Boeser has 2 goals, assist in Canucks win against Jets 

VANCOUVER -- Brock Boeser ended a 12-game goal drought by scoring twice and adding an assist to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 6-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

Pius Suter also scored twice, Nils Hoglander had a goal and an assist, and Quinn Hughes had two assists for the Canucks (32-25-11), who have won three of four. Kevin Lankinen made 19 saves.

“It felt really good,” Boeser said. “I felt that I haven't really been much of a big help to our team lately, and I want to be a difference-maker in these games and help us win games and continue to push for that playoff spot.”

Vancouver (75 points) remained tied with the St. Louis Blues, who have played one more game, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Calgary Flames are two points back of Vancouver and St. Louis.

“It's a huge win and it should give our group a lot of confidence and just show that we can beat anyone on any given night if we really focus on our details and play to our structure and work hard,” Boeser said. “It's a big win for these remaining games down the stretch, and definitely a huge game to build off.”

Nikolaj Ehlers and Alex Iafallo scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves for the Jets (47-18-4), who had won three straight.

“You look at pretty much all their goals, they’re first to pucks, they beat us back to the net,” Winnipeg defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “It's not a recipe for success on our group, very unlike our group, so it's going to happen over an 82-game season and we'll move on to the next one.”

Drew O'Connor put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 4:55 of the first period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Hughes short side past Hellebuyck from the right face-off dot for his first goal in 14 games.

Ehlers tied it 1-1 at 14:50 by finishing a rush chance he started coming out his own end. He took a return pass from Vladislav Namestnikov at Vancouver's blue line and cut into the middle before firing a wrist shot past Lankinen.

Boeser put Vancouver back in front 2-1 on the power play at 18:29 by deflecting a Hughes one-timer past Hellebuyck.

“I think it was more relief,” Boeser said of his fist-pump celebration that followed. "But honestly, anytime Quinn sees a lane, he shoots a puck and there's been multiple times this year where he shoots a puck and I don't get a stick on it. So, I worked on it this morning and luckily it paid off.”

Hoglander made it 3-1 with three seconds left in the first period. Boeser played a give-and-go with Elias Pettersson in the high slot, then found Hoglander driving to the net for a redirection at the top of the crease.

“We gave up a lot more rush opportunities than we ever have I think in a game, and they capitalized. Then that late goal at the end of the first (was) a backbreaker,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “But after that, second period I thought we had some great zone time, some great opportunities. Goalie made some big stops, even parts of the third there was still lots of opportunity for us to get back, but every time we made a mistake, it went in the back of our net.”

Iafallo poked in a rebound at the top of the crease to bring Winnipeg to within 3-2 at 7:07 of the second period.

Boeser scored his 20th of the season to make it 4-2 at 13:57, banging a rebound through Hellebuyck’s pads as he reached to cover the puck, and Suter converted a backdoor pass from Kiefer Sherwood to extend the lead to 5-2 at 14:43.

“Anytime I made a play, I was trying to get to the net, and I just saw it sitting there and took a whack and luckily it snuck by,” Boeser said. “Our line overall played pretty good tonight.”

Mark Scheifele was robbed by Lankinen with the left pad on a rebound at 12:05, and Ehlers hit the post on a rush at 13:08 before Boeser’s goal.

“If they go in, you never know what the game could be after that,” Iafallo said.

Suter scored an empty-net goal with four seconds remaining for the 6-2 final.

“Obviously, nice to have that and just close out the game,” Suter said.

The Canucks have scored four or more goals in all three wins after failing to score more than three goals in any of their previous 15 games.

“It's a huge confidence boost for us,” Suter said.

NOTES: Pettersson has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Hughes has five points (two goals, three assists) on a four-game point streak since returning from a lower-body injury that kept him out four games.