Ekman-Larsson, Garland help Canucks defeat Coyotes

VANCOUVER -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson had three assists and Conor Garland scored for the Vancouver Canucks in their first game against their former team, a 5-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat each had a goal and an assist, and Thatcher Demko made 35 saves for the Canucks (21-20-6), who are 3-1-2 in their past six games.
"If your best players aren't your best players, you very rarely win, and tonight they stepped up and did the job when they had to," Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I thought the best players did what they had to, and that's score some goals."

It was also the first game against their former team for Arizona forwards Antoine Roussel and Loui Eriksson, who along with injured Coyotes forward Jay Beagle were part of a five-player trade for Ekman-Larsson and Garland on July 23, 2021. Vancouver also sent a first-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft (Dylan Guenther), a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a seventh-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to the Coyotes in the trade.
"It was tough, to be honest with you," said Ekman-Larsson, who played his first 11 NHL seasons for the Coyotes and was captain for the final three. "A lot of emotions and just seeing the guys on the other side. I thought it was going to be easier. I didn't feel good in the game tonight. I thought I probably had more tape-to-tape passes with their team than our team, but hey, we take the win and it was good to see the guys and it was nice to get two points."
It was the first multipoint game since coming to Vancouver for Ekman-Larsson, who has scored 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 44 games this season.
"It's funny how it works," he said. "You're feeling good, you don't get rewarded by putting up points and then you kind of have an off night and you end up with three points. I don't know how to explain that, but that's hockey, I guess."
Lawson Crouse scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves for the Coyotes (11-31-4), who have lost seven of eight.
Arizona outshot Vancouver 15-7 in the first period, but Vancouver scored three goals in a 2:22 span in the second period to take a 3-0 lead.
"I was happy about most of the game, to be honest," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. "Okay, we had that stretch in the second period, three or four minutes where we didn't play really well, but at the same time we play against a good NHL team, you won't have the momentum for 60 minutes. We could not stop the bleeding, but I don't mind the way we fought. Our forecheck was really good, we create a lot in the [offensive] zone, their goalie was the best player on the ice, so that's the difference."
Garland, who played his first three NHL seasons in Arizona, put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 3:48 of the second period with a one-timer from the right hash marks.

Horvat deflected a point shot from Ekman-Larsson past a screened Vejmelka from the high slot on a power play to make it 2-0 at 4:44.
Pettersson scored on a partial breakaway at 6:10 to push the lead to 3-0.
"We did that to ourselves," Crouse said. "A couple mistakes that led to the first one, and then we took a penalty and they scored right away, and then it seemed like right away again."
Crouse scored on a rebound to cut it to 3-1 at 13:31, but Clayton Keller was stopped on a breakaway at 17:44, and Vancouver extended the lead in the third.
Miller made it 4-1 with an end-to-end rush 6:20 into the third period, taking the puck from Ekman-Larsson behind the Canucks net and cutting around defenseman J.J. Moser to get in alone before going around Vejmelka.
"Just tried to catch them on a change," said Miller, whose assist on Horvat's goal was his 400th NHL point. "I don't think their 'D' can gap as good as they want, and obviously that doesn't happen very often, so I got a little lucky. But I wouldn't look too much into it. That doesn't happen every day, obviously."
Brock Boeser deflected in a Pettersson slap pass on a power play at 12:50 for the 5-1 final.
NOTES: Keller had his point streak end at six games (three goals, five assists). … Miller has scored 401 points (153 goals, 248 assists) in 602 NHL games in 10 seasons with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Canucks. … Ekman-Larsson has scored 400 points (131 goals, 269 assists) in 813 NHL games in 12 seasons with the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes and Canucks. … Defenseman Noah Juulsen had two assists, his first points of the season and first with his hometown Canucks in his sixth game. He was acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers on Oct. 10. … Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes and forward Matthew Highmore missed the game after being placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol Monday. … Each team was playing the first of back-to-back games. The Canucks play the New York Islanders and the Coyotes play at the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.