Ethan Bear and Sheldon Dries had a goal and assist each, Ilya Mikheyev and Bo Horvat also scored and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 on Wednesday night in Denver.
Spencer Martin turned away 33 shots and Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists for the Canucks, who trailed 3-2 after two periods before winning for the third time in four games.
Mikko Rantanen had two goals, Cale Makar also scored, J.T. Compher and Artturi Lehkonen had two assists each and Pavel Francouz made 21 saves for the Avalanche. Colorado had won seven of its previous eight games.
Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard returned after missing six games with a lower-body injury, but Colorado lost forward Evan Rodrigues to a lower right leg injury late in the first period.
Dries tied the game at 3-3 when he backhanded a loose puck in the crease past Francouz at 5:07 of the third, his second goal of the season.
Bear got the winner with a slapshot from the point at 12 minutes. It was his second goal of the campaign.
The Canucks went ahead 21 seconds into the game when Mikheyev scored from close in for his fifth of the season.
Rantanen tied it with his first of the night when he skated down the slot and knocked Devon Toews’ centering pass past Martin at 11:27.
He gave Colorado a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal on a wrister that beat Martin at 17:44 of the first. It was his 13th goal of the season.
Vancouver tied it when Horvat deflected a shot from Bear by Francouz at 10:34 of the second period, his team-leading 16th of the season.
Rantanen was hit with a high stick by Tyler Myers late in the second period, which resulted in a double minor for Myers.
J.T. Miller’s hooking minor gave Colorado a five-on-three advantage for 1:35, and Makar ripped a one-timer by Martin on the short side to put the Avalanche ahead 3-2 at 15:59.
It was his sixth of the season.
Francouz came off for an extra skater with 1:54 left, but Lehkonen took an interference minor with 1:03 left to hurt the Avalanche’s chances of rallying.
–Field Level Media
