*Photo from BVM Sports*
It was the perfect night for this kind of win. Andrei Kuzmenko scored, Dakota Joshua had two goals, and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Florida Panthers with a 4-0 shutout win on Thursday night in Vancouver.
The Canucks won their 4th straight game by dispatching the Panthers, winning their 7th of 10 to improve to 20-9-1 and in second place in the Pacific Division. Joshua was the only two point player for the Canucks, who had 7 different skaters register a point.
Before the game, former Canucks and Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo was inducted into the Canucks ring of honor. Luongo had 230 wins with the Panthers and 252 with the Canucks, and the ceremonial face off before the game was between both team's goalies instead of the team captains like usual.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko said of the win on Luongo's night that "It’s poetic, right? Almost in the air. A really cool evening and he’s such a first-class guy. I’m not super close to him, but every encounter I’ve had he’s treated me with respect and that’s really cool coming from someone you watched growing up."
Starting the scoring in this one was Kuzmenko. He gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 4:03 into the game, scoring his 6th goal of the season with the lone assist going to Conor Garland. At the 13:52 mark of the period, Joshua picked up his 5th goal of the season, doubling the lead to 2-0 with Teddy Blueger assisting.
To start the second period, Joshua found the back of the net again. He scored his second goal of the night to make it 3-0, scoring unassisted. On the power play at the 15:41 mark of the second, Brock Boeser extended his point streak to 9 games with a goal to make it 4-0. The Canucks continued to hold the Panthers scoreless to secure the win.
Joshua said of his second goal of the game that "Garland was taking away the left side, so I knew his options were kind of limited there, and I just happened to guess the right way and he passed it to me. I don’t know if they get any easier than that."
It was Demko who was the starting goalie for the Canucks, who picked up the win to improve to 15-7-0 in 22 starts. Demko stopped all 36 shots the Panthers sent his way, recording his 3rd shutout of the season and 6th of his NHL career.
Getting the start for the Panthers was Sergei Bobrovsky, who got hit with the loss to drop to 13-8-1 in 22 starts. Bobrovsky turned aside 13 out of the 17 shots on goal the Canucks had before getting pulled. Anthony Stolarz came in for the 3rd period and made the save on the only shot he faced.
Florida head coach Paul Maurice said of the loss that "We did some unusually foolish things that we just don't do. We just weren't right tonight. You have those games; I don't think it's related to the Seattle game. Prior to that we'd won three in a row. We weren't very good here tonight, but in a highly unusual way and I'll take solace in that fact."
Both teams get back in action on Saturday with road showdowns. The Canucks travel to face the Minnesota Wild, with Demko expected to get the start. Bobrovsky is the projected starter for the Panthers when they play the Edmonton Oilers.
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