First-place Canucks beat struggling Golden Knights
LAS VEGAS — Quinn Hughes, Phillip Di Giuseppe and Conor Garland each scored goals as the Vancouver Canucks maintained their stranglehold on the Pacific Division while handing the struggling Vegas Golden Knights a 3-1 loss Thursday night.
Canucks centre Elias Pettersson got his 400th career point with a first-period assist. He’s the second-fastest player in franchise history to reach the mark, doing it in 390 games — 30 more than Pavel Bure. Pettersson also has 16 points in 14 career games against the Knights, most among active Canucks.
Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for the Canucks. J.T. Miller’s point streak ended at eight games, during which he had seven goals and seven assists.
Michael Amadio scored Vegas’ lone goal and Adin Hill made 32 saves.
The Canucks, who have won three in a row, have 89 points, 11 more than secondplace Edmonton. The defending champion Knights are 2-8-1 over their past 11 games, putting their playoff hopes in jeopardy.
Vegas, though, managed to end their streak of giving up a goal at 13 periods when Vancouver didn’t score in the third. Until then, the last time the Knights held an opponent in scoreless in a period occurred Feb. 27 when Toronto was blanked in the first.
Vancouver jumped all over Vegas early, outshooting the Knights 12-1 midway through the first period and taking a 2-0 lead. Hughes, whose 74 points leads all NHL defensemen, scored on a power play from the slot and Di Giuseppe off a broken play on a delayed penalty. Nils Hoglander was tripped on the second goal and the puck slid over to Di Giuseppe on the right side.
The Knights, however, had their opportunities. Jack Eichel hit the crossbar on one shot and had another wind up Demko’s glove on a 3-on-2 rush.
Vegas broke through 3:50 into the second period when Amadio scored from the right point, but the Canucks again made it a two-goal game when Garland pounced on a rebound with 4:02 left.