Alex Burrows scores two goals in Canucks' rout of Coyotes
Alex Burrows' two goals were more about grit than style. No matter, they helped add up to the Vancouver Canucks' one-sided win over the Arizona Coyotes.
Burrows scored a pair of deflected goals while crashing the net, and Ryan Miller made 38 saves as the Canucks hammered the Coyotes 7-1 on Monday night.
Using his imposing presence around the crease, Burrows scored his first off starter Mike Smith in the first period and then his second off backup Devan Dubnyk. It was his first goals in 10 games and both were banked off an Arizona defenseman.
"I got a few whacks at a few pucks around the net, and that's how I score my goals," Burrows said. "Tonight they were two really greasy, greasy goals."
Daniel Sedin, Kevin Bieksa, Brad Richardson, Chris Higgins and Shawn Matthias also scored for Vancouver (20-11-2), which won its second straight. Miller improved to 18-7.
After facing his highest shot total of the season, Miller said he felt good about his game going into the holiday break.
"If you told me you are going to reach Christmas, and the team is going to have 20 wins, I would have been really happy," Miller said. "I still have a long way to go building my game to a consistent level, where I want to be, but I'm happy with the progress I am making."
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the lone goal for the reeling Coyotes (11-18-4), who have one win in eight games.
Smith, who entered with one win in his last 12 starts, struggled and was replaced early in the second after giving up four goals on 11 shots.
Dubnyk came on in relief and made 26 saves for Arizona.
"Everybody feels for what Smitty went through tonight," Coyotes captain Shane Doan said. "We know what he's done for us and everything he's done for this group. We were going to try to help him out, but obviously we didn't."
Despite making a save on Derek Dorsett from in all alone early in the game, Smith had a tough first period.
Burrows worked the puck from the corner boards and banked it in off Coyotes defenseman Michael Stone to open the scoring at 6:34. The Canucks made it 2-0 at 17:17 when Henrik Sedin found Bieksa alone, and the defenseman put an easy one past Smith.
The lead grew to three goals two minutes later when Smith gave up a rebound off Radim Vrbata's long shot, and Daniel Sedin swooped in front to bat the puck in for his eighth of the season.
Less than two minutes into the second, on Vancouver's first shot of the period, Richardson carried the puck down the ice and fired it past Smith on the glove side to make it 4-0.
"The Richardson goal was a huge goal for us," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. "They looked like they were turning it a bit (early in the second). That was a timely goal by Richardson."
Richardson agreed his team eased up early in the second.
"We didn't start great in that period," he said. "It was probably good timing for the goal. We have a tendency sometimes ... we get up to set back.
"It's something we are trying to break for sure."
That brought in Dubnyk, who beat the Canucks 5-0 in the last meeting between the teams on Nov. 14. He was immediately put to work with Vancouver getting two power play. The second was converted at 12:19 when Burrows scored another goal by banking the puck off an Arizona defenseman standing in front.
The Coyotes got on the board soon after when Ryan Stanton was off for high-sticking. Ekman-Larsson wristed a shot past Miller at 15:03 for his eighth goal.
The Canucks were back on the man advantage six minutes into the third when Higgins took a pass from Linden Vey from behind the net and scored at 7:09 for a 6-1 lead. Matthias added another power-play goal just over two minutes later.
Vancouver went 3-for-6 on the power play.
Coyotes coach Dave Tippett wasn't impressed with his team's parade to the penalty box.
"That's trying too hard," he said. "Trying to make something out of a bad situation."
NOTES: Canucks RW Jannik Hansen, who collapsed on the bench Saturday after taking a big hit during the second period of Vancouver's win over Calgary, was expected to play against Arizona, but he was pulled before the game for further medical evaluation. ... The Canucks and Coyotes will meet three more times this season.
