Canucks score 10, hand Sharks 10th straight loss

SAN JOSE -- Quinn Hughes had a goal and four assists, and the Vancouver Canucks handed the San Jose Sharks their 10th straight loss, 10-1 at SAP Center on Thursday.

"We have all four lines going, working hard, and it rolls other teams over and it's hard for teams to defend when rolling like that," said Hughes, the Vancouver captain. "We're going to need guys to keep [their foot] on the pedal there."

J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson each had three points for the Canucks (7-2-1), who extended their point streak to six games (5-0-1) and have won three of four. Thatcher Demko made 30 saves.

Vancouver was 4-for-5 on the power play.

"I think the power play kind of set the tone," Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "We had three, four power-play goals. I think that really kind of set up the game for us. We were moving the puck well and obviously scoring some goals."

Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks (0-9-1), and Mackenzie Blackwood made 10 saves after entering the game in the second period to relieve Kaapo Kahkonen, who allowed six goals on 19 shots.

"I've never been in a situation like this, I don't think any of us [have], to be honest with you," San Jose forward Nico Sturm said. "I suppose the one good thing is that this is about as low as it's going to get. So, I suppose that's the only positive in this situation."

Boeser put Vancouver up 1-0 at 2:23 of the first period with a power-play goal off a pass by Pettersson.

Miller increased the lead to 2-0 on the power play at 4:00 when Boeser set him up for a backhand.

"Where we were at mentally, really, you could feel it on the bench. It deflated us and we never recovered," Sharks coach David Quinn said of the two quick goals. "Just really, really disappointing."

Hughes made it 3-0 at 8:00 with a shot from the blue line that bounced off Kahkonen's glove and into the net.

Boeser scored his second of the game, and second on the power play, at 16:49 to make it 4-0.

Ilya Mikheyev increased the Canucks' lead to 5-0 at 1:03 of the second period off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Pettersson and Carson Soucy.

“It’s 4- or 5-nothing, you still want the guys to play hard,” Tocchet said. “It’s nice to see some guys that haven’t scored get their confidence. Now, maybe it loosens guys up. It was nice to see.”

Andre Kuzmenko made it 6-0 at 8:47 when he drove the right side of the net and ran into Kahkonen as he scored. Kahkonen appeared to be shaken up and left the game.

Sam Lafferty shot past Blackwood to make it 7-0 at 12:35 on a wraparound, and Pius Suter made it 8-0 at 17:26.

Anthony Beauvillier made it 9-0 with a power-play goal at 3:10 of the third period and scored again to make it 10-0 at 11:58.

"I think we're just on the same page and we've been playing together for four or five years, so we kind of know each other's instincts," Hughes said of the power play.

Zetterlund got San Jose on the board with a wrist shot on the power play at 16:12 for the 10-1 final.

"Tonight, we didn't even give ourselves the chance to win, but it's going to happen," Quinn said. "I guarantee you that we're going to start playing like a team more consistently. We're going to start winning some hockey games here."

NOTES: Vancouver scored eight goals in a game for the second time this season (also Oct. 11), the only team with multiple such performances in 2023-24. The Canucks scored at least 10 goals in a game for the eighth time in franchise history, and first since March 1, 1992 (11). … Thirteen Canucks players had a point, and eight scored a goal. ... Demko owns a nine-game winning streak against the Sharks dating back to April 2, 2019. The only goalie with a longer active winning streak against one opponent is Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Chicago Blackhawks (13). ... Pettersson became just the third player to have at least 17 points through Vancouver’s first 10 games of a season. The others are Tony Tanti (1983-84) and Patrik Sundstrom (1983-84). Pettersson also got his 200th career assist. … Hughes is the second defenseman in Canucks history to have a five-point game (Jeff Brown; Feb. 20, 1995, against the Los Angeles Kings). He became just the fifth active defenseman to have at least 14 points through his first 10 games of a season. The others are John Carlson of the Washington Capitals (18 in 2019-20, 14 in 2018-19), Erik Karlsson (15 with the Ottawa Senators in 2017-18), Rasmus Dahlin (14 with the Buffalo Sabres in 2022-23) and Morgan Rielly (14 with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018-19). He also had his third career three-point period, matching Brent Sopel and Dennis Kearns for the most by a Canucks defenseman.