Canucks top Flames, end losing streak at six

VANCOUVER -- Tyler Myers scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Vancouver Canucks ended a six-game losing streak with a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Myers made it 2-1 at 14:49 when he skated the puck into the Flames zone on the left side, cut through the high slot and shot from the right face-off circle. The defenseman celebrated the goal by punching the air emphatically.
"The emotion, it was just because we got the lead at the end of the game, and it's been a while," Myers said. "It just felt really good to get back in the win column. I thought we deserved a better fate in the last couple of games. We stuck with it. It was a huge win for the group."
Quinn Hughes and Brandon Sutter scored, and Thatcher Demko made 18 saves for Vancouver (7-11-0), which was outscored 29-11 during the losing streak.
Jacob Markstrom made 43 saves, and Sam Bennett scored for Calgary (7-6-1), which had won three in a row, including 3-1 in the first of a four-game set against Vancouver on Thursday.
"We'd like to get a point after your goalie stands on his head, but probably got what we deserve after that one," Flames captain Mark Giordano said.

The Flames and Canucks are scheduled to play again in Vancouver on Monday and in Calgary on Wednesday.
"We weren't competitive," Flames coach Geoff Ward said. "I thought we were slow everywhere, to be honest with you. The game is fair. We got what we deserved tonight. We got outworked, outskated, outcompeted. So usually when that happens, you don't get the result you want."
The Canucks outshot the Flames 20-4 in the first period and were ahead 30-7 when Hughes scored to put Vancouver ahead 1-0 at 9:27 on the second. Hughes stepped in front of Johnny Gaudreau to intercept a pass in the Calgary zone and create a 2-on-1 with Elias Pettersson, faking a pass before shooting.
Hughes leads NHL defensemen with 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) in 18 games.
"We're just trying to have fun as a group again," Hughes said. "I think it's been helping. We were making plays today, we've been making plays the last couple of games. You can see it. We're playing in the [offensive] zone a lot more, and defensively, we're paying more attention to that."
It was Vancouver's first lead in seven games, but it didn't last long.
Bennett tied it 1-1 at 10:42, taking a lateral pass from Gaudreau and taking advantage of a leaping screen by Sean Monahan to score on a shot from the high slot.
"We found a way to tie the game, but you can't turn over the puck as many times as we all did," Giordano said.

Sutter scored into an empty net with 1:23 left in the third period to make it 3-1.
Markstrom, who has made 130 saves of 138 shots in his first four games against his former team this season, was upset about allowing the late goal to Myers.
"Vancouver is a desperate team, and they threw a lot of pucks at the net, and there's a lot of volume, but at the end of the day it's my job to stop the puck," Markstrom said. "It's frustrating for me to feel like I'm playing a really good game, and then five minutes left not come up with one more save to at least take it to overtime and get a point and give the team a chance."
Calgary forward Mikael Backlund left the game with 3:43 remaining in the first period. Ward didn't have an update.
NOTES: Flames defenseman Connor Mackey was minus-1 in 13:56 in his NHL debut. He replaced defenseman Nikita Nesterov, who was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. … Calgary forward Andrew Mangiapane had his four-game point streak end (three goals, two assists). … The Canucks lead the NHL in points by defensemen with 39 (six goals, 33 assists). … Demko made consecutive starts for the second time this season. … Vancouver forward Loui Eriksson had an assist in his second game this season. He was a healthy scratch the other 16 games.