Canucks blow out Stanley Cup champion Blues to win the series

Aug 22 2020, 4:23 am

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For the first time in nearly a decade, the Vancouver Canucks have won a best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series.

Jay Beagle scored early in Game 6 against the St. Louis Blues, and the Canucks never looked back en route to a 6-2 win.

The Canucks dominated early, but they really took over early in the second period when they scored three goals in less than six minutes to take a 4-0 lead.

Antoine Roussel got the ball rolling with his second goal of the playoffs, 2:09 into the second period.

“We were pushing hard, skating hard and everything kind of fell into place after that,” Roussel said following the win.

Shortly after that, Troy Stecher opened up the floodgates by one-timing a pass from Brandon Sutter to make it a 3-0 Game.

Although Stecher isn’t someone who finds the scoresheet often, he had two game-winning goals for the Canucks against St. Louis.

It was a big series for many depth players on the Canucks, including both Stecher and the veteran Sutter.

The 31-year-old Sutter, who has often drawn the ire of Canucks fans ever since Jim Benning called him “foundational” back in 2015, had three assists on the night.

The Calgary Flames taught the NHL that a three-goal lead isn’t safe, but Brock Boeser put the dagger in any hopes of a St. Louis comeback when he scored his first goal in seven games on the power play to make it a 4-0 game.

Jordan Binnington, who led the Blues to the Cup last year, was pulled after the Boeser goal. It didn’t make a difference for the Blues, who become the fifth defending champion in the last 10 years to lose in the opening round of the playoffs.

Binnington was atrocious in net for the Blues in these playoffs. He went 0-5 with a 4.72 GAA and a .861 save percentage.

The Blues broke Jacob Markstrom’s shut out early in the third period, but Tyler Motte scored a goal and added an empty netter en rote to a 6-2 win.

“This whole series we had different guys step up, all the way through our lineup,” captain Bo Horvat said following the game.

Jay Beagle echoed those thoughts in the post-game press conference.

“It’s a great feeling [to win]. That’s why we’re here. It always feels good when you play like that and it pays off and you win the series.

“It’s playoffs. You’ve got to have your third and fourth lines scoring, doing all the little things that we always talk about. When your third and fourth lines are chipping in and also scoring, it’s hard to beat a team like that.”

“It’s nice to get rewarded.”

Despite the scoring outburst from the Canucks over the last two games, it’s clear that the team’s most important player was Markstrom. The 30-year-old made 34 saves, including 13 in the final period.

As any good teammate would do, Markstrom wanted to talk about the team in front of him, rather than himself, following the win.

“I’m seeing a lot of sacrifices and a lot of unselfish players who are willing to block shots and make my life a lot easier. I see a tight group playing together and having fun doing it.”

“It’s a huge win for the team and for our group.”

Stecher stepped in during the post-game presser to give Markstrom some love.

“You’re only as good as your last shift and your last game. Taking nothing away from our team, I don’t know if we’re here without Marky.”

The Canucks will face the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 2. Game 1 of that series will take place on Sunday, August 23rd at 7:30 pm.

Vancouver is 2-7-1 against the Golden Knights all time. This season, the Canucks lost to Vegas 6-3 on December 15th, before defeating them 5-4 thanks to a Chris Tanev overtime winner on December 19th. That win on the 19th was the start of a run in which the Canucks won 14 of 17 games.

Of all eight teams that advanced to the playoffs from the best-of-five Stanley Cup Qualifiers, the Canucks and the New York Islanders were the only two teams to move on to Round Two.

 

 

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