VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks picked up a big win and lost a key piece on Wednesday night.
Daniel Sedin and Alexander Edler each had a goal and an assist as the Canucks defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 in a game that was marred by a gruesome injury to Dan Hamhuis with under eight minutes to go in the third period.
The veteran Vancouver defenceman took a puck in the face from close range off the stick of New York's Dan Boyle with his team up a goal and laid on the ice for a few seconds before leaving a trail of blood on his way to the locker-room.
"He took the shot in the mouth, just on the upper part of his mouth and lost some teeth," said Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins. "I would assume it probably broke his jaw.
"It's scary. It's a hard thing to take. He'll suffer with that for a little while."
Henrik Sedin had two assists for Vancouver (11-11-8), while Ryan Miller made 32 saves as the Canucks won consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 30 and Nov. 2.
Boyle scored on a penalty shot for New York (18-8-3), which got 23 stops from Henrik Lundqvist.
"There's no doubt in the first two periods I felt we carried the play," Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said after losing for the sixth time in the last eight games. "We had some good opportunities and good looks, but weren't able to capitalize on them and then you are going into a third period that turned out to be a little bit strange."
Daniel Sedin scored the winner on a slick deflection down low at 9:24 of the third off a slap pass from Edler for his 13th of the season just 40 seconds after Boyle tied the game 1-1.
"Those are the kind of plays (Edler) can make," said Sedin. "I was fortunate to tip it in. It was a pretty tough angle."
The Rangers were awarded a penalty shot moments earlier when a Vancouver player was judged to have covered the puck in Miller's crease. Despite the Canucks' protests, Boyle made no mistake with a nice move for his first of the year.
"I assume (the referee) thought our guy covered it in the crease," said Miller. "You have to be pretty sure it's in the crease for a penalty shot in my opinion. "
Boyle then hit the post on a Rangers power play later in the period after the Hamhuis injury, but that was as close as the visitors would get.
"We responded very well," said Vancouver forward Adam Cracknell. "That was a great team effort. Guys battled hard. It's a great team over there. It's exciting to get a good win like that."
Scoreless through 40 minutes, Edler made it 1-0 on a 5-on-3 power play 3:19 into the third after New York forward Jarret Stoll was penalized for delay of game with the Canucks already up a man.
Vancouver moved the puck around nicely to Edler at the point and he ripped his sixth off the post and in past Lundqvist.
"I'm happy to be on the winning side of that period," said Miller. "It was entertaining for the fans I'm sure."
Coming off a 5-2 victory over Buffalo on Monday that snapped a five-game losing streak, the Canucks were slow out of the gate Wednesday.
Jesper Fast and Viktor Stalberg had good chances on Miller early as New York looked to be playing a game of keep away in the Vancouver zone for long stretches of the first two periods.
"He's a big key to our team," Desjardins said of his goalie. "We were a little bit better tonight later in the game. Early, though, he made some huge saves for us. We just need that."
Notes: The Canucks open a six-game road trip on Sunday that will take them to Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Detroit, Florida and Tampa Bay. ... New York visits Edmonton on Friday and Calgary on Saturday.
