Defenseman Quinn Hughes is doing his best to keep the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference playoff chase.
He’s scored five goals and earned two assists in his past five games leading into Monday night’s contest against the host St. Louis Blues.
Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen faced Hughes the previous four seasons while playing for the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators. Now he is glad to be on Hughes’ team.
“I’m just extremely impressed,” Lankinen said. “Obviously, playing against (Hughes) in the last few years, but now seeing him on a daily basis, just how he drags guys along and takes over games is remarkable. I’m just really happy to be witnessing that and just being the same side of that show.”
The Canucks had won just two of their previous 10 games before edging the Washington Capitals 2-1 at home Saturday. Hughes scored both goals for Vancouver to lead the way.
“You don’t want to call a game in January a must-win, but we needed this one,” Vancouver winger Conor Garland said. “(Hughes) just finds a way to bring his best.”
The Capitals had reeled off six consecutive victories, so they offered a stern test for a team that had been struggling.
“It’s massive, just because how we’ve been playing, obviously not good enough, and to come out here against a really good team and play as well as we did, that’s a really good sign,” Hughes said. “But also in saying that, we got to find a way to bring that consistently.”
The Blues are chasing the Canucks, the Calgary Flames and others for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference bracket. And like the Canucks, they have struggled to sustain traction.
The Blues lost their first two games on their three-game homestand, 4-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights and 2-0 to the Dallas Stars. Those defeats knocked them below .500 at home at 11-12-1.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery is frustrated by his team’s consistently slow starts in games, especially at home.
“We’re going to start doing things differently,” he said. “We have to because we had a great crowd (Saturday). Our fans were ready to rock … Maybe we do morning skates at (the practice facility). We’ve got to disrupt the rhythm somehow so that we have a little more urgency.”
Blues captain Brayden Schenn said it’s up to the players to get themselves in the right mindset to play well from the start.
“I think it just becomes individually having yourself ready to play, especially this time of the year,” Schenn said. “Points are crucial, playing at home. At the end of the day, no excuse not being ready to play, especially against good hockey teams. That’s the lesson we have to learn.”
The Blues won the previous game between these teams 4-3 in overtime Dec. 10. Goaltender Joel Hofer made 22 saves to earn the victory and Robert Thomas (goal, two assists) and Dylan Holloway (goal, assist) paced the offense.
Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist in that game and put five shots on goal. Thatcher Demko made 21 saves in defeat.
–Field Level Media
