*Photo from The Canuck Way*
The Vancouver Canucks were in need of a shakeup, which is why they brought in Bruce Boudreau as their head coach. So far, the shakeup is paying off. Nils Hoglander scored twice, Elias Pettersson scored the shootout winner, and the Canucks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in a shootout on Friday night in Vancouver.
So far, in 3 games under the new head coach in Boudreau, the Canucks are a perfect 3-0. With the win, the Canucks improve to 11-15-2 this season, 7th place in the Pacific Division. It's the first time the Canucks have won 3 straight games this season. In addition to the two goals by Hoglander, Bo Horvat had a two assist night for the Canucks.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko said of the momentum shift that "It's big to get momentum when a new coach comes in. I've never been through it, but I can imagine it would be tough if a new coach came in and you lost the first handful of games. So just to get these three wins is big."
Demko was the starting goalie for this game, and put up a great outing for the Canucks. Demko saved 34 of the 37 shots on goal the Jets sent his way, posting a .919 save percentage in the win. His record improves to 11-11-1 in 23 starts this season as the Canucks have seemingly turned a corner.
Starting the scoring for the Canucks was Hoglander, who made it a 1-0 lead 6:29 into the game, scoring his 6th goal of the season. On the power play 11:07 into the first, Blake Wheeler scored a power play goal, his first goal of the season, to tie things up 1-1. Hoglander then scored again with 20 seconds left in the first period, making it a 2-1 lead after one period.
In the second period, Kyle Connor tied the game for the Jets 6:09 into the period, making it a 2-2 deadlock. Conor Garland then put the Canucks back up 3-2 just 57 seconds later, his 9th goal of the season. 11:08 into the period and it was back to a 3-3 tie, with Mark Scheifele scoring his 7th goal of the season.
It stayed 3-3 until the shootout commenced. Connor, Scheifele, and Pierre-Luc Dubois could not score for Winnipeg. Horvat and JT Miller were also held scoreless in the shootout for the Canucks, with Pettersson being the only one on either side to score, thus giving Vancouver a 4-3 shootout win.
On the second half of a back to back, Eric Comrie was the starter in goal for the Jets, getting the overtime loss, his first this season. Comrie turned aside 33 of 36 shots from the Canucks, good for a .917 save percentage in the game. With the loss, Comrie falls to a 3-2-1 record in 6 starts this season for the Jets.
Scheifele wanted to look at the positives postgame, saying that "We have to be happy with our game and look at the good things. Now we got a little bit of time to rest. Now we got a little bit of time to rest, which is nice. We have to take that to our advantage and be ready for a little bit of a homestand here."
The Canucks get back in action with a home game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night, with Demko likely to start again. The Jets don't play again until a Tuesday night home game with the Buffalo Sabres, with Connor Hellebuyck likely to be the starter.
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