Canucks top Rangers but lose bloodied Hamhuis to puck to face
VANCOUVER, British Columbia
The Vancouver Canucks picked up a big win and lost a key piece on Wednesday night.
Daniel Sedin and Alexander Edler each had a goal and an assist and the Canucks beat the New York Rangers 2-1 in a game that was marred by a gruesome injury to Dan Hamhuis late in the third period.
The veteran Vancouver defenseman took a puck in the face from close range off the stick of New York's Dan Boyle and laid on the ice for a few seconds before leaving a trail of blood on his way to the locker room.
"He took the shot in the mouth, just on the upper part of his mouth and lost some teeth," Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins said. "I would assume it probably broke his jaw.
"It's scary. It's a hard thing to take. He'll suffer with that for a little while."
Henrik Sedin added two assists for Vancouver, and Ryan Miller made 32 saves. The Canucks won consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 30 and Nov. 2.
Boyle scored on a penalty shot for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves.
"There's no doubt in the first two periods I felt we carried the play," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We had some good opportunities and good looks, but weren't able to capitalize on them and then you are going into a third period that turned out to be a little bit strange."
Daniel Sedin scored the winner on a slick deflection down low at 9:24 of the third period off a slap pass from Edler for his 13th of the season just 40 seconds after Boyle tied the game 1-1.
"Those are the kind of plays (Edler) can make," Daniel Sedin said. "I was fortunate to tip it in. It was a pretty tough angle."
The Rangers were awarded a penalty shot after a Vancouver player covered the puck in Miller's crease, and Boyle made no mistake with a nice move for his first of the year.
"I assume (the referee) thought our guy covered it in the crease," Miller said. "You have to be pretty sure it's in the crease for a penalty shot in my opinion."
Boyle later hit the post on a Rangers' power play.
Edler opened the scoring on a 5-on-3 power play 3:19 into the third period after New York forward Jarret Stoll was penalized for delay of game with the Canucks already up a man.
Vancouver moved the puck around nicely to Edler at the point, and he ripped his sixth off the post and in.
The Canucks had a great chance to build on that lead after the Rangers were assessed a subsequent bench minor that was followed by a high-sticking penalty, but they were unable to capitalize
Vancouver was coming off a 5-2 victory over Buffalo on Monday night that snapped a five-game losing streak, but it was slow out of the gate.
Jesper Fast and Viktor Stalberg both had good chances on Miller inside the first 5 minutes while the Rangers looked to be playing a game of keepaway in the Canucks' zone.
Vancouver finally got a decent look at the other end with about 6 minutes left in the opening period, but Lundqvist stopped Derek Dorsett off the rush.
New York defenseman Dan Girardi nearly opened the scoring less than 4 minutes into the second with the teams playing 4-on-4 when his deflection in front of Miller struck the crossbar and stayed out.
The Rangers had another great chance, but Kevin Hayes' shot with Miller out of position nicked off Canucks rookie Jared McCann right in front of Vancouver's goal and stayed out as New York held a 23-14 edge in shots through 40 minutes.
Notes: The Canucks open a six-game trip on Sunday that will take them to Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Detroit, Florida and Tampa Bay. ... New York visits Edmonton on Friday and Calgary on Saturday.
