Karel Vejmelka stopped 31 of 32 shots and Kevin Stenlund and Mikhail Sergachev each had a goal and an assist to spark the Utah Mammoth to a 4-1 win over the host Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
Vejmelka had his second strong outing in a row after blanking the Anaheim Ducks in a 7-0 victory two nights earlier.
The 29-year-old Czech was seeing the puck especially well on shots through traffic and made several key saves during the Canucks’ only powerplay in the first period and another powerplay in the third.
Nick Schmaltz and John Marino also scored for the Mammoth, who won their second straight game, which was preceded by a four-game losing streak.
Arshdeep Bains scored and Kevin Lankinen made 14 saves for Vancouver which opened a four-game homestand by suffering their fourth straight defeat.
The struggling Canucks have lost seven of their last eight and are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games.
The Mammoth opened the scoring just 13 seconds into their only powerplay of the first period. Sergachev’s shot from the high slot hit the left foot of Canucks defenseman Marcus Pettersson and slipped past the right leg pad of Lankinen at 16:00 of the first.
Schmaltz scored at 14:05 of the second on a deflection to make it 2-0 for the Mammoth.
Canucks forward Bains scored his first goal of the season at 4:17 of the third to cut the lead to 2-1 by finishing off a full-length rush with a nifty tip from in close off a wrist shot from Aatu Raty.
Utah forward Stenlund scored with just over two minutes left in regulation to make it 3-1 and Marino potted one into the empty net to ice the victory with 36 seconds left.
Vancouver was missing forward Evander Kane who left Tuesday’s game against Colorado in the third period after being cut by a skate in a collision with one of the four officials on the ice.
This is the first of three games between the Mammoth and Canucks. The teams meet again Feb. 2 in Salt Lake City and on April 4 in Vancouver.
–Field Level Media
