Canucks score 6, ease past Blackhawks

VANCOUVER -- Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland and Pius Suter each had a goal and assist for the Vancouver Canucks in a 6-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Nils Hoglander, Teddy Blueger and Kiefer Sherwood each had two assists, and Arturs Silovs made 17 saves in his first start in seven games for the Canucks (31-24-11), who have won two games in a row.

It's just the second time this season Vancouver has scored six goals, and the first time in 17 games they’ve scored more than three in regulation or overtime.

“It's definitely a boost for us,” Pettersson said.

Four of the goals against Chicago came from the third and fourth lines.

“Those guys really have done a great job for us all year long and I'm glad they got rewarded, and we're going to need them to keep going,” said Quinn Hughes, who also scored. “We got 16 (games) left now, and it's going to have to be all of us.”

It was Silovs' second win in 10 appearances with the Canucks this season (2-6-1) and the first for the 23-year-old goalie since Nov. 16, also against Chicago.

“It's like a huge boost getting a win,” Silovs said. “It's ups and downs (this season). There's always a lot to learn from and I think for me, it's maybe not the best experience, but it's experience, and I think I can grow from that.”

Ryan Donato had two assists and Arvid Soderblom allowed six goals on 15 shots for the Blackhawks (20-38-9), who finished 0-3-1 on a four-game road trip.

“I don't know what it is, but we just can't seem to put it together long enough,” defenseman Connor Murphy said. “Maybe it's recognizing how important each shift is as the game gets going or knowing you're on the road and those teams know how to score when you give them looks. It's just tightening up.”

Hughes put the Canucks up 1-0 at 17:46 of the first period, taking a pass at the left point and skating quickly and unchecked down to the left face-off dot before snapping a far-side wrist shot under Soderblom’s glove.

Tyler Myers made it 2-0 just 35 seconds later with another shot low to the glove side from the top of the left face-off circle at 18:21.

“We were fired up,” Pettersson said of the quick goals. “It was good to see. Other than the second period, I like our game and we just got to keep on building.”

Garland made it 3-0 with a pretty rush goal at 8:08 of the second. Garland made a short pass to Suter near the top of the circles, then split the defense and skated into a return chip pass from Suter before deking to his backhand and lifting a shot just under the cross bar in tight for his first goal in nine games.

Alex Vlasic scored on a screened point shot at 18:51 to make it 3-1.

Pettersson scored for the fourth time in five games to make it 4-1 at 4:01 of the third period. His wrist shot from the slot glanced off the post and bounced quickly off the back bar so play initially continued and Hoglander scored on another slot shot six seconds later but replays showed Pettersson’s shot was in.

“I thought I saw the net behind the bar lift a little so I was pretty sure it was a goal,” Pettersson said. “It feels good."

Wyatt Kaiser scored on a far-side wrist shot over Silovs' glove off the rush from the left dot at 5:22 to make it 4-2. Chicago rookie defenseman Artyom Levshunov assisted on the goal, his first NHL point in his third NHL game.

“To do that here in NHL, I'm so excited,” said Levshunov, the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. “I want to score and win. We got to win too. A win is more important than goal, team win, team result, I think we got to work for it.”

Nils Aman made it 5-2 at 9:50 after a behind-the-back pass from Sherwood across the top of the crease, and Suter scored eight seconds later on a cross-ice pass from Garland for the 6-2 final.

“Just didn't read the rush well, didn't read the coverage well,” said interim coach Anders Sorensen. “It's tough because we didn't help [Soderblom] on those plays. They were magnified, they were too easy, a couple of lateral plays that are basically empty netters. Not much he can do about those.”

NOTES: Canucks forward Filip Chytil left with 4:56 remaining in the third period after getting hit into the boards by Chicago forward Jason Dickinson and went straight to the locker room. Coach Rick Tocchet did not have an update after the game. “It’s a pretty bad hit so we’ll see how he is,” Tocchet said. … Vancouver has alternated between consecutive losses and consecutive wins for eight straight games. … Aman and Suter’s goals eight seconds apart tied for the second-fastest two goals in franchise history behind Greg Adams and Cliff Ronning scoring six seconds apart on Feb. 6, 1992.