Vancouver, B.C. - The Vancouver Canucks were missing out on some high-level talent on Sunday. captain and goalscorer Bo Horvat; Points leader J.T. Miller; and blues-killer (from his days with Arizona) Conor Garland.
And he was just ahead. Workhorse goalkeeper Thatcher Demko and his experienced backup Jaroslav Halak were also out of commission. All with COVID.
But the Blues showed no mercy to Rogers Arena. After all, when it comes to COVID, the blues have/have been there for most of the season.
In their first game in more than a month in Canada, the Blues continued to roll with a 3–1 win. Just at the midpoint of the season, 41 games, they are 25-11-5 and four points behind Central Division-leading Colorado.
Vancouver, which had been rising since Bruce Boudreau took over as coach in early December, fell to 18-19-4.
This one was odd, because for much of the first two periods, the Canucks looked like Harlem Globetrotters on ice, skating circles around St. Shots on goal were a one-sided 32–14 in Vancouver's favor after three periods. But the Blues still took a 3-1 lead. And thus it ended after the third period without any points.
But Ville Husso was a rock, stopping 38 for 39 to improve his record to 8-2-1 in the season.
Once again, the Blues faced a very inexperienced goalkeeper. On Friday in Seattle, it was Joey Daccord, playing only his 13th NHL game. On Saturday, Michael DiPietro was playing in his third NHL game.
Even with the short lineup, the Blues talked about the Canucks' quickness and movement on offense after Sunday morning's skate. It was on display for most of the first period, with two full minutes of 5-on-3 play.
Vancouver came out with some hope for their move, getting a lot of loose pucks at first and not giving the Blues a ton of room to operate.
But it was still scoreless - until, however, Ivan Barbashev and Torey Krug went out together for penalties against the same player. It all started with Canucks forward Matthew Highmore and Barbashev engaging in the St. Louis zone.
Barbashev responded by giving Highmore a hard blow to the back. Rough penalty no.
Krug did not like what Highmore did to harass Barbashev, and in the process threw Highmore into the snow, ripping off his helmet. Penalty number 2.
So with 5:34 remaining in this period, the Canucks got a full two minutes of 5-on-3. At least the Blues got some practice -- 1:31's worth of practice -- in hitting 5-on-3 last Monday against Nashville.
On Sunday, the Canucks sent off eight shots during their 5-on-3 at Huso, who was making a third straight start on goal. One shot missed the net, Huso blocked five shots, and the other two were blocked (one by Marco Scandello and one by Colton Parayko).
But four seconds after the 5-on-3 period ended, while Vancouver still held the puck, Tanner Pearson overtook Husso for his seventh goal of the season and a 1-0 Vancouver lead.
Unquestionably, the Blues tied it 1-1 on a net-front deflection on a shot from left point by Oskar Sundquist by Justin Faulk. It was Faulk's sixth goal of the season, and a dazzling goal on him. Faulk carried the puck up through the neutral zone, and after dishing Sundquist, kept going over the net.
Faulk tipped the deflection with his stick. , between his legs.
The Blues first started the second period on the power play for 1:14, but nothing was going on. He amended the later power play. In the span of just 2:27, the Canucks were punished for having too many men on the ice.
Rounding the net front, Brayden Shane gets a room service pass from Vladimir Tarasenko for an easy tap-in goal. It was Shane's fourth goal in three games since returning from the COVID list, and his fifth power play of the season, tying him with Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich for the team lead in that category.
Buchnevich, we believe, was watching from Seattle where he was meeting his COVID requirements to enter Canada.
Vancouver dominated the time of the capture and gave Husso all kinds of opportunities. But it was the Blues who scored again on a shot from afar by Jordan Kirau - call it the very high slot - with some traffic in front of DiPietro. It was Kyrou's 16th goal of the season, giving him the team's lead, giving the Blues a 3–1 lead, with 3:17 left in the second.
The Blues came out to start third with no aim, seeing as they looked to make it away with a quick goal or two. They had some extended zone time on Sunday, and even had another power play opportunity when Ryan O'Reilly was tripped by Jason Dickinson. But that fourth goal went out of his hands.
Still, tight scrutiny kept the Canucks from going too early in this period. David Peron clunks a post for the Blues in about eight minutes.
Then the Canucks got a few chances. But Husso thwarted a breakaway and then the 2-on-1 Vancouver Rush. "Huhs!" It was a strange shot. Moved around by crowds, limited to half capacity (about 9,000) by local COVID regulations.