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VANCOUVER – Jake Virtanen scored twice Wednesday, leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
It was the first two-goal match in the career of the 22-year-old right winger.
Brendan Gaunce and Antoine Roussel also scored for the Canucks (8-6-0).
Brandon Saad and Jonathan Toews answered for Chicago (6-4-3).
Goalkeeper Canucks Jacob Markstrom arrested 24 of the 26 shots and Corey Crawford refused 24 of 28 for the Blackhawks.
Chicago was first on the board, Saad scoring his third goal of the season midway through the first period.
Left wing defeated Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson at the end of Vancouver and put a hard shot on the net. Markstrom seemed to have one end, but the puck spun under him for the first goal of the night.
Virtanen responded for the Canucks in the 15th minute after the Blackhawks put the puck back in the neutral zone.
He picked up speed on the breakaway and shot high for Crawford.
The Blackhawks took over with a power play goal early in the second quarter after the Canucks defenseman Michael Del Zotto took a counter-check penalty late in the first.
Toews fired a bully from the top of the puck circle, sailing the puck past Markstrom. He now has 299 goals for the Blackhawks – the sixth-highest number in the history of the franchise.
Chicago is 30th in the league on the power play. Wednesday was the sixth time this season that the Blackhawks scored with the advantage of a man.
Virtanen followed with his second of the night, just over 12 minutes into the second period. He cashed a pbad just inside the blue line and fired a quick shot past Crawford to restart the match.
Virtanen has five goals and two badists this season.
Gaunce scored the decisive goal midway through the third period after winning a Blackhawks pbad.
The goal was one-sixth of the NHL's career in the center, the last being scheduled for February 1st.
He also scored a pbad to Roussel late in the game.
Wednesday marked Gaunce's first game with the Canucks this season. He was called Tuesday by the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League to help complete a training that was riddled with injuries early in the season.
Another name may have been added to the Vancouver injury list in the win.
Defender Troy Stecher flew in the third period after colliding with Chicago Brandon Manning at the end of Vancouver.
Stecher went to the locker room after being examined by a coach on the ice.
He is already missing several players, including defender Alex Edler, goalkeeper. Anders Nilsson and left winger Sven Baertschi.
The Canucks still have a fight in their four-game family match. They will host the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.
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