Joshua has 3 points, Garland scores 2 for Canucks in win against Blackhawks

CHICAGO – Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists, and Conor Garland scored twice for the Vancouver Canucks in a 4-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.

“Yeah, good road trip for us, 3-1-1,” Garland said. “We played some good hockey, and it’s good to kind of have that record after the All-Star break. We just have a really tough push the rest of the way, so we’ll be ready to go.”

Thatcher Demko made 21 saves for the Canucks (36-12-6), who have won two straight and are 12-1-3 in their past 16 games. Filip Hronek had two assists.

“I thought it was a businesslike game, some good lines,” Vancouver coach Rich Tocchet said. “I thought the Garland line, obviously, was really good. I thought [defenseman Noah] Juulsen was really good tonight. I thought he was excellent. Got our two points, 3-1-1, and we get back home to Vancouver.”

Petr Mrazek made 34 saves for the Blackhawks (14-36-3), who are 0-6-1 in their past seven games.

“I think we’ve been proud of how the guys have worked over the last month, but not tonight,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “That wasn’t the same effort. Kind of the same result, pulling the goalie and putting a little pressure on at the end, but not the way we want to do things around here.”

Garland gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 10:05 of the first period on a give-and-go with Joshua. Garland skated into the slot with the puck and passed to Joshua in the left face-off circle. Joshua gave it back to Garland, who scored from just off the crease.

The Canucks outshot the Blackhawks 12-1 in the first period. Chicago’s first shot on goal came from Seth Jones at 19:29.

“We were aware,” Jones said. “We were definitely aware. The fans were aware. It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing you can’t get one puck to the net. I don’t know if we need to shoot it quicker or need to have a shot mentality a little bit more and stop being so cute in the offensive zone. I think I took a muffin one-timer at the end just to put one up there, to be honest.”

Garland scored his second of the game to make it 2-0 at 8:18 of the second period when Hronek’s shot from the point deflected in off his right foot.

Tyler Johnson cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 16:43. Nick Foligno passed the puck to Philipp Kurashev along the goal line, and he fed it to Johnson for a wrist shot from the right circle.

Nils Hoglander responded to make it 3-1 at 18:28, tapping in the rebound of his own shot in front. The goal came seconds after Colin Blackwell hit the crossbar at the other end of the ice. 

“Yeah, they started gaining some momentum there, and that goal stopped that a little bit and put us back in,” said Elias Lindholm, who had the assist on Hoglander's goal. “That goal came in good timing for us, and that’s what this team is doing. We have guys stepping up and scoring big goals in right moments. That’s huge.”

Joshua made it 4-1 at 6:07 of the third period, taking a pass from Teddy Blueger and scoring with his backhand. It was his first three-point game in the NHL.

“For the most part we were good and on top of things tonight,” Joshua said. “We didn’t give them a whole lot. We were just able to keep our composure and squeak out a win. It’s just nice that we have a deep offensive team, and on any given night there’s a lot of guys that can step up and you can count on. It makes everyone else’s job a lot easier.”

Kevin Korchinski scored from in front off a pass from Ryan Donato at 13:27 for the 4-2 final.

“This is a place that we need to start fast and keep exciting and keep intimidating for the other teams,” Richardson said. “We don’t want to let that slide. I think tonight was definitely a step backward, so we’ve got some work to do to try to get that back and create a tough environment for the other team.”

NOTES: Hoglander has three goals in his past three games. ... The Blackhawks placed defenseman Jarred Tinordi on injured reserve because of a right groin strain. … Demko leads the NHL with 29 wins. He is 4-0-0 against the Blackhawks at United Center.