Jake Virtanan scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period as the Vancouver Canucks extended their home winning streak to seven games with a 3-1 victory against the Arizona Coyotes.
Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Canucks, Elias Pettersson had two assists and goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves. Vancouver won for the 10th time in its past 13 games to move into a tie with Vegas for third place in the Pacific Division, one point behind co-leaders Arizona and Calgary.
Christian Dvorak scored the lone goal for the Coyotes. Adin Hill, making his third straight start and sixth consecutive appearance after lower-body injuries to goalies Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta, stopped 22 of 24 shots.
Virtanen scored the go-ahead goal at 15:49 of the second. He took a pass from J.T. Miller and wrapped around the back of the net before getting stopped. Virtanen, while still below the goal line, shot the puck in front of the net and it went off the back of Hill's left skate and into the net.
The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead at 7:59 of the first period. Taylor Hall, the 2017-18 Hart Memorial Trophy winner as the league's MVP who was acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils last month, sent a pass from behind the net to Dvorak in the low slot and he put a one-timer past Markstrom before the goalie could barely get his head turned. Hall has 14 points in 15 games with Arizona.
The Canucks tied the score on the power play at 15:01 of the first. Rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes' shot from the point went off the post and Horvat was in position out front to clean up the rebound.
Pearson scored an empty-netter with 45 seconds remaining for his 100th career NHL goal.
--Field Level Media
Arizona | Vancouver | |
Christian Dvorak 1 | Points | Elias Pettersson 2 |
Christian Dvorak 1 | Goals | Bo Horvat 1 |
Oliver Ekman-Larsson 1 | Assists | Elias Pettersson 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Bo Horvat 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Adin Hill .917 | Save Percentage | Jacob Markstrom .971 |
Adin Hill 22 | Saves | Jacob Markstrom 34 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Arizona | 35 | 1 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 4 | 23 |
Vancouver | 25 | 3 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 24 |