Hurricanes send Canucks to third straight loss

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Vancouver Canucks lost a third straight game for the first time under coach Bruce Boudreau, 4-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Bo Horvat scored for the Canucks (16-18-3), who won their first seven games with Boudreau before losing four of five (1-3-1).
Thatcher Demko made 29 saves replacing scheduled starter Jaroslav Halak, who was placed in COVID-19 protocol before the game.
"Any time you get those curve balls, it sort of throws off all your prep and planning," Boudreau said. "The players, all they're doing is talking about it and worrying whether it's them next and what's going to happen."
Vincent Trocheck and Martin Necas each had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (25-8-2), who had lost two in a row. Frederik Andersen made 30 saves, and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists.

Carolina lost 6-0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
"We knew we had to have a bounce-back game, a bounce-back effort," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It's not an easy game to play, 82 of these in the regular season. It's hard. There weren't any lulls in the way we played. That's how we need to play."
Carolina scored on the power play to take a 1-0 lead at 8:17 of the first period. Teuvo Teravainen made a touch pass to Sebastian Aho for a one-timer in the slot.
"We've got to play together," Necas said. "If we play hard, we get some chances to show our skill. It pays off, so we've got to keep doing that."
Horvat tied it 1-1 with a wrist shot over Andersen's glove at 13:24.
"There were stretches there where I thought we played some good hockey," Horvat said. "They come at you in waves and they seem to be on top of you all the time. We want to be a team like that, where we're on top of teams and make it frustrating and we don't crack. We have the type of team to do that. We've just got to go and show it."

Trocheck scored from below the hash marks off a feed from Svechnikov to give Carolina a 2-1 lead at 1:02 of the second period.
Necas moved the puck ahead to Svechnikov, then held it on a 2-on-1 and scored on a wrist shot off the crossbar for a 3-1 lead at 4:49.
"I think we were moving the puck up and down, always trying to beat those guys on the rush," Svechnikov said. "We needed a win, and I think the effort was there. That's why it was a success tonight."

Steven Lorentz redirected a shot by Brady Skjei near the goal line to push the lead to 4-1 at 4:09 of the third period.
The Canucks were 0-for-5 on the power play with five shots.
"It's hard when your power play is struggling and you come in and play against a team that's got the best penalty kill in the league," Boudreau said. "The more they kill, the stronger they get. Power plays go in fits and starts a bit, but on this [road] trip, it's let us down a bit."
NOTES: Horvat has scored 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in 13 games against the Hurricanes. … Demko won his previous six starts. Spencer Martin was recalled from the practice squad to back him up. … The Hurricanes have killed 35 consecutive penalties. Their record is 36 (Nov. 8-24, 2000 and Dec. 21, 2014-Jan. 19, 2015). … Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook had two shots and one hit in 12:02 in his return to the lineup after missing 12 games with a lower-body injury. … Aho has scored 10 points (five goals, five assists) in nine games against Vancouver. … Defenseman Joey Keane replaced Ethan Bear in the Hurricanes lineup. It was Keane's first game of the season and second in the NHL; he had one shot on goal playing 13:38. … Necas turned 23 years old Saturday.