VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The winning goalie in a blowout isn’t usually the game’s first star. And yet, there was little doubt Ryan Miller deserved the honor on Sunday night.
The veteran netminder made 37 saves, including a number of big ones early, to help the Vancouver Canucks cruise 5-1 over the Colorado Avalanche and snap a four-game losing streak.
Jannik Hansen had two goals and Adam Cracknell, Radim Vrbata and Christopher Tanev also scored for Vancouver. Henrik Sedin had four assists and Daniel Sedin had three assists.
The Canucks were 0-5-1 over their last six at Rogers Arena.
“It was good to get some separation, let the guys feel good about themselves,” Miller said. “In spite of how the games have been going there’s been some hard work.”
Matt Duchene scored Colorado’s only goal with 41.8 seconds left.
“Millsy was enormous,” Henrik Sedin said. “It’s too bad to see the last one go in. He deserved the shutout, but we’ll take the win and move on.”
Semyon Varlamov stopped 23 shots, and the Avalanche ended a two-game winning streak. Colorado occupies the first wild-card spot in the Western…