Elias Pettersson scores again, Canucks dismantle Blackhawks
Conor Garland and Pius Suter also contributed a goal and a helper apiece for the Canucks (31-24-11), while Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers also scored. Kiefer Sherwood, Teddy Blueger and Nils Hoglander each had two assists.
Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs stopped 17 of the 19 shots he faced, and collected his first win since Nov. 16 when he backstopped the team to a 4-1 win over Chicago.
Alex Vlasic and Wyatt Kaiser replied for the Blackhawks (20-38-9), and Ryan Donato registered a pair of helpers.
Chicago got nine saves from Arvid Soderblom as the club’s winless skid stretched to four straight games (0-3-1).
The result leapfrogged the Canucks over the Calgary Flames in the Western Conference standings, with Vancouver landing in the second wild-card playoff spot.
Canucks: In their first of three games in four nights, Vancouver opted to start Silovs, who had not played an NHL game since Feb. 27 when the Canucks lost 5-2 to the Anaheim Ducks. The 23-year-old Latvian netminder looked shaky at times on Saturday but improved to 2-6-1 on the season.
Blackhawks: Artyom Levshunov registered his first NHL point in his third game, assisting on Kaiser’s goal early in the first period. The 19-year-old Russian defenceman was the second overall pick in last year’s draft.
Vancouver broke open the game with two goals in 35 seconds late in the first period. Hughes collected a pass from Filip Hronek and took a few strides before blowing a shot past Soderblom to make it 1-0 for the Canucks at the 17:46 mark. The crowd hadn’t finished celebrating the goal when Myers picked up a drop pass from Sherwood, skated to the top of the faceoff circle and fired a shot in to give the home side a 2-0 lead at 18:21.
Saturday marked the second time this season the Canucks have scored six goals. The previous outing was a 6-3 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Oct. 22.
Blackhawks: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
Canucks: Close out back-to-back home games against the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday.
