Kiefer Sherwood scored three goals, completing a natural hat trick, and Thatcher Demko made 30 saves to help the Vancouver Canucks defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday.
This was Sherwood’s first-ever hat trick in his seven NHL seasons. He has now scored 11 goals in 30 games with the Canucks, surpassing his previous career-high of 10 goals from last season when he played for the Nashville Predators.
The Canucks finished their six-game homestand with a 3-2-1 record, improving their home record to 6-7-4 for the season.
Demko saved 30 of 31 shots, with the only goal coming from Valeri Nichushkin in the last 46 seconds of the game. Demko had been recovering from a knee injury he suffered in the Stanley Cup playoffs last April, and this was his third game back after missing time.
Though he had some struggles in his first two games this season, he showed much more of his past All-Star form on Monday.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 22 saves for the Avalanche, who have lost two of their last three games.
Mikko Rantanen assisted on Nichushkin’s goal and extended his point streak to six games, with three goals and nine assists during that stretch.
Sherwood’s first goal gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 16:14 of the first period. Blackwood stopped close shots from Danton Heinen and Sherwood, but Sherwood managed to score on the rebound.
Sherwood’s second goal came during a penalty kill in the second period at 16:04. He intercepted a pass from Nathan MacKinnon just inside the Vancouver blue line, then sprinted down the ice and scored on a breakaway, marking his first career short-handed goal.
This goal highlighted Colorado’s recent struggles on the power play. The Avalanche were 0-for-4 on the power play in this game, and they have failed to score on 14 power plays in their last five games.
Sherwood completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal at 17:25 of the third period. Although Colorado outshot Vancouver 12-5 in the final period, they only scored one goal, with Nichushkin finding the net in the last minute.
