VANCOUVER--Justin Faulk reaped a goal and an assist and the St. Louis Blues dominated the under-equipped Vancouver Canucks en route to a 3-1 victory Sunday.
Brayden Schenn, at an advantage of the digital in the second half, and Jordan Kyrou have also marked for the Blues (25-11-5), while Vladimir Tarasenko had won two assists.
Tanner Pearson scored the only goal for the Canucks (18-19-4), who have six players and two assistant coaches in the NHL’s recent time protocol.
St. Louis received a stellar goalkeeper from the city of Husso, who stopped 38 of the 39 shots and scored one.963 Percent of the stops in the last five games.
Michael DiPietro scored 14 stops in his season opener for Vancouver, becoming the fourth goalkeeper to play for the team this season.
Thatcher Demko, the star of the Canucks, Jaroslav Halak and the goalkeeper who made the team taxi Spencer Martin are all in the protocol recent time from the NHL on the sides of the attackers, Bo Horvat, Conor Garland and J. T. Miller. Coaches Scott Walker and Kyle Gustafson were added to the roster Sunday.
Arturs Silovs of the Abbotsford Canucks of the LAH also tested positive for the virus, forcing Vancouver to sign an amateur testing contract with University of British Columbia goalkeeper Rylan Toth so that he could act as a replacement for DiPietro.
After a 3-1 deficit with less than 90 seconds left on the clock face, the Canucks withdrew DiPietro in favor of another attacker.
Tarasenko almost scored a goal in an abandoned net, but he was overrun by a trio of Canucks eager not to concede another goal.
Kyrou dampened St. Louis’ lead at 16:43 of the second period, sending a rocket of one shot into traffic. The puck seemed to slip off the handle of DiPietro’s staff and enter.
Faulk and Tarasenko both took part in the match. Tarasenko accumulated points in the last nine games, with six goals and nine assists in the period.
He also participated in the numerical advantage goal that allowed the Blues to take a 2-1 lead at the beginning of the second half after the Canucks were called for too many men.
Tarasenko cut a pass to Schenn, which was posted at the back door. Schenn scored his ninth goal of the year.
St. Louis was 1 in 3 in numerical advantage on Sunday, while Vancouver was aimless in four occasions with a man advantage.
Faulk pulled St. Louis even before the first break. Oskar Sundqvist took a pass to Faulk at the front of the net and the defender deflected it between his legs, sending the puck into the crossbar and to the 18:33 goal.
Two Blues were just out of the zone when the Canucks scored the first goal of the game at 16:30 in the first period.
Matthew Highmore from Vancouver got tangled up with Ivan Barbashev and Torey Krug in the St. Louis area. Barbashev was named for the draft and pitcher to remove the helmet from Highmore.
Vancouver managed five shots on the following five-on-three power play, but Husso pushed them all back. When the penalties ran out, Pearson retrieved Alex Chiasson’s rebound from the side of the net and thwarted it over the goalkeeper.
Elias Pettersson registered a help on the game, marking the 100th time in the history of the game. his NHL career.
Sunday was a milestone for Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau, who celebrated his 1,000 th career win. He played in the NHL.
Posted by Vancouver on Dec. 5, the former center of the NHL at the age of 67 has worked behind the bench of the Washington Capitals, the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild. In he won the Jack Adams Award as the league’s best coach after leading the caps in a rebound campaign.
Boudreau’s wife, Crystal, and two of their children were in the crowd on Sunday, while the milestone was marked by a video homage before the puck fall. Several former players, coaches – including Marcus Foligno, Alex Ovechkin and Kevin Bieksa — and colleagues such as Stan Bowman have delivered messages of congratulations. Boudreau seemed emotional on the bench.
The Blues will face the Flames in Calgary on Monday. The Canucks will end a three-game stay when they host the Oilers on Tuesday.
NOTES: Pavel Buchnevich did not make the trip to Vancouver with his teammates from the Blues. The left winger was released from recent time to play in St. 5-0 victory. Louis was on the Kraken in Seattle on Friday, but was unable to cross the border into Canada as he had tested positive for the virus in the past 10 days. Sunday Sunday was the first time both teams have played since Jan. 27, when the Canucks smack the Blues 3-1 in Vancouver.
Tags: Canucks, Husso, surging