VANCOUVER — While reaching another career high Thursday, JT Miller’s focus was firmly on another goal: dragging the Vancouver Canucks to the playoffs.
The high-flying forward had five assists as the Canucks dismantled the Arizona Coyotes 7-1 on Thursday.
The five-point night was a career high for Miller, who leads Vancouver in scoring with 91 points (29 goals, 62 assists) on the season.
“I try to feel like I’m never satisfied,” he said. ”I have an incredible opportunity since I am here, I have to play in all situations, which is something I have worked on throughout my career.
“But with that said, it really doesn’t mean (much) to me if we don’t play in the playoffs. … I really just want to play in the playoffs because when you score in the playoffs that’s when it means a lot.”
Thursday’s result extended Vancouver’s winning streak to five straight games and preserved the team’s dim hopes of securing a playoff spot. The Canucks (37-28-10) sit five points behind the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars, who hold the two wild-card spots in the Western Conference.
Ten different Canucks players scored Thursday, with rookie Vasily Podkolzin scoring two goals and an assist, Alex Chiasson scoring twice and Sheldon Dries, Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland each contributing one goal. Quinn Hughes appointed three assistants.
Andrew Ladd answered for the Coyotes (22-47-5), who lost their fifth straight loss.
Despite the final score, Arizona head coach Andre Tourigny said he liked the way his group played in the third period.
“I think we showed more pride in the third period,” he said. “For me, that is our team. That is the way we have to fight. We talked about it before the game and we got better at it, so that’s a positive.”
It was a relatively quiet night at the net for Thatcher Demko, who made 21 saves to claim the win.
Arizona’s Karel Vejmelka stopped 16 of 22 shots before being replaced by Harri Sateri to start the third period. Sateri made four saves in relief.
It was the third game in a row that Vejmelka had allowed six goals.
“NHL for me is full of depressions,” Tourigny said of the network’s caretaker. “You have to be able to react to a depression. If you can’t get out of an NHL slump, you’re in trouble. You will be a player with streaks. That’s not what the NHL is about. It’s about being good every day. It’s about consistency.
Vancouver entered the third with a commanding lead and continued to add to the score with Chiasson scoring his second tally of the night midway through the period.
Miller delivered a deft pass to the veteran striker and fired a one-shot that sailed past Sateri’s post at the 8:26 mark for his 12th goal of the year.
“I’ve had a really good opportunity here to show what I can do,” Chiasson said. ”Obviously I feel like I can find my places on the ice, playing with good players. Let’s hope this moves forward, one game at a time.”
Chiasson has been “a pro all year” for the Canucks, coach Bruce Boudreau said, even during a stretch of three or four games in which it was a healthy scratch.
“He never once complained, he just came to work,” Boudreau said. “To see things start to go well for him, you can only be really happy for the boy. And we need it. Guys get injured left and right and these guys are stepping up. That’s part of the reason we’re still hung up on this.”
Podkolzin buried his second goal of the night with 26.6 seconds left at midfield, firing a stopwatch from the faceoff circle to give the Canucks a 6-1 lead.
Garland scored the home team’s fifth of the night at 15:39 into the period, finding space between Vejmelka and his post with a wrist shot from the hash marks.
Just 14 seconds earlier, Podkolzin found the back of the net for the third goal of Vancouver’s power play after Kyle Capobianco was called for tripping.
Podkolzin dribbled the puck over the top of the crease and sent a backhand past Vejmelka as he fell to the ice for his 12th goal of the campaign.
Arizona got on the board midway through the second when Kessel sent a shot soaring into the Vancouver net from the top of the faceoff circle. Demko made the save, but the puck landed on his pads and Ladd shoved it over the goal line to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Pettersson added to the Canucks’ cushion 4:29 in the midfield after the Coyotes were called by too many men.
The Swedish star fired a goal from inside the faceoff circle for his 27th goal of the season.
Vancouver lost a key piece early in the second period when Bo Horvat was shot by Anton Stralman in the inner right ankle. He went straight to the locker room and did not return to the game.
Boudreau said he thinks the Canucks captain will be fine and hopes to have him in the lineup Monday when Vancouver hosts the Dallas Stars.
Horvat came into the game on a five-point streak, racking up five goals and three assists.
The Canucks closed out the first with a 2-0 lead.
Arizona’s JJ Moser was called for tripping, giving Vancouver its second lead of the night.
With just seconds left on the power play, Brad Hunt fired a rocket from the top of the slot and Dries converted it for his first goal in a Canucks jersey.
Vancouver went 3-for-4 on the power play Thursday and Arizona went 1-for-2.
Chiasson opened the scoring 10:19 into the game, deflected on a Miller puck.
The scoreboard extended his point streak to five games, with four goals and four assists down the stretch.
NOTES: The Coyotes will face the Flames in Calgary on Saturday…Garland is on a five-game scoring streak with two goals and five assists…The Canucks swept the three-game season series between the two sides.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 14, 2022.
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