Boeser Pots a Pair as Canucks Double Down on Blackhawks 6-3

With the trade deadline behind them, the Vancouver Canucks took care of business in Chicago, picking up a 6-3 win over the Blackhawks. 

Marcus Pettersson, Max Sasson, and Jake DeBrusk had a pair of points apiece while Brock Boeser scored a pair, including his 31st career game-winning goal. 

The game-winner was a cool one, as Boeser smacked it out of the air like he was back as a Minnesota kid swinging a bat at a baseball. 

“I played baseball until about 15, so I haven’t had one of those in a while. So, it’s all good,” said Boeser with a laugh when speaking to Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy postgame. 

The game saw five goals in the opening 12 minutes before slowing in the second period, but ultimately cranking back up for a flurry of offence in the third. 

Nikita Tolopilo stood tall through the game, picking up his fifth career win. The big netminder stopped 20 of the 23 shots that he faced on the night. 

Goals 

The Blackhawks opened the scoring 68 seconds into the game when Ryan Donato chased down a dump-in and made a move to the backhand to give the Hawks an early lead. 

Drew O’Connor punched back for the Canucks. He redirected home a Tom Willander shot for DOC’s 15th goal of the season. The goal came one minute after Donato’s, and we had two goals in the first 128 seconds of the game.

The Canucks were not done there. DeBrusk got in on the action just 24 seconds later with his 14th of the season when he tipped a Zeev Buium point shot. The goal gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead early in the game.

Teddy Blueger kept the offence flowing early in the game. He drove to the net, set up on the edge of the crease, and tapped home his 6th goal of the season in his 15th game. It was 3-1 Canucks just 6:32 into the first period.

Ilya Mikheyev punched back for the Blackhawks at the 12-minute mark of the first period. Tyler Bertuzzi, Oliver Moore, and Mikheyev worked the puck around before a shot from the slot that got the Hawks within one goal on Mikheyev’s 12th goal of the year.  

That brought us to the first intermission with a 3-2 lead for the Canucks. It looked like that was going to hold all the way through the middle frame, but Frank Nazar notched his eighth goal of the season with 43 seconds remaining in the period. The game was tied at 3 after 40 minutes.  

The Canucks went to the power play early in the third period, and Brock Boeser scored a pretty one to give the Canucks a 4-3 lead. Linus Karlsson sent the puck into the crease, and the puck ricocheted in the air before Boeser batted it into the back of the net for his 14th goal of the season.

Sasson used his speed to fly down the wing and score an empty-net goal to give the Canucks a 5-3 lead with 1:26 remaining in the game.  

Boeser added another empty-net goal with 15.4 seconds left to make it a 6-3 game.  

Up Next  

The Canucks are now en route to Winnipeg, as they play their second game of a back-to-back, against the Jets on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. PT on Hockey Night in Canada.