Canucks’ struggles continue with a loss to the Maple Leafs

TORONTO, ON (NEWS 1130) – Vancouver had a pair of goals called off as the Canucks dropped to 1-3-1 on its road trip with a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows scored the goals for the Canucks.

James van Riemsdyk opened the scoring 8:23 into the first period. He took a pass from Leo Komarov as they came across the blueline and then snapped a shot over Ryan Miller’s shoulder to make it 1-0. Toronto doubled its lead to 2-0 with a powerplay goal from P.A. Parenteau 8:51 into the second period.

The Leafs had a chance to make it a 3-0 game as Michael Grabner was awarded a penalty shot after he was taken down by Alex Edler. Miller got a blocker on Grabner’s shot to keep it a two-goal game.

Vancouver got on the board shortly after the missed penalty shot, as Hansen beat James Reimer with a quick shot for his fifth goal of the season. Former Canuck Shawn Matthias restored the two-goal advantage for the home team early in the third period as he scored off of a Jake Virtanen turnover in his own end.

Hansen thought he had pulled Vancouver within one for the second time of the night as he knocked home a loose puck just after the Matthias tally, but video review showed the Canucks’ forward used a kicking motion so it was disallowed.

The Canucks did get within one when Burrows tipped home a Yannick Weber point shot on the powerplay just past the midway mark of the third, but Joffrey Lupul put Toronto back up by two goals with just 3:47 to play in regulation as he buried a loose puck with Miller down. The Canucks challenged that there was goaltender interference on the play but the goal stood.

Radim Vrbata scored what would have been a meaningless goal with just two seconds remaining, however, it was waved off after video review showed that the play was offside.

The Canucks have lost five of their past six games. They play the penultimate game of their seven-game trip on Monday in Montreal.

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