Marek Svatos and Milan Hejduk scored two goals each as the visiting Colorado Avalanche pounded the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 on Saturday night.

Svatos added an assist, joining linemantes Tyler Arnasson (one goal, two assists) and Wojtek Wolski (three assists) for a three-point night.

Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo reacts to Marek Svatos's first-period goal Saturday in Vancouver.
(Richard Lam/Canadian Press)

"We're moving the puck very well," Svatos said of his line, which did much of its damage with gritty play around the net. "When we get the puck, we hold the puck a little longer. We don't just throw it away.

"They have great vision and always find me in front of the net. (Arnason) and (Wolski) are strong guys so it's hard to take the puck away from them and that's what they do, so I try to be in front of the net and it's working out lately."

Jose Theodore made 23 saves for Colorado (30-21-5), which has stayed afloat despite injuries to stars Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth and Paul Stastny.

Roberto Luongo surrendered five goals on 22 shots before being pulled at the second intermission. Curtis Sanford stopped one of the two shots he saw in a mercifully quiet third period for the reeling Canucks, who have lost nine of their last 11 to fall to ninth place in the Western Conference.

"They had a much better work ethic and execution than we did tonight," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault, whose team was missing four regular defencemen, told Hockey Night in Canada.

Playing again without Willie Mitchell, Kevin Bieksa, Aaron Miller and Lukas Krajicek, Vancouver was never really in the finale of CBC's annual Hockey Day in Canada festivities. The Canucks trailed 3-0 after the first period, and didn't get on the board until Henrik Sedin's power-play goal 7:37 into the second.

Svatos and Brett Clark quashed any notion of a comeback by scoring 20 seconds apart late in the frame to put the Avalanche up 5-1.

Sami Salo scored another Vancouver power-play goal 1:22 into the third for his second point of the night, but Hejduk put the game away midway through the final frame with his second goal.

Daniel Sedin picked up two assists for the Canucks, who will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday (10 p.m. ET).

With files from the Associated Press