Horvat and Virtanen have goal, assist each as Canucks down Blues 5-1

“It’s great that we came back out and got ready to play in the second period there. And I think that’s when our game changed.”

Markstrom has posted victories in his last six starts and boasts a .942 save percentage over that stretch.

“It’s nice to get a win but you know, we lost consecutive games before this. So we owe it to the team,” he said.

Jake Allen stopped 24-of-28 shots for the Blues and Vladimir Tsarasenko put up the lone goal for St. Louis (13-16-4).

Jake Virtanen, Adam Gaudette, Josh Leivo and Loui Eriksson also scored for Vancouver.

Having five different players score showed the team’s depth, Horvat said.

“Any line can score out there,” he said. “Every line played pretty well, especially after the first period. The first was a little shakey, but after that, everyone was doing the little things to win.”

The first period was as bad as the Canucks had played in awhile, said the club’s head coach Travis Green.

During the break, he had a frank discussion with the squad about their performance.

“The good thing about our group is that we can be honest with them, tell them when they’re playing well, tell them when they’re playing (poorly) like they were tonight. And they responded,” he said.

“For a team to get better, you have to be able to have honesty with them.”

Vancouver recovered from the scoreless first period with a power-play goal midway through the second after Blues left-winger David Perron was called for tripping.

Elias Pettersson sliced a beautiful pass to Horvat who was in front of the St. Louis net and got a slapshot off before Allen could get all the way across the crease.

“I saw him look at me and I was hoping he was going to give it to me,” Horvat said. “It was obviously a great feed, threading the needle like that. It takes a special player to make a pass like that and he did it.”

Just 28 seconds later, some hard work by Gaudette added another point. The Canucks centre took a shot then crashed the net, collected his own rebound and poked it in past the Blues netminder.

“That’s just the type of game I play,” said the 22-year-old centre. “I’m pretty big on second and third efforts. The puck squirted loose and I thought I could get a stick on it so I just kept hacking at it.”

The goal was the second of Gaudette’s NHL career and his first in Vancouver.

“The crowd went pretty crazy there. It’s a great feeling and hopefully more to come,” he said.

The Blues knew the Canucks would be fired up coming into the second period, said St. Louis coach Craig Berube.

“We just kind of dug ourselves a hole,” he said.

“Couldn’t find the back of the net enough. Their goalie kept them in the first period, made some big saves for them, and it was a different game if we get a goal.”

One of Markstrom’s saves came on a St. Louis power play when Tyler Bozak broke through the Canucks penalty killers. The crowd at Rogers Arena broke out into cheers of “Marky! Marky!” after the Canucks netminder stopped a rocket from the Blues centre.

“We’ve got to start scoring, myself included,” Bozak said after the game. “Every goalie in this league is a good goalie, we’ve got to find ways to get it by him. We can’t just always say their goalies had a good game tonight.”

The Canucks wrap up a five-game homestand Saturday when they host the Winnipeg Jets.

The Blues are off to Calgary where they’ll battle the Flames on Saturday.

NOTES: Virtanen scored his 11th goal of the year Thursday, setting a new career high. His previous high of 10 goals was set last season.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Horvat and Virtanen have goal, assist each as Canucks down Blues 5-1

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