Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) stops St. Louis Blues Brayden Schenn’s (10), not seen, shot as Vancouver’s Filip Hronek (17) defends during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
VANCOUVER – Defenceman Quinn Hughes scored two goals in a game for the second time in his career and Thatcher Demko stopped 22 shots for the shutout as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-0 Friday night to win their third consecutive game.
J.T. Miller scored shorthanded and added two assists for Vancouver (5-2-0).
Phil Di Giuseppe had a goal and an assist. Ilya Mikheyev scored once and Elias Petterson had two assists.
The shutout was the fourth of Demko’s career.
Hughes’s other two-goal came on Feb. 1, 2020, against the New York Islanders.
Goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 30 shots for the Blues (3-3-1). St. Louis had defeated the Flames 3-0 in Calgary Thursday.
Demko made one of his best saves of the game early in the third period. Blues centre Brayden Schenn made a nice move to get past the Canuck defence, then skated wide and aimed a low shot for the corner of the net that Demko stopped with his right pad.
In the first period the Blues looked like a team that had played the previous night. St. Louis took four penalties – one with the game just 17 seconds old, another with 33 seconds left – and were outshot 19-3.
With the Canucks dominating play, both Sam Lafferty and Brock Boeser had good scoring chances before Hughes scored the game’s first goal. The Vancouver captain took a cross-ice pass from defensive partner Filip Hronek and scored on a seeing-eye shot through traffic that beat Binnington on the glove side at 7:59.
Vancouver broke the game open with three second-period goals, two of them 70 second apart.
Hughes scored his second of the night at 5:48 when he flipped a puck in front of the net that hit the skate of St. Louis forward Kevin Hayes and deflected past Binnington. Di Giuseppe scored his second of the season at 6:58 when he took a pass from defenceman Tyler Myers, skated between two Blues defencemen, and beat Binnington between his pads.
Miller made it 4-0 seconds after Hughes was sent off for slashing. With St. Louis trying to claw back into the game on the power play, Pettersson intercepted a pass, then fed Miller who scored on a breakaway at 8:52.
Mikheyev made it 5-0 at 6:35 of the third period. He finished off a three-way passing play with Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko with a shot under Binnington’s pads.
NOTES: Canuck centre Teddy Blueger, who has not played this season due to an ankle injury, is expected to begin skating soon. “¦ Vancouver centre Jack Studnicka was a healthy scratch for a second straight game. “¦ The game was about nine minutes old before the Blues got their first shot on net. “¦ Vancouver head coach Rick Tocchet and the Blue’s Craig Berube were roommates when they played together for the Philadelphia Flyers in the late-1980s. “¦ It was the Blues first back-to-back games of the season. “¦ St. Louis had won its previous three games in Vancouver, outscoring the Canucks 12-5. “¦ The two teams play each other again Jan. 4 in St. Louis and Jan. 24 in Vancouver.
UP NEXT: The Canucks are back on the ice Saturday night hosting the New York Rangers. Vancouver’s homestand continues Halloween night against the Nashville Predators, who lost 3-2 to Vancouver Tuesday night. “¦ The Blues play on the road again against Colorado Wednesday night. St. Louis then opens a four-game homestand against New Jersey Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.
