Logan Couture had his first NHL hat trick to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.
The Canucks lone goal came from Chris Higgins, who was recently recalled from the AHL.
Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves for the Canucks (27-36-13), who are 0-8-1 in their past nine games and are tied with the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs for the fewest points in the NHL.
Yeah the Leafs.. I know (insert sad face).
Joe Pavelski opened the scoring 20 seconds into the second period for his 37th of the year putting the Sharks up 1-0.
San Jose had a chance to extend the lead on a five-minute power play after Canucks forward Jake Virtanen was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct for a late hit on defenseman Roman Polak. Ironically, Higgins tied it on a 2-on-1 with 40 seconds left in the penalty, keeping the puck and beating Reimer over the glove from the left faceoff dot at 6:21 of the second period.
Couture made it 2-1 shortly before the second period ended. He lost the puck while trying to bring it out from behind the net, but Nick Spaling, back in the lineup in place of an injured Joel Ward, kicked it right back to Couture; he kicked it from his skate to his stick, pulled it around Markstrom’s right pad and tucked it inside the far post at 19:49.
Couture scored his second goal 44 seconds into a lengthy two-man advantage, beating Markstrom between the legs after being left alone in the slot at 14:01 of the third.
Couture would complete the hat trick, scoring into an empty net at 19:43 for his 13th goal of the season.
Up next: The Canucks try to get some revenge against the same Sharks Thursday in San Jose.
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