Horvat and Chiasson each score two as the Canucks beat the Coyotes 5-1

The Vancouver Canucks playoff hopes live another day.

Yes, the hole the Canucks are in terms of making it to the postseason is as deep as the Grand Canyon and the Arizona Coyotes are the worst team in the NHL but it was good to see another win. After an impressive performance against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, the Canucks had an equally good performance in Glendale

It was the first trip of the season for Vancouver to Gila River Arena and as usual, the arena looked as empty as a screening of Morbius. There were some Canucks fans in attendance however and you could even hear some “Bruce, there it is,” chants.

It was also a big night for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland as they both made their return to Glendale after being traded to Vancouver in the offseason. Ekman-Larsson got a video tribute and standing ovation from the sparse crowd. He spent 11 years with the Coyotes organization and spent the last three as their captain. OEL was all smiles when receiving the pomp and circumstance.

Of course, he had an even bigger reason to smile as his current team beat his former team by a score of 5-1.

It was a performance led by two players who have been on a roll lately and one that usually gets a lot of criticism from the fans on social media.

Thoughts on the game

Bo Horvat has been feeling it lately. In Vegas, he set a new career-high in goals with 28. He had the chance to make his new career-high even bigger and he scored twice in 38 seconds.

His first goal was on a cheeky wrap-around that beat Harri Säteri and he hit the 30 goal mark after receiving a gorgeous no-look pass from Vasily Podkolzin. Horvat is the first Canuck to score 30 goals in a season since Radim Vrbata scored 31 in 2014-15.

Horvat was a machine against the Coyotes. He was getting good scoring chances, skating well and was exceptional in the faceoff circle. In fact, he went 17-0 in the faceoff circles. The Coyotes as a team won 11 faceoffs in the entire game.

He was also making some history in the faceoff circle.

Horvat has seven goals and nine points in his last ten games. He also joined some elite company in terms of goals since March 9.

Alex Chiasson also scored a brace and both goals came on the power play. This was without a doubt his best game as a Canuck. Aside from the goals, he was displaying some playmaking abilities as he was making some excellent passes throughout the game while looking very engaged.

Chiasson and Elias Pettersson finished off this give-and-go play. *Chef’s Kiss*

Speaking of Pettersson, he has seven points in his last two games and 14 in his last 10. Pettersson displayed some good hustle, playmaking and moves against Arizona. Good to have the old Pettersson back after a tough start to the season for him. Remember when people wanted Pettersson traded? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Pettersson also made a very nice pass to Chiasson for the first goal of the game. Chiasson made a nice pass to him in Vegas so it looks like he was returning the favour.

In an interview with Patrick Johnston of The Province a couple of days ago, Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin said the team has no superstars. Perhaps, Pettersson took those comments personally.

Travis Dermott has been fine since being traded a day before the deadline to the Canucks but he tends to make some bad turnovers. The Coyotes got their only goal of the game which resulted in a Dermott Turnover at the blue line and Nick Schmaltz got his 22nd of the year.

Jaroslav Halak made some good saves which included a great glove save on Cam Dineen. However, Halak has let in plenty of goals he should have saved this season and it looked like he had given up another bad one as he failed to cover the puck but fortunately, Bruce Boudreau challenged for offside and won. It seems like he hasn’t lost a challenge as Canucks head coach yet.

The Canucks also did a good job of breaking up the Coyotes’ offensive entries and scoring chances. For example, Will Lockwood prevented a breakaway in the third with a solid backcheck. About a minute earlier, Chiasson prevented a good scoring chance from the slot.

The power play displayed some good puck movement and lots of shots from the point from OEL. It’s kind of funny that Ekman-Larsson plays his best hockey when Quinn Hughes is out of the lineup.

The power play has been cooking over the last 20 games.

OEL also looked good defensively in his return to the desert and Conor Garland displayed some speed and of course, spun around a few times. Garland managed two assists.

OEL was the receiver of the Championship Belt after the game.