Canucks score eight, hang on to defeat Ducks

VANCOUVER — Andrei Kuzmenko scored his first NHL hat trick and had an assist in the Vancouver Canucks’ 8-5 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Arena on Thursday.

Kuzmenko put the Canucks ahead 6-4 with a deflection at 14:48 of the third period and scored his third goal with a wrist shot off the rush between the legs of John Gibson at 16:48 to make it 7-4.

Elias Pettersson had a goal and four assists, Bo Horvat scored twice and had an assist, and Spencer Martin made 26 saves for the Canucks (3-6-2), who have won three of their past four games after starting the season 0-5-2.

Troy Terry had a goal and two assists, and Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks (3-7-1), who had won their previous two games.

Terry put the Ducks ahead 1-0 on a power play at 16:30 of the first period with a shot between Martin’s pads after getting behind the defense off the rush.

Horvat tied it 1-1 with 20 seconds left in the period on a power-play deflection.

Pettersson put Vancouver ahead 2-1 at 9:07 of the second period with a strong move from the top of the crease.

J.T. Miller converted a cross-crease pass from Horvat at 13:06 to make it 3-1, but Ryan Strome scored with 46 seconds left in the period to pull Anaheim to 3-2.

Dakota Joshua banged in a rebound at 5:30 to put the Canucks ahead 4-2. Anaheim challenged for goalie interference, but the call stood. The Ducks were penalized for delay of game on the failed challenge, and Kuzmenko tapped in a backdoor pass from Pettersson on the power play at 5:54 to make it 5-2.

Comtois scored on a breakaway at 7:51 to make it 5-3, and Zegras scored on a long power play shot through traffic at 13:35 to pull Anaheim to 5-4.

Max Jones scored on a rebound with 2:22 left to make it 7-5 but Horvat scored his team-leading 10th goal into an empty net with 55 seconds left for the 8-5 final.