Holtby makes 36 saves, Canucks top Senators to sweep three-game series

VANCOUVER -- Brock Boeser scored two goals and had an assist, and the Vancouver Canucks swept a three-game set against the Ottawa Senators with a 4-1 win at Rogers Arena on Thursday.

Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist, Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Braden Holtby made 36 saves and had an assist for the Canucks (5-5-0). Vancouver had lost five of its previous six games before outscoring the Senators 16-3 to win three straight for the first time this season.
"The three games here were really big just to get things back on track before things really slide," Hughes said. "I think our team has a high standard and everyone wants to win, so we can get down on each other fast, but we pick each other up and to win this series is a good step in the right direction."
Thomas Chabot scored, and Matt Murray made 21 saves for the Senators (1-6-1), who are 0-6-1 since winning their season opener.
Ottawa players expressed frustration following a 5-1 loss Wednesday, but coach D.J. Smith said he saw more positives in their game Thursday.
"We didn't win tonight, but that's our best effort of the three games, for sure," Smith said. "We worked away from the puck, we worked on keeping the chances down, we were better in our defensive zone. It's unfortunate we don't win tonight, but if we play that hard every night, we're going to start to win games."
Boeser put the Canucks ahead 1-0 on the power play at 5:30 of the first period, carrying the puck from the side of the net to the top of the crease unchecked before spinning and shooting it back the other way past Murray's blocker.
"It was a three-game set that we needed to reset," Boeser said.

Pettersson made it 2-0 on a 3-on-2 rush at 10:49 after Boeser's shot off a cross-ice Hughes pass was blocked. The puck bounced to Pettersson atop the crease, and he chipped it over Murray.
"We have been getting some bad bounces, for sure, as a group, and I think karma is going to change here," Murray said. "We're doing the little things right. If we keep doing that, we're going to earn those bounces."
Boeser made it 3-0 at 4:32 of the second period on a 3-on-2 rush that started with a Holtby stretch pass as the Senators changed lines. Boeser's wrist shot from the right face-off circle went in under Murray's blocker, giving the Canucks forward eight goals in six games against the goalie.
"Definitely I've had some success against him," Boeser said. "I can't tell you what it is, just shooting the puck and it's going in the net right now."
Chabot scored on an individual rush, cutting around Hughes to the net and tucking the puck under Holtby's right pad in tight to make it 3-1 at 14:15.
"I saw the two [defensemen] were kind of flat-footed, so I took advantage that, went wide and kind of ran into the net," Chabot said.

Holtby made the save against Connor Brown on a shorthanded breakaway with eight seconds left in the second period, and Tanner Pearson banked his own rebound in off Murray from the goal line 1:47 into the third for the 4-1 final.
Smith said it could have been a different game if Brown scored.
"It [would have been] 3-2 going into the third and maybe they're squeezing it, and then they get that lucky, fluky goal, and that's just the way it's going right now," Smith said.
It was Holtby's eighth straight win against the Senators, and his 12th NHL assist.
"You try to help out the team any way you can," Holtby said. "Most times, it's just little plays to the [defensemen], but when a play opens up like that, you take it."
NOTES: Senators forward Filip Chlapik made his season debut in place of center Derek Stepan, who is day to day with an undisclosed injury. … Ottawa defenseman Christian Wolanin was placed on injured reserve after sustaining a lower-body injury in the game Wednesday. … Josh Brown returned to the lineup in Wolanin's place and played 11:33 in his 100th NHL game. … Hughes has 11 points, the most by a Canucks defenseman through the first 10 games of a season since Paul Reinhart (16 points) in 1989-90. … Vancouver forward Jake Virtanen was scratched for the first time this season; Adam Gaudette took his spot after three games as a healthy scratch.