VANCOUVER – As he reached a new peak in his career on Thursday, JT Miller’s focus was firmly on another goal – dragging the Vancouver Canucks to the playoffs.
The senior striker scored five assists while Canucks defeated wrestling Arizona Coyotes 7-1 on Thursday.
The evening with five points was the peak of Miller’s career, leading Vancouver by 91 points (29 goals, 62 assists) for the season.
“I try to feel like I’m never happy,” he said. “I have an incredible opportunity, since I have been here, to have to play in every situation, which is something I have worked for all my career.
“But with that in mind, it doesn’t really mean much to me if we don’t play in the playoffs. I really want to play in the playoffs, because when you score in the playoffs, it means a lot. ”
Thursday’s result extended Vancouver’s winning streak to five straight games and kept the team’s faint hopes of securing a place in the playoffs. Canucks (37-28-10) sits five points below the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars, who hold both places with wild cards in the Western Conference.
Ten different Canucks players made the list on Thursday, with rookie Vasily Podkolzin scoring two goals and assists, Alex Chiason scoring twice and Sheldon Dries, Elias Peterson and Connor Garland scoring one goal each. Quinn Hughes noted three assistants.
Andrew Ladd answered for Coyotes (22-47-5), who lost their fifth consecutive position.
Despite the final result, Arizona head coach Andre Turini said he liked the way his group played in the third period.
“I think we showed more pride in the third period,” he said. “For me, this is our team. This is the way we must fight. We talked about it before the match and we improved it, so that’s a positive. “
It was a relatively quiet night in the net for Thatcher Demko, who made 21 saves for the victory.
Arizona’s Karel Weimelka stopped 16 of 22 shots before being replaced by Harry Satieri to start the third period. Satteri made four saves in relief.
This was the third consecutive match in which Weimelka scored six goals.
“The NHL is full of setbacks for me,” Turini told the goalkeeper. “You have to be able to react to the downturn. If you can’t get out of the NHL slump, you’re in trouble. You will be a serious player. The NHL is not for that. It’s about being good every day. It’s about consistency.
Vancouver came in third with a dominant lead and continued to climb, with Chiason scoring his second result of the evening in the middle of the period.
Miller gave a slippery pass to the veteran striker and he hit Satteri once against the wall at 8:26 for his 12th goal of the year.
“I got a really good opportunity here to show what I can do,” Chiason said. “Obviously I have the feeling that I manage to find my place on the ice by playing with good players. We hope to continue this thing, game by game. “
Chiason has been a “year-round professional” for Canucks, head coach Bruce Boudreau said, even over a period of three or four games in which he was a solid scratch.
“He never once complained, he just came to work,” Boudreau said. “To see that things are going well for him, you can only be really happy for the person. And we need him. The boys are injured on the left, right and center and these boys are getting worse. That’s part of the reason we’re still hanging on to this. “
Podkolzin buried his second goal of the evening with 26.6 seconds left in the middle frame, making a single shot from the killer’s circle to give Kanuks a 6-1 lead.
Garland took the heel of the hosts from the evening of 15:39 in the period, finding a place between Weimelka and his beam with a blow from the wrist of the hash marks.
Just 14 seconds earlier, Podkolzin found the back of the net for Vancouver’s third goal of the match after Kyle Capobianco was called up for stumbling.
Podkolzin pulled the puck through the top of the crease and sent a backhand past Weimelka as he fell on the ice for his 12th goal of the campaign.
Arizona climbed the dashboard in the middle of the second when Kessel fired a shot at Vancouver’s net from the top of the lifting circle. Demko stopped, but the puck fell into his pads and Lad drove it over the goal line to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
Petterson added to the cushion of Canucks 4:29 in the middle frame after the Coyotes were called for too many men.
The Swedish star hit once from the round of assassinations for his 27th goal of the season.
Vancouver lost a key figure early in the second period when Bo Horwat took a shot from Anton Stralman from the inside of his right ankle. He went directly to the locker room and did not return to the match.
Boudreau said he thought the Canucks captain would be fine and hoped to include him on Monday when Vancouver hosts the Dallas Stars.
Horvat entered the game with a series of five points, where he scored five goals and three assists.
Kanuks finished first with a 2-0 lead.
Arizona’s JJ Moser was called in for a stumble, which gave Vancouver the lead for the second man of the evening.
With only seconds left in the game, Brad Hunt fired a rocket from the top of the slot and Dries directed it for his first goal in the Canucks shirt.
Vancouver came out 3-on-4 in the power game on Thursday, and Arizona was 1-on-2.
Chiason opened the scoring 10:19 in a game reflected in a puck by Miller.
The marker extended his streak from points to five games, with four goals and four assists throughout the section.
NOTES: The Coyotes will face the Flames in Calgary on Saturday… Garland is in a series of five games with two goals and five assists… Canucks swept the season series of three games between the two teams.
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