Horvat helps Canucks defeat Coyotes, gain in West wild card

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Bo Horvat scored two goals in 38 seconds of the second period for the Vancouver Canucks in a 5-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Thursday.

Alex Chiasson had two goals and an assist and Elias Pettersson had a goal and two assists for the Canucks (34-28-10), who followed up a 5-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves for Vancouver, which trails the Dallas Stars by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"We probably weren't as sharp as we were last night but playing back to back we obviously got off to a good start," Chiasson said. "We've got to find ways to get points at this time of the year, and we got some solid goaltending and found a way to get two points."

Nick Schmaltz scored and Harri Sateri made 27 saves for the Coyotes (22-44-5) in his first NHL start since Feb. 9, 2018 with the Florida Panthers. Arizona has lost nine of 11 (2-8-1).
"We had too many breakdowns. We didn't give up a lot, but what we gave up was quality," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. "I thought we did a lot of good things. It's the score that's frustrating."
Chiasson's power-play goal made it 1-0 at 3:12 of the first period. Pettersson passed the puck through defenseman Cam Dineen's skates to Chiasson at the right post. Horvat had the secondary assist.
Pettersson scored seven points (three goals, four assists) in the back-to-back wins. He has seven goals in his past six games.
Horvat's wraparound goal gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead 52 seconds into the second period. Horvat followed up at 1:30 to make it 3-0 with a one-timer off Vasily Podkolzin's backhand pass to the slot.
Horvat has scored 13 goals in his past 16 games. His 30 goals are the most by a Canucks player since Radim Vrbata scored 31 in 2014-15.
"I'm getting good bounces, I'm playing with confidence and definitely feel good with the puck," Horvat said. "At the same time getting the wins are more important for sure."

Horvat was 17-for-17 on face-offs; Vancouver won 29 of 40 draws.
"Bruce (Boudreau) sent me out there for the last one at the end (with 36 seconds remaining) and I didn't want to ruin it," Horvat said. "I figured I was close to perfect and I'm happy I won that last one. It feels so cool to get that."
Schmaltz cut it to 3-1 at 7:27 with his career-high 22nd goal. Nick Ritchie appeared to make it 3-2 at 8:06, but Boudreau successfully challenged that Arizona was offside.
"At a great time, quite frankly, because they'd started getting momentum," Boudreau said. "Then we scored to make it 4-1 not long after and that really sort of stemmed the tide."
Pettersson made it 4-1 at 11:12 on a give-and-go with Chiasson. Chiasson's power-play goal at 4:24 of the third made for the 5-1 final.

Sateri played one game in the Kontinental Hockey League after going 5-0-0 for gold medalist Finland in the Olympics in February. He had only a couple of practices after Arizona claimed him on waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"Obviously, it's been a little break so it wasn't my best game, but overall felt actually pretty good," Sateri said. "The timing is a little off. It's a different game here than in Europe, a little bit quicker."
NOTES: Conor Garland had two assists in his first game in Arizona since the Coyotes traded him and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Vancouver on July 23. Ekman-Larsson had an assist. … In two games against Arizona this season, Garland has one goal and two assists and Ekman-Larsson has four assists. … Canucks forward Tanner Pearson was limited to 4:28 by an upper-body injury, but Boudreau is hopeful he can play against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. … Vancouver forward Quinn Hughes (illness) missed his second straight game. … Halak is 11-3-2 in 16 games against the Coyotes. … Vancouver was 2-for-2 on the power play. … Sateri was 4-4-0 with a 2.92 goals-against average in nine games with Florida in 2017-18.