Andrei Kuzmenko scored two goals and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the visiting Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Saturday night for their fourth straight win.
J.T. Miller and Nils Aman each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks. Dakota Joshua had two assists and Thatcher Demko made 18 saves.
Claude Giroux and Nick Holden scored third-period goals for the Senators, who have lost two of their past three games after winning five straight. Tim Stutzle had two assists and Mads Sogaard made 25 saves for the Senators.
The Senators are six points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, but they have played three fewer games.
Kuzmenko gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 15:05 of the first period when he received a pass in the slot from Miller, made a move and scored on a backhand shot.
The Canucks made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal at 4:26 of the second period. After an Ottawa turnover, Miller entered the zone 2-on-1 with Aman, took the return pass on a give-and-go and beat Sogaard.
Aman increased the lead to 3-0 at 10:27. Joshua carried in along the right boards, cut toward the net and fed across the slot to Aman for the easy tip in.
Vancouver added to its cushion at 6:50 of the third period when Sheldon Dries took a drop pass from Joshua on a 3-on-2 rush and scored on wrist shot from between the faceoff circles to make it 4-0.
Ottawa pulled within 4-1 at 13:39 of the third period, when Giroux knocked in the rebound of Thomas Chabot’s shot.
Holden made it 4-2 at 15:44, scoring on a wrist shot through traffic from the left faceoff circle, but Kuzmenko scored into an empty net with 15 seconds remaining for the 5-2 final.
The Canucks were 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Senators were 0-for-3.
–Field Level Media
