VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Thatcher Demko stopped 31 shots for his fifth shutout of the season as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Monday night.
Pius Suter and Quinn Hughes scored and Andrei Kuzmenko had two assists to help Vancouver get its third straight win. Demko, who got his seventh straight win and ninth in his last 10 starts, got his eighth career shutout.
Hughes praised his goalieās performance, adding that Demko is finally getting the plaudits he deserves.
āI think heās been one of the best in the league for a while now, but in that position it has a lot to do with statistics,ā Hughes said. āWith how loose weāve been the last two years he probably hasnāt gotten the recognition he deserves.ā
Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet called his teamās performance ājust OK.ā
āWe got the two goals and we kind of coasted it in," he said. "Itās good to grab the two points but it wasnāt a pretty game from us.ā
Tocchet, however, was pleased with Demkoās performance and shutout.
āObviously when you get a shutout itās always a team thing, but obviously heās a huge part of it,ā the coach said. āI love shutouts. Iād rather win 2-0 than 8-4 any day of the week. It gets you in the game, it means youāre doing the right things when you get a shutout.ā
Petr Mrazek had 27 saves for Chicago, which was coming off a 4-3 overtime win against the New York Islanders on Friday night and has won consecutive games just once this season.
The Blackhawks have lost 17 straight on the road.
āLetās be honest, our record on the road isnāt great and I think sometimes weāre wading into games on the road,ā Chicago's Nick Foligno said. āMaybe I have a little bit better perspective watching a few games and our tenacity and our compete and our readiness at home, it doesnāt seem to be (there on the road). Itās almost like weāre waiting to see what theyāre going to do before we respond and tonight we get caught in that.ā
Suter opened the scoring for the Canucks 1:47 into the game after Kuzmenko found him backdoor, with the Swiss forward sliding it past Mrazek for his ninth of the season.
Hughes doubled the lead at 6:40, receiving a drop pass from Ilya Mikheyev and dancing his way past two Blackhawks defensemen for his 12th goal of the season.
āI donāt know how many goals I have from that side, I want to say nine out of the 12," Hughes said. āItās definitely something I worked on and lot of my moves are on the left side, being a left defenseman, and just trying to find ways to score and create more.ā
Foligno had the best chances for Chicago in the third, firing three shots in a row against Demko on the power play.
āThatās a hard working team, theyāre doing what they can right now," Demko said. "I thought they played pretty well and we had to match that. Iām proud of the group.ā
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: At Seattle on Wednesday night.
Canucks: Host St. Louis on Wednesday night.
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