Dakota Joshua and Kiefer Sherwood each had two-point games and Kevin Lankinen stood tall throughout as the Vancouver Canucks scored four goals and picked up a win in their final road game of the season.
With the win, the Canucks went three-for-three against the Colorado Avalanche this season.
Joshua scored a goal and added an assist in the game. He spoke postgame about his group playing hard to the finish of the season and liked his group’s effort on Thursday night.
“That was a good team game. Everybody took part tonight, and then Kevin [Lankinen] was unreal in net,” said Joshua. “Every time you put the jersey on, I know that we’re going to go out there and compete until the end, and we’ve got to keep stringing these performances together.”
Head Coach Rick Tocchet liked how his team played in the second period and believed it gave the group a good boost.
His message to the team for the final stretch of games is to not look back at the season but instead look ahead and focus on playing the right way. He got two goals from the Joshua, Sherwood, and Aatu Räty line. The coach spoke about the trio following the game.
“I thought the line was really good. I thought that line’s been good since I put them together, they’ve been really consistent in the last bunch of games [since] I played them together,” said Tocchet. “This is big for Dakota. I think if he could have some strong games down the stretch, [it will] give him some confidence going into the summer.”
Lankinen was excellent in the win, making 31 saves on 32 shots. It was the 11th time this season that Lankinen has allowed one or fewer goals in a game.
Goals
Jake DeBrusk opened the scoring in the second period with his team-leading 26th goal of the season. Kiefer Sherwood flew down the left wing and flipped the puck into the high-danger area, where DeBrusk deflected the puck over Mackenzie Blackwood and into the back of the net.
