By Canadian Press

Hughes scores twice as Canucks defeat Blues for third consecutive win

Oct 27, 2023 | 9:55 PM

VANCOUVER — Defenceman Quinn Hughes scored two goals in a game for the second time in his career and Thatcher Demko stopped 22 shots for the shutout as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-0 Friday night to win their third consecutive game.

J.T. Miller scored shorthanded and added two assists for Vancouver (5-2-0). 

Phil Di Giuseppe had a goal and an assist. Ilya Mikheyev scored once and Elias Petterson had two assists.

The shutout was the fourth of Demko’s career. 

Hughes’s other two-goal came on Feb. 1, 2020, against the New York Islanders.

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Goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 30 shots for the Blues (3-3-1). St. Louis had defeated the Flames 3-0 in Calgary Thursday.

Demko made one of his best saves of the game early in the third period. Blues centre Brayden Schenn made a nice move to get past the Canuck defence, then skated wide and aimed a low shot for the corner of the net that Demko stopped with his right pad.

In the first period the Blues looked like a team that had played the previous night. St. Louis took four penalties — one with the game just 17 seconds old, another with 33 seconds left — and were outshot 19-3.

With the Canucks dominating play, both Sam Lafferty and Brock Boeser had good scoring chances before Hughes scored the game’s first goal. The Vancouver captain took a cross-ice pass from defensive partner Filip Hronek and scored on a seeing-eye shot through traffic that beat Binnington on the glove side at 7:59.

Vancouver broke the game open with three second-period goals, two of them 70 second apart.

Hughes scored his second of the night at 5:48 when he flipped a puck in front of the net that hit the skate of St. Louis forward Kevin Hayes and deflected past Binnington. Di Giuseppe scored his second of the season at 6:58 when he took a pass from defenceman Tyler Myers, skated between two Blues defencemen, and beat Binnington between his pads.

Miller made it 4-0 seconds after Hughes was sent off for slashing. With St. Louis trying to claw back into the game on the power play, Pettersson intercepted a pass, then fed Miller who scored on a breakaway at 8:52.

Mikheyev made it 5-0 at 6:35 of the third period. He finished off a three-way passing play with Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko with a shot under Binnington’s pads.

NOTES: Canuck centre Teddy Blueger, who has not played this season due to an ankle injury, is expected to begin skating soon. … Vancouver centre Jack Studnicka was a healthy scratch for a second straight game. … The game was about nine minutes old before the Blues got their first shot on net. …   Vancouver head coach Rick Tocchet and the Blue’s Craig Berube were roommates when they played together for the Philadelphia Flyers in the late-1980s. … It was the Blues first back-to-back games of the season. … St. Louis had won its previous three games in Vancouver, outscoring the Canucks 12-5. … The two teams play each other again Jan. 4 in St. Louis and Jan. 24 in Vancouver.

UP NEXT: The Canucks are back on the ice Saturday night hosting the New York Rangers. Vancouver’s homestand continues Halloween night against the Nashville Predators, who lost 3-2 to Vancouver Tuesday night. … The Blues play on the road again against Colorado Wednesday night. St. Louis then opens a four-game homestand against New Jersey Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.

Jim Morris, The Canadian Press