VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — J.T. Miller had two power-play goals and the Vancouver Canucks scored four times in the second period to beat the Dallas Stars 6-3 Sunday night.
Bo Horvat and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and two assists, Brock Boeser added a goal and an assist, and Vasily Podkolzin also scored to help the Canucks win for the second time in six games. Quinn Hughes had three assists and Thatcher Demko stopped 25 shots.
The Canucks were 3 for 6 on the power play after going 3 for 28 in their previous seven games.
“It’s not a whole lot different from a good power-play night and a bad one,” Miller said. “It’s nice to see some pucks go in. Got some people to the net, Brock did a hell of a job first two goals of screening, and the last one is just a puck luck that we needed. … It’s important we enjoy it, but we got to do it again. It’s one game. It’s important we keep this going into the next one.”
Joe Pavelski, Ryan Suter and Luke Glendening scored for the Stars, and Jason Robertson had two assists. Anton Khudobin made 30 saves.
The Canucks trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes before Miller tied it at 2:19 of the second period on a shot from the high slot with Boeser screening Khudobin. It was Vancouver’s first power-play goal in 18 attempts stretching over five games.
Canucks coach Travis Green liked to see his team score on their first man-advantage of the game.
“We’ve done a lot of talking with that group over the last few days and they got the job done tonight,” he said. “Confidence is a big thing when you don’t have it. Sometimes it’s hard to get it back. That helped a lot.”
Pettersson put the Canucks ahead on a power play at 6:37 with a shot through a crowd from above the faceoff circle. It was his second of the season and first in 10 games.
Stars coach Rick Bowness was displeased with his team’s penchant for penalties.
“We’ll have to address this on Tuesday morning when we go back to the rink,” Bowness said. “We’re going to have to fix the penalty-kill, we’re going to have to fix the discipline, and we’re going to have to fix the consistency with which we play the game.”
Suter agreed with the coach’s assessment, adding: “Obviously we got to stay out of the box. You give skilled players like that that many chances on the power play, it usually ends up hurting you. It definitely did tonight.”
Horvat made it 3-1 at 8:10, punching home the rebound of a shot by Tanner Pearson.
Glendening cut the lead to 3-2 when he took advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Canucks at 9:38.
The Canucks had a chance to extend their lead with a two-man advantage for 1:11 but couldn’t beat Khudobin.
Horvat intercepted a pass in the Canucks zone to help set up Podkolzin’s goal with 4:15 remaining in the middle period to make it 4-2.
Suter drew the Stars within one at 3:23 of the third on the power play.
Miller picked up his second of the night on a power play with 6:16 left to push the lead to 5-3, and Boeser had an empty-netter with 2:21 to go to seal the win.
Green liked the way his team played in the third period to secure the win.
“They had a couple of chances, which they’re going to get,” he said. “They’re a good hockey team, a big team. They got a back end that moves well. When you get down a couple goals you’re going to come with everyone, but we haven’t been in that spot a whole lot. We’ve been in some tight games. I thought our team did well.”
Pavelski gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with 6:25 remaining in the first period — 26 seconds after Hughes was called for cross-checking. Robertson sent a pass across the front of the net that Pavelski at first had trouble controlling but then found the handle and tucked into the corner for his third of the season.
It was the 10th time in 12 games this season Vancouver surrendered the opening goal.
NOTES: Vancouver D Luke Schenn was scratched for an undisclosed injury. … The Canucks wore their pink Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys during warmups. … Vancouver C Justin Dowling returned to the lineup and made his home debut against his former team after missing five games with an injury. … The Stars last lost in Vancouver on March 30, 2012.
UP NEXT
Stars: Host Nashville on Wednesday night to open a three-game homestand.
Canucks: Anaheim on Tuesday night to wrap up a seven-game homestand.
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