VANCOUVER, BC – With 6:52 seconds remaining in Thursday’s game in which the Vancouver Canucks were clinging to a 3-2 lead, Jannik Hansen got whistled for a questionable interference call after he got tangled up with San Jose’s Adam Burish. Considering the ice already seemed titled in the Sharks favour given the way they had stormed the Canucks net from the opening face-off, it seemed like the Hansen penalty would likely be the break San Jose needed to tie the game. That, however, wasn’t the case. As it has been through the first 14 games of the season, the Canucks penalty kill once again went about its business. Rising to the challenge in a pivotal moment, the Canucks managed to successfully run off the two minutes of short-handed time and the frantic five minutes that followed, and somehow escaped the Shark Tank with a one-goal victory. Despite giving up a power play goal to Logan Couture in the second period, the Canucks finished the night three for four on the penalty kill, pushing their recent run of success to 20 of the last 22 times they’ve been shorthanded. Overall, they sit sixth in the National Hockey League killing penalties with an efficiency rate of 87.3%. That’s up four percent from their final position a year ago when they started strongly on the penalty kill then, as with so many other facets of their game, faded badly in the second half of the season. The Canucks have needed to be strong on the penalty kill in the early going this season as only three teams in the league have been short-handed more than the 55 times they’ve been sent to the penalty box. Goaltending plays a huge role in any successful penalty kill and Ryan Miller has been spectacular in that regard. Including Thursday night, he has been beaten only four times while shorthanded. Chris Tanev (3:12) and Alex Edler (3:07) lead the way as the only Canucks skaters to average over three minutes of short-handed time per game, with Dan Hamhuis (2:39), Brad Richardson (2:29), Chris Higgins (2:10), Kevin Bieksa (2:05) and Nick Bonino (2:02) all over the two-minute mark. “It’s kind of a mindset,” Richardson said of successfully killing penalties. “I do a lot of it and it’s something I do take a lot of pride in. The specialty teams are a huge part of the game and we’ve taken a look at the stats and the more times we win the special teams battles we win the games. Definitely it’s a huge part of our success and every time you get out there you’re trying to focus on keeping the puck out of your net.’ In crunch time on Thursday night, the Canucks were able to make that happen to preserve their 10th victory of the young season. The challenge – and it will be a big one -- will be to keep the penalty kill sharp the remainder of the season. But right now, given the learning curve the Canucks are dealing with trying to implement new head coach Willie Desjardins’s systems in all areas of the ice, it appears the penalty killers are catching on quickly. “To me, there’s maybe a tiny bit of structure change but most of penalty killing is attitude and wanting to outwork the power play,” Richardson said about the changes Desjardins has made while playing a man or two short. “There might be some subtleties on how you fore-check or how you line up when they come at you, but I think most of it comes down to hard work.” Without question, the Canucks penalty killers are putting in the effort and that hard work has been rewarded. One look at Vancouvers lofty perch in the overall standings a month into the new season is proof of that. Amani Hooker Jersey . 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