Canucks pull away in 3rd period, defeat Kraken

SEATTLE -- The Vancouver Canucks pulled away with three goals in the third period, and Thatcher Demko made 23 saves in a 5-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday.

Sam Lafferty and Nils Hoglander scored 2:55 apart in the third for Vancouver, when it outshot Seattle 12-2.

Teddy Blueger, Dakota Joshua and Ilya Mikheyev scored, and Conor Garland and Nils Aman each had two assists for the Canucks (14-6-1), who visit the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

"[The third period] was one of our better periods for just game management of the puck,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I really liked our third, and it was a professional third period.

"… I think everyone's waiting for us to fall apart. But these are nice wins.”

Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games (16 points; four goals, 12 assists), the longest active streak in the NHL.

“They had some good looks, but we had some looks too,” said Hughes, the Canucks captain. “And especially, I think, our penalty kill did a great job with eight minutes of penalty kill time in the first, and it's an overall team effort."

Tye Kartye scored for the Kraken (8-9-5), who went 0-for-4 on the power play and had a five-game point streak end (3-0-2). Joey Daccord made 22 saves.

“We had too many guys below the bar tonight, and that's the bottom line,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “Both individually and collectively, this is not a part-time league. It's a full 60-minute league."

Blueger gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 5:05 of the first period on a short-handed breakaway, intercepting a Justin Schultz pass at the red line and deking around Daccord’s left pad.

“That’s kind of the bottom line is putting the puck in the back of the net,” Blueger said. “I thought we had some good zone time in the last couple games and some good chances, which is good. … Hopefully you can build some confidence off that and keep that going.”

Matty Beniers thought he had tied it for Seattle on a power play at 6:59, but the Canucks successfully challenged that Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz entered the zone offside.

“It was offside, so that is what it is,” Hakstol said. “That’s very early in the hockey game. … There’s some indications that our power play righted the ship, but again, when you’re playing catchup in that situation, it’s always a little tougher.”

Joshua pushed it to 2-0 at 12:07 of the second period, scoring on a rebound of Garland’s shot at the top of the crease.

Kartye cut it to 2-1 at 17:29, taking a Vince Dunn feed at the top of the slot and shooting under Demko’s glove.

Lafferty restored Vancouver’s two-goal lead at 9:43 of the third on a redirection of Filip Hronek’s slap shot, and Hoglander scored on a 2-on-1 at 12:38 to make it 4-1.

Mikheyev scored at 17:30 for the 5-1 final.

"It's not an effort issue, it's a readiness issue,” Hakstol said. “They were the more-ready team at the drop of the puck, and you saw that in our execution in the first five minutes of the hockey game."

NOTES: The Canucks are 11-4-1 when scoring first. … Blueger’s goal was his 100th NHL point. … Vancouver forward J.T. Miller had a nine-game point streak end (14 points; seven goals, seven assists). … Kraken forward Brandon Tanev left the game with a lower-body injury after a hit by Hoglander at 17:14 of the first. Tanev tested the injury at the start of the second but was unable to continue. Hakstol did not have an update. … Seattle forward Jared McCann was minus-4 in 17:58 of ice time.