Canucks hand slumping Golden Knights another loss

LAS VEGAS -- The Vancouver Canucks handed the Vegas Golden Knights their fourth straight loss, and fifth straight at home, with a 3-1 win at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Quinn Hughes, Phillip Di Giuseppe and Conor Garland scored, and Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for Vancouver (41-17-7), which has won three straight.

“We cleaned up a lot of good stuff. It was just full team effort, full 60 minutes, which was great,” Demko said.  “Big (three-game) road trip for us. Go home here for a real long homestand (nine games) and try and take advantage of that.”

Michael Amadio scored, and Adin Hill made 32 saves for Vegas (33-23-7), which is 2-8-1 in its past 11 games.

“I don’t think it helped that we’re chasing the game early,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We have to start digging in after the first negative thing that happens to us and bounce back. Get through it. We haven’t been able to do that. ... They checked well. There’s a reason why they’re in first place (in the Pacific Division). They used everybody. They’re buying in. They’re working above. They weren’t going to give us anything, and they didn’t.”

Forward Anthony Mantha, who was acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, had four penalty minutes in 15:14 of ice time in his Golden Knights debut. Defenseman Noah Hanifin, who was acquired from the Calgary Flames as part of a three-team trade Wednesday, had two shots on goal in 21:33 of ice time.

“I won’t evaluate them. I’d say this even with a call-up. I don’t think it’s fair,” Cassidy said. “Especially a game like tonight where we didn’t do enough as a team. Let them play a few games.”

Hughes gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 6:01 of the first period, scoring from the high slot just as a 5-on-3 power play expired.

Di Giuseppe scored 55 seconds later to make it 2-0. He beat Hill five-hole from the right circle after Nils Hoglander was tripped by Brayden McNabb while attempting to toe-drag the defenseman on a 2-on-1.

“You know, you're on the road and you want to get on the other team early. So it was big for our group,” Di Giuseppe said. “We had a couple of power plays there too. We were taking it to them in the first."

Amadio cut the lead to 2-1 at 3:50 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right point through a screen.

“There were definitely times we controlled and we got pucks in and got them back,” Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said. “We had some good looks. [Jack Eichel] got robbed earlier. Those are the little things we can take from it.”

Garland pushed it to 3-1 at 15:58 of the second. Hill made the initial save on Elias Lindholm’s shot, but the puck dropped down into the crease, where Garland collected it and scored with his backhand.

“We got back to our identity these last three games,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “All the areas we wanted to shore up, I got to give the guys credit, they shored it up. This is a tough building to play in. We didn’t give them a lot. When we did, [Demko] was there for us.”

NOTE: Forward Elias Pettersson had the primary assist on Hughes' goal, his 400th NHL point (166 goals, 234 assists). He reached the mark in 390 games, the second-fewest in Canucks history, behind Pavel Bure (360 games).