Ville Husso made 38 saves to lead the visiting St. Louis Blues past the depleted Vancouver Canucks 3-1 Sunday.
Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou scored and Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists for the Blues, who have gone 8-2 since returning from the NHL’s extended holiday break.
Tanner Pearson scored for the Canucks, who are 2-4-1 in their last seven games,
Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau worked with a diminished roster while coaching his 1,000th NHL game.
Michael DiPietro played in his third NHL game while filling in as the Canucks’ goaltender with Thatcher Demko, Jaroslav Halak and Spencer Martin all in COVID-19 protocols.
DiPietro made 14 saves while University of British Columbia goaltender Rylan Toth backed him up on an emergency basis.
The Canucks were also missing key forwards J.T Miller, Bo Horvat and Conor Garland due to protocols.
But they outshot the Blues 21-10 while controlling most of the first period.
Pearson put the Canucks up 1-0 by scoring just after Vancouver’s 5-on-3 power-play expired. He jammed the puck inside the right post during a goal-mouth scramble before the penalized Blues players could get back into the play.
But after Husso stopped Jason Dickinson on a clean break-in, Faulk tied the game by driving to the net and deflecting Oskar Sundqvist’s shot from the left wall with 1:27 left in the period.
Schenn put the Blues up 2-1 with a power-play goal 3:26 into the second period. He drove to the left post and redirected a pass from Tarasenko from the right circle.
Kyrou pushed the lead to 3-1 with 3:17 left period by scoring from the high slot off a give-and-go play with Tarasenko, who has six goals and nine assists in his last nine games.
–Field Level Media