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Canucks snap seven-game skid, blank Blues

St. Louis Blues v Vancouver Canucks

VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 26: T.J Oshie #74 of the St. Louis Blues is separated from Ryan Stanton #18 of the Vancouver Canucks during the first period of their NHL game at Rogers Arena on February 26, 2014 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Ben Nelms/Getty Images)

Ben Nelms

The Vancouver Canucks won for the first time since Jan. 26 and became the first team to shut out the St. Louis Blues this season with a 1-0 win on Wednesday.

That month-long victory drought is a little misleading thanks to the Olympics, but the Canucks are surely glad to end their losing streak at seven games.

The Canucks earned that victory, too, as they out-shot the Blues in every period (35-20 overall) while Eddie Lack ending his own five-game skid by grabbing his third shutout of his rookie season. Jannik Hansen scored the game’s only goal 11:13 into the third period.

Lack called it a “big relief” and Henrik Sedin seemed to agree.

While the Canucks stumbled into Sochi, the Blues actually looked pretty strong, winning six of eight games before Wednesday’s loss. Head coach Ken Hitchcock likely isn’t thrilled with the work of many aside from Jaroslav Halak, who made at least some case for remaining the Blues’ go-to guy in net by stopping 34 out of 35 shots in defeat.

As of this writing, the Canucks are in the West’s top eight, although that lead might be misleading as Vancouver has 65 points with 21 games remaining while both the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes sit at 64 points with 24 games left.

Considering the slump Vancouver was on when the NHL’s season was put on pause, that feeling of relief likely overrides the dread of such threats. At least for tonight.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins