Kraken add to Canucks’ woes
SEATTLE 5 VANCOUVER 2
SEATTLE — Jared McCann had a goal and three assists, Jordan Eberle added two goals and an assist and the Seattle Kraken beat NHL-leading Vancouver 5-2 on Thursday night, handing the Canucks their fourth straight loss.
Vince Dunn and Justin Schultz also scored for Seattle, which took the season series against their Pacific Northwest rival and is 3-0-1 since a 2-7-1 skid. Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves in his first home start and second overall since suffering a lower-body injury on Dec. 9.
J.T. Miller and Sam Lafferty scored for Vancouver, which is 3-5-1 since a 12-game point streak. Thatcher Demko made
26 saves.
The Canucks fell into a tie with Boston — which lost to Calgary 3-2 in overtime on Thursday — atop the NHL standings at 80 points. Prior to their current four-game skid, they hadn’t lost more than two straight all season.
Vancouver went scoreless on all four power-play opportunities. They are 1 of 28 on power plays over their past nine games.
Miller opened the scoring 4:34 into the first period, when he poked in a loose puck after Grubauer lost his stick behind the net. It was Miller’s 29th goal of the season and fifth in his past three games.
Dunn tied it at 13:22 of the first, one-timing a slap shot from the point.
McCann, who has 11 goals and 11 assists in his past 15 games, gave Seattle a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal 20 seconds into the second. He snagged the puck off a clearance attempt and fired his team-leading 25th into the upper-right corner.
Vancouver tied it 2-2 at 4:57 when Pius Suter’s shot pinballed into the net off Schultz’s skate and Lafferty’s shoulder.
Seattle regained the lead when Schultz fired a slap shot from the right point at 13:28 of the second.
Eberle gave Seattle a 4-2 lead just 1:11 later, burying his own rebound after a nice pass from McCann behind the net. Eberle, who has eight goals in his past 15 games after just four in his first 37, added an empty-netter.
The Canucks now return home to host the Bruins on Saturday to begin a three-game homestand.
Leafs 7, Golden Knights 3
LAS VEGAS — Auston Matthews scored again to continue his sizzling surge, Max Domi had two goals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vegas Golden Knights 7-3 on Thursday night for their sixth straight win.
Jake McCabe, David Kampf, John Tavares and Pontus Holmberg also scored for Toronto. Martin Jones had 23 saves.
Matthews stretched his goal streak to five games with 10 goals and 13 points over that stretch. On Wednesday at Arizona, Matthews became the fastest U.S.-born player to reach 50 goals in a season, reaching that mark in 54 games.