04/20/2022 – Page 4 – CanucksBanter

Vancouver Canucks’ Vasily Podkolzin (92) tries to get his stick on the puck in front of Ottawa Senators goalie Filip Gustavsson while being checked by Nick Holden, back left, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 19, 2022, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Adam Gaudette scored the shootout winner in the fifth round and the Ottawa Senators beat the Canucks 4-3 on Tuesday night, snapping Vancouver’s six-game win streak.

“That felt good. It’s been a long time coming,” Gaudette said. “It was a good game overall, played hard, matched their energy in a must-win for them and it was a good night.”

The Canucks took a 2-0 lead in the first period but stumbled through the second and third before dropping their first game since April 3.

Alex Formenton had a pair of goals in regulation for the Senators. Parker Kelly also scored and Nikita Zaitsev had two assists.

“We knew it was going to be kind of a playoff style game,” Formenton said. “They’re hungry for those points and they need it so they came out strong and it was a good back and forth game.”

J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, and Travis Dermott scored his first goal for the Canucks.

Ottawa’s Filip Gustavsson stopped 34 of 37 shots for his first win since Nov. 13.

Vancouver’s Jaroslav Halak stopped all 14 shots he faced in the first period, but appeared to suffer an injury late in the frame and was replaced by Thatcher Demko to start the second. Demko made 15 saves in relief.

The loss hurt Vancouver’s fragile hopes of a securing a playoff spot. The Canucks are four points behind the Dallas Stars, who hold the second Western Conference wild-card spot.

Taking a single point on Tuesday hasn’t changed anything for the Canucks, head coach Bruce Boudreau said.

“We were going to be allowed one mulligan somewhere along the road,” he said, noting that his team has responded well to adversity in the past.

“That’s the kind of mentality we need. This is a group that’s fought for four-and-a-half months, almost five months now. And they’re not going to quit now.”

Drake Batherson also scored for the Sens in the shootout and Miller beat Gustavsson for the Canucks.

Vancouver dominated overtime, not allowing Ottawa a shot.

Both teams were playing the second game of a back-to-back, with Ottawa having dropped a 4-2 decision to the Seattle Kraken on Monday.

“We just played with way more emotion (against Vancouver),” Senators head coach D.J. Smith said. “We didn’t have any legs last night for whatever reason, and we just weren’t able to do it right.

“Outside of killing as many penalties as we did, five on five we had way better legs today.”

Demko denied Formenton a hat trick midway through the third, stretching out his left leg to make a last-second skate save on a shot from in tight.

Vancouver tied the score at 3-all moments earlier when Boeser sent a pass to Dermott from behind the net and the defenseman fired in a shot from the top of the crease.

The goal marked Dermott’s first point in a Canucks jersey, coming in his 13th game with the team. The Toronto Maple Leafs dealt the blueliner to Vancouver for a third-round draft pick at the trade deadline in March.

The Senators took the lead 3:49 into the third when Formenton collected a loose puck along the boards and sprinted in for a breakaway, sending a wrist shot into the top corner to make it 3-2.

Kelly scored the tying goal 2:17 into the period with a shot from the hash marks that hit the crossbar and bounced off Demko’s back.

Vancouver outshot the Ottawa 16-8 in the second period, but it was the Senators who found the back of the net.

Tim Stutzle fired a shot from inside the blue line and Nikita Zaitsev tipped it from the high slot before Formenton directed it in past Demko, cutting the Sens’ deficit to a goal at the 4:04 mark.

Demko led his team onto the ice for the second period and took over in Vancouver’s net.

Defenseman Brad Hunt helped boost Vancouver’s lead to 2-0 midway through the first. Stationed below the goal line, he dished a pass to Boeser, who sent a one-timer past Gustavsson for his 21st goal of the year.

Vancouver opened the scoring on an early power play after Dylan Gambrell was sent to the box for tripping.

The Canucks were quick to capitalize, with Miller sending a blast past Gustavsson from the top of the faceoff circle 1:55 into the game.

The goal — coming on Vancouver’s first shot of the game — was Miller’s 30th of the season.

NOTES: Miller joined Bo Horvat as the only Canucks to hit the 30-goal mark this year. It’s the first time since 2010-11 that Vancouver has had more than one player reach the milestone. … Defenseman Travis Hamonic played against the Canucks for the first time since Vancouver dealt him to Ottawa for a third-round draft pick at the trade deadline in March. … Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes played his 200th regular-season NHL game.

UP NEXT

Senators: At Columbus on Friday night.

Canucks: At Minnesota on Thursday night.

___

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Ottawa Senators left wing Alex Formenton (10) and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Travis Dermott (24) stand next to goaltender Jaroslav Halak (41) during their NHL game at Rogers Arena on April 19, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

by Kevin Woodley / NHL.com Independent Correspondent

VANCOUVER — The Ottawa Senators ended the Vancouver Canucks’ six-game winning streak with a 4-3 shootout victory at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

Alex Formenton scored twice, and Nikita Zaitsev had two assists for the Senators (29-41-7), who were coming off a 4-2 loss at the Seattle Kraken on Monday. Filip Gustavsson made 34 saves for his first win since Nov. 13 (lost previous eight games).

“We just played with way more emotion,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “We knew it was an important game for them, and we haven’t played in a whole lot of them, and you can see our guys, we got down early but we stayed with it.”

Former Canucks forward Adam Gaudette scored the deciding goal in the fifth round of the shootout, making a quick move to change the angle before shooting under Demko’s glove.

“I thought he was going to be cheating a little more, to be honest,” said Gaudette, who hadn’t played since the second period but got the shootout call because he was familiar with Demko.

“I worked on that move a lot when I was here. I worked close with [goaltending coach] Ian Clark, who sat me down, showed me some video on that type of move, so I had it in mind and I just stuck with it.”

J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist, and Quinn Hughes had two assists in his 200th NHL game for the Canucks (38-28-11), who defeated the Dallas Stars 6-2 on Monday.

The Canucks moved four points behind the Stars for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference but fell five points behind the Los Angeles Kings for third in the Pacific Division after the Kings defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Tuesday.

“We still have to win,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Nothing’s really changed. We were going to be allowed one mulligan somewhere along the road. We’ve responded really well in the past. … This is a group that’s fought for four-and-a-half months, almost five months now, and they’re not going to quit now.”

Jaroslav Halak saved all 14 shots in the first period before leaving with an upper-body injury. He was replaced at the start of the second period by Thatcher Demko, who made 14 saves.

Halak threw off his blocker and shook out his hand after a scramble in the crease with 1:30 left but played the rest of the period. Boudreau said Halak likely won’t travel with the team for a two-game road trip that starts against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

Miller put the Canucks ahead 1-0 six seconds into a power play at 1:55 of the first period, using a Boeser screen to score his 30th goal of the season.

Boeser made it 2-0 at 15:14, one-timing a pass from defenseman Brad Hunt below the goal line into the slot shortly after another power play ended, but Gustavsson saved all 16 shots in the second period.

“What I liked the most is that he battled back from 2-0,” Smith said. “The first goal wasn’t a good goal, he’s peaking the wrong way, and then you want him to maybe have the second one, and then he just shuts the door. So that’s huge confidence for him, the players behind him, everyone involved. That’s a great, gutsy win.”

Formenton deflected Zaitsev’s point shot past Demko from the top of the crease to cut the lead to 2-1 at 4:04. It was his first goal in 12 games.

Parker Kelly tied it 2-2 at 2:17 of the third period with a one-timer from the slot that hit the crossbar and bounced in off the back of Demko, and Formenton scored on a breakaway at 3:49 to put the Senators ahead 3-2.

“It was really nice to get the two [goals],” Formenton said. “It was even better for us to pull off that win. … Every time we win I think it’s a confidence builder for us.”

Travis Dermott scored his first goal in 13 games with the Canucks to tie it 3-3 at 6:47, pinching into the slot to convert a Boeser pass from behind the net.

“We need every point but not much changes for us,” Miller said. “It’s pretty unrealistic to think you’re going to win 13 games in a row to get into the playoffs. Got a point, came from behind there. We’ve played a lot of hockey. That team plays really hard, pushed us all the way to the end.”

NOTES: Gustavsson, who was making his first start since March 19, had been sent to Belleville of the American Hockey League four times since his last win. … Vancouver called up goalie Spencer Martin on an emergency basis before the game, but Boudreau wouldn’t say which goalie wasn’t completely healthy, only that Martin was sent back down when it was determined he wasn’t needed. … Canucks forward Alex Chiasson missed a second straight game after being a late scratch with a non-COVID illness Monday. … Hughes has 61 points to become the third defenseman in Canucks history to top 60 (Doug Lidster, 63, 1986-87; Dennis Kearns, 60, 1976-77), and he tied Kearns for the most assists by a Canucks defenseman with 55. … Miller has 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in the past 14 games. … Dermott was acquired in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 20. … Vancouver forward Conor Garland had his six-game point streak end (eight points; three goals, five assists). … It was the 1,000th win in Senators history. They are 1,000-981-176 with 115 ties in 2,272 games in 30 NHL seasons.