in a brilliant wraparound pass through the crease by Pettersson into a wide-open left side of the net.

It was Toffoli's 10th career playoff goal and first since Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference finals as a member of the Los Angeles Kings.

Knights goaltender Robin Lehner (90) warms up prior to game two of the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Gerry Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Horvat made it 2-0 with a power-play goal, taking Toffoli's centering pass from behind the goal and then one-timing a shot from the slot past Lehner's glove side at 10:59 of the first.

Vegas cut the lead to 2-1 on Tuch's sixth goal of the playoffs at 6:34 of the second period. But Pettersson, who hit the crossbar a couple minutes earlier, answered with his fifth goal of the playoffs near the end of the second period, taking a pass from Edler in the slot and then deking Lehner to his glove side before wrapping a shot into the left side of the goal.

Horvat, left alone on the right side of the net, scored his second goal of the game 18 seconds into the third period to make it 4-1. He took a backhand pass from Brock Boeser and then flipped a shot past Lehner's glove side.

Vegas pulled Lehner with 2:50 left after Edler picked up a cross-checking penalty, producing a six-on-four power play, and Pacioretty scored with 1:26 to play.

Pearson sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 30 seconds left.

--Field Level Media

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