Boeser scores twice, Canucks defeat Jets in fourth straight win

WINNIPEG -- Brock Boeser scored two goals, and the Vancouver Canucks won their fourth straight game, 4-1 against the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place on Saturday.

Boeser leads the NHL with eight goals. It was his fourth two-goal game this season.
"I think my shot is feeling really good, obviously," Boeser said. "I mean, obviously there's been issues with injuries in the past, but I've been feeling good and I've been really focusing on staying healthy and feeling good on the ice. And I think it's showing and I'm feeling confident out there and feel like I'm moving well."
Nils Hoglander and Zack MacEwen scored for the Canucks (6-5-0), who opened a six-game road trip. Thatcher Demko made 23 saves.

The Canucks had lost 10 straight against the Jets; it was their first win against Winnipeg since a 4-1 victory Dec. 20, 2016.
"There's no sense dwelling on it, to be honest," Vancouver coach Travis Green said. "We know [we] haven't won here in a while. We've had some close games in here, we've had some good games against them in our building. I think we've had some pretty intense games against this team, and they're a good hockey team, but it doesn't feel like we couldn't beat this team."
Mason Appleton scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves for the Jets (5-3-0).
Vancouver outshot Winnipeg 30-11 in the second and third periods.
"Those were our poorest back-to-back periods that we've had this year," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "The only hard lesson in that one tonight is the team that worked the hardest won, and that was right. They deserved to win that hockey game."
Boeser scored 29 seconds into the first period when he took a pass from Alexander Edler in the slot and put a backhand shot past Hellebuyck to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead.
"I think that's a huge confidence boost and you don't want to take that for granted and let off the gas at the start of the game," MacEwen said. "I think it's a good way for us to get rolling right out of the gate and just keep building off that. And we kept it going from there."

Appleton tied it 1-1 with his first goal of the season at 2:03 of the first, but Hoglander restored the Canucks lead when he swatted the puck in front of the net at 8:17 to make it 2-1.
MacEwen gave Vancouver a 3-1 lead with his first of the season at 6:58 of the second period.
"I think the first period was actually better than the score looked. A couple bad bounces ended up in our net," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "I think we got a little bit disjointed again and got away from some of the things that gave us success. Second period wasn't all that great."
Boeser scored his second of the game with an empty-net goal at 17:59 of the third for the 4-1 final.
"I know there is a few of us mentioning it before the game that we haven't won in this building," Boeser said. "And obviously it's a little different with no fans, but it's still nice to get that win and break that 0-10 [skid] or whatever it was and get that first win. Hopefully when we continue to play here this year, we can keep getting wins."
NOTES: Maurice passed Al Arbour and moved into fourth on the all-time list by coaching his 1,608th NHL game. Scotty Bowman leads with 2,141; Joel Quenneville of the Florida Panthers (1,710) and Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders (1,682) are second and third. … Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers had his five-game goal streak end. … Winnipeg forward Adam Lowry had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, four assists), an NHL career high. … Canucks center Elias Pettersson has a three-game point streak (two goals, three assists).