Led by Kiefer Sherwood‘s first-career natural hat trick, the Vancouver Canucks slid by the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday night at Rogers Arena. The former Avalanche forward had his strongest game of the season and now has a career-high 11 goals after putting up 10 all of last season. The Avalanche were in danger of getting blanked, but Valeri Nichushkin made sure that didn’t happen with a goal in the final minute to break Thatcher Demko’s bid for his first shutout since coming back from injury. Demko earned his first win of the season after dropping an overtime game to the St. Louis Blues and a 5-1 decision to the Boston Bruins. Blackwood, meanwhile, lost for the first time since coming over from the San Jose Sharks in a trade on Dec. 9.
Game Recap
The first period was largely controlled by the Canucks, with the scoring chances favouring them 11-4 and the high-danger chances 4-1. They eventually cashed in on one of those chances when Sherwood won a battle along the boards and eventually scored his ninth on Mackenzie Blackwood after some quick passing between Pius Suter and Danton Heinen. Heinen drove the net, and Blackwood made the initial save, but Sherwood was there to poke in the rebound. The period ended 1-0 with the Avalanche on the power play after a cross-checking call to J.T. Miller.
The Avalanche had two great chances at the end of their power play to tie the game, but Demko held strong to keep the Canucks up 1-0. After that, it was back-and-forth with both teams trading chances until Sherwood doubled down with the first shorthanded goal of his career at 16:04. Poking the puck off Nathan MacKinnon’s stick at the blue line, he sped by both him and Cale Makar and wristed it past Blackwood for his 10th of the season. The Avalanche couldn’t score on the power play to counter it, and the score stayed 2-0 to end the second.
The first career hat trick for Kiefer Sherwood, and it's a natural hat trick! 👏
— NHL (@NHL) December 17, 2024
Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstrazenecaUS pic.twitter.com/Sr4qzVDxKQ
The third period was mostly Avalanche as they tried to cut into the Canucks’ two-goal lead. But they couldn’t get anything past Demko despite having a power play halfway through. The Canucks bent but didn’t break and eventually, Sherwood deposited his third into an empty net at 17:25 to cap off his first-career natural hat trick. The Avalanche would break Demko’s shutout bid in the final minute, but couldn’t do anything more than that, falling to the Canucks 3-1.
Demko was solid in his second-straight start with Kevin Lankinen still feeling under the weather, finishing with 30 saves on 31 shots. Blackwood at the other end was good as well, stopping 22 of 24. Both teams were shut out on the power play with the Avs going 0/4 and the Canucks 0/2.
What’s Next For the Canucks & Avalanche?
The Canucks will leave Rogers Arena for a quick two-game road trip that starts on Wednesday against the Utah Hockey Club. The Avalanche, meanwhile, will head down to California for a date with the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
