VANCOUVER — Ville Husso made 38 saves, including 20 in the first period, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 at Rogers Arena on Sunday.
Husso, who was making his third straight start, made his best saves on breakaway attempts by Jason Dickinson in the second and third period.
He is 5-0-0 with a 1.20 goals-against average and .963 save percentage since returning from a lower-body injury on Jan. 7.
“I think Husso was amazing tonight,” Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko said. “When somebody plays well, it always gives teammates positive emotions, but especially when a goalie is making these performances like almost every night.”
Justin Faulk had a goal and an assist, and Tarasenko had two assists for the Blues (25-11-5), who have won three in a row and six of their past seven.
“Our goalie was really good tonight and we scored a couple timely goals, and that was the difference in the hockey game,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said.
Michael DiPietro made 14 saves in his first start in almost three years for the Canucks (18-19-4), who were without Thatcher Demko, Jaroslav Halak and Spencer Martin because of NHL COVID-19 protocol. Rylan Toth, who plays for the University of British Columbia, dressed as an emergency backup goalie.
“These last couple days obviously have been a whirlwind,” DiPietro said. “I’m just trying to stay in the moment as much as I can. It’s been a while between starts, but obviously I was a lot more comfortable this time around.”
Vancouver is 0-1-1 during its current three-game homestand.
“Right now, we’re having a hard time scoring,” said Bruce Boudreau, who coached his 1,000th NHL game. “We have a couple of breakaways here and there, a couple of great looks. I’m really happy with the way they worked and the way they cared, just I expect to win every time we go on the ice, so I’m unhappy with that result.”
Tanner Pearson put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 16:30 of the first period, finishing a backdoor chance off a deflected puck four seconds after a 5-on-3 power play expired but before either Blues player could get back into the play.
Faulk tied it 1-1 off the rush at 18:33, dropping a pass for Oskar Sundqvist at the blue line and driving to the net for a between-the-legs deflection over DiPietro’s shoulder.
“Guys bounced back right away and made a goal, so that was huge for us,” Husso said. “And after first it was 1-1, so that was big goal for us. It’s hockey. Sometimes they score and then we score right away back, so that was a big goal for us.”
Brayden Schenn gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead at 3:26 of the second period with a backdoor tap-in off a cross-ice pass from Tarasenko on the power play.
Tarasenko has scored 15 points (six goals, nine assists) during a nine-game point streak.
“I always told you guys before, somebody is open it’s very simple, just pass the puck to him,” Tarasenko said. “It was a big goal for us and happy for him.”
Jordan Kyrou made it 3-1 with a long wrist shot through traffic that deflected in off the shaft of DiPietro’s stick at 16:43 of the second.
“I thought Mikey played really well,” Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes said. “He made a couple big saves in the first, and a couple in the third. I thought he did his job and made the saves when we needed to. We’ve just got to find a way to put it in the net.”
NOTES: Schenn has scored six points (four goals, two assists) in his past three games. … Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich exited COVID-19 protocol Friday and scored a goal in a 5-0 win against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday but wasn’t able to cross the border to play in Vancouver. … Boudreau (577-306-117) is the 29th coach in NHL history to reach the 1,000-game milestone. … DiPietro’s only other NHL start came on Feb. 11, 2019, when he allowed seven goals on 24 shots in a 7-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
