Kiefer Sherwood's hat trick powers Canucks past Avalanche

Kiefer Sherwood scored a natural hat trick and Thatcher Demko made 30 saves in the Vancouver Canucks' 3-1 win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Monday.

It was Sherwood's first hat trick in his seven NHL seasons. Sherwood has 11 goals in 30 games with Vancouver, already surpassing his previous best of 10 goals in 68 games last season when Sherwood played for the Nashville Predators.

The Canucks were 3-2-1 during their six-game homestand, improving their home record to a modest 6-7-4 for the season.

Demko stopped 30 of 31 shots faced, allowing only a Valeri Nichushkin goal with 46 seconds remaining in the third period.

Demko suffered a knee injury in the first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs last April, and didn't return to the ice until Dec. 10. The goaltender showed some rust in posting a .830 save percentage in his first two games this season, but Demko looked much closer to his past All-Star form on Monday.

Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 22 of 24 shots for the Avalanche, who are 1-2-0 in their last three games.

Mikko Rantanen earned an assist on Nichushkin's goal, giving Rantanen 12 points (three goals, nine assists) over a six-game points streak.

Sherwood's first goal put Vancouver ahead 16:14 into the first period. Blackwood stopped a pair of close-range shots from Danton Heinen and Sherwood before Sherwood deposited his rebound for the go-ahead tally.

With the Avalanche on a power play at 16:04 of the second period, Sherwood struck again with his first career short-handed goal. Sherwood picked off a Nathan MacKinnon pass just in front of Vancouver's blue line, then raced down the ice and outpaced two Avalanche players to score on the partial breakaway.

The short-handed concession underlined Colorado's recent struggles on the power play. The Avalanche were 0-for-4 with the extra attacker on Monday, and are 0-for-14 on power plays over their last five games.

Sherwood completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal 17:25 into the third period. Colorado outshot Vancouver 12-5 in the final frame, but collected just Nichushkin's goal in the final minute.

--Field Level Media