Canucks score twice early in third, rally past Islanders

NEW YORK (AP) — Nils Hoglander and rookie Vasily Podkolzin scored 45 seconds apart midway through the third period and Thatcher Demko made 24 saves as the Vancouver Canucks edged the New York Islanders 4-3 on Thursday night.

Anthony Beauvillier had put the Islanders ahead 3-2 early in the third, flipping the puck past Demko at 1:49 for his ninth goal after the teams each scored twice in the second period.

But the Canucks struck twice against the struggling Semyon Varlamov for their second win in New York-area games this week. Vancouver defeated the Rangers 5-2 on Sunday before losing 7-2 at Newark to the New Jersey Devils on Monday.

“We have been a pretty good bounce-back team," Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”We are trying to be mentally tough."

Vancouver has won seven of its last 10 games and is 19-8-4 since Boudreau replaced Travis Green as coach in early December.

“We just come to the rink and work hard," Canucks forward Brock Boeser said. ”Our D has been a little more aggressive and helping us, for sure. We want to play hard and play smart."

Brad Hunt and J.T. Miller scored second-period goals for Vancouver, while Noah Dobson and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Islanders.

The 21-year-old Hoglander scored his ninth goal at 9:34 of the third finishing off a pretty passing sequence from Conor Garland and Quinn Hughes. Hoglander was a second-round pick by Vancouver in 2019.

The 20-year-old Podkolzin, the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft, scored his 10th at 10:19 with an assist to Bo Horvat to put the visitors ahead.

“Pods has been awesome,'' said the 33-year-old Hunt, whose goal was his first as a Canuck. ”It's really nice to see him succeeding."

The Islanders started a six-game homestand at UBS Arena after a