Canucks overcome injuries, pressure to win 3 straight to open 5-game road trip

WASHINGTON -- The Vancouver Canucks knew they were facing a tall order against the Washington Capitals on Sunday.

There were plenty of excuses playing far from home in what was essentially their third game in 3 1/2 days with a 12:30 p.m. ET start against the Capitals, who had won four in row.

Having to do so without forward Brock Boeser, who was away from the team for personal reasons, and losing forwards Filip Chytil and Jonathan Lekkerimaki to unspecified injuries in the first period didn’t make it any easier.

The Canucks dug down and found a way, though, jumping out to a four-goal lead before hanging on for a 4-3 victory at Capital One Arena.

“We had a really good start and as the game went on, we lost a couple of guys, so we were trying to keep it together,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “They made a strong push, as we knew they would, and we were able to get the big win.”

That’s three big wins in a row for the Canucks (4-2-0) to begin a five-game road trip that continues at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, SNP). Those victories are important to the foundation Foote is trying to implement in his first season as coach after succeeding Rick Tocchet, who departed after last season (and later was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers).

Vancouver didn’t play particularly well in its first three games before the trip and didn’t depart on the best note, losing 5-2 at home to the St. Louis Blues on Monday. But the Canucks overcame slow starts to win 5-3 at the Dallas Stars on Thursday and 3-2 in a shootout at the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday before pulling out perhaps their best win of the young season against the Capitals, considering the circumstances.

“The schedule has been tough the last few days,” goalie Thatcher Demko said. “Pretty much three [games] in three-and-a-half [days]. It’s a huge start to our trip. We had some pressure on us coming into this road trip. I’m not going to pretend like it’s not there. The media was talking about it. Guys in our room were talking about it. The coaching staff was talking about it.

“I think we all knew kind of what position we were in coming into the trip and to get the first three is huge. We have two left that we want to get, but it’s been a great start to the trip.”

The Canucks focused on starting better Sunday. Elias Pettersson’s goal 59 seconds into the game, which came after the Canucks forced a turnover with their forecheck, helped set the tone.

Vancouver controlled play for most of the first period and was rewarded when defenseman Tyler Myers found the loose puck off a scramble in front and shot it into the net past goalie Charlie Lindgren to increase the lead to 2-0 at 17:11. After the Capitals unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference on Myers’ goal, the Canucks cashed in on the resulting power play with Kiefer Sherwood knocking in the rebound of Conor Garland’s shot from the left circle to make it 3-0 at 17:52 of the first period.

“Got the start we wanted,” Myers said. “We’ve been talking about it. We haven’t liked our starts lately and have done a good job of getting into it after, but obviously, a quick goal tonight got us into it.”

Teddy Blueger scored from the slot at 4:54 of the second period to make it 4-0, but a power-play goal from rookie Ryan Leonard at 13:42 gave the Capitals some life heading into third.

That was when Demko had to do a lot of the heavy lifting behind a tired team, making 10 of his 28 saves in a period in which the Canucks were outshot 12-5. By the end of the game, Vancouver was down to two centers -- Petterson and rookie Max Sasson -- with Chytil sidelined since the first period and Blueger missing the final 6:14 with an undisclosed injury.

Things got tighter after Jakob Chychrun scored to bring Washington to within 4-2 at 9:01. With Lindgren on the bench for an extra attacker, John Carlson’s point shot beat a screened Demko at 17:46 to make it a one-goal game.

The Canucks were able to survive the final 2:14, though. With Lindgren again on the bench to give the Capitals a 6-on-5 skater advantage, Demko got a hand from his teammates in front of him.

Pettersson blocked three consecutive shot attempts from Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader with 898 goals. Myers also blocked an Ovechkin shot before Demko stopped an Ovechkin deflection with one second remaining to preserve the win.

“Admittedly, I was getting a little tired there,” said Demko, who improved to 3-1-0 with a 2.28 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in four starts this season. “We were hemmed in a little bit and it kind of just shows where our mindset was at as a group tonight. It was kind of just doing anything it took to win. Some huge blocks.”

Vancouver will probably need to play similarly in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to continue this run. Foote did not know the status of Chytil, Lekkerimaki or Blueger for that game but sounded hopeful that Boeser’s absence is “not going to be long at all.”

Each win gives the Canucks confidence, though, that they are building something during this trip that they hope will lead to more success.

“We’re a pretty young team, we’re learning as we go still,” Myers said. “But guys are doing a good job of staying in it and playing with a lot of good work ethic and we showed it tonight.”