Lucas Raymond set the pace early and the Detroit Red Wings never let Vancouver find its footing, skating out of Rogers Arena with a 5-2 win Thursday that stretched the Canucks’ skid to nine games.
Key takeaways
- Raymond posted two goals and an assist in the opening period as Detroit improved to 4-3-3.
- The Red Wings are unbeaten in regulation for six straight games, carrying a 3-0-3 run.
- Vancouver fell to 2-9-1 and has gone 0-8-1 during its nine-game slide.
- Detroit outshot the Canucks 13-0 in the second period and Vancouver went nearly 40 minutes without recording a shot on goal.
- Michal Postava made his NHL debut in relief after John Gibson left with an eye issue.
Raymond drives Detroit’s first-period surge
Detroit came out with the puck and made the early shifts count. Raymond opened the scoring at 4:18 of the first, redirecting Albert Johansson’s point shot between his legs and over Kevin Lankinen’s blocker.
William Wallinder doubled the lead at 6:04. His attempted cross-ice feed came back to him after hitting Dylan Larkin, and Wallinder banked the rebound off Lankinen from near the goal line.
Elias Pettersson answered on the power play 58 seconds later, beating Gibson under the left pad from the right circle. But Detroit restored its two-goal cushion at 8:56, again with the extra attacker. Alex DeBrincat sent the puck into traffic at the crease, where Viktor Arvidsson was knocked down. The puck sat loose near Arvidsson’s right leg, and Raymond snapped a backhand into the open side before Lankinen could cover.
“We started really hot,” Raymond said. “We had the puck, spent time in their zone and got rewarded.”
Raymond’s three-point opening period was Detroit’s first road first period with three points by a skater since Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and two assists on Jan. 5, 2017. After producing no points over four games, Raymond now has three goals and two assists across his past two outings.
Detroit coach Todd McLellan said Raymond’s positioning had been strong even before the recent production returned. “He got into good areas to score tonight,” McLellan said. “He did it last game too. The confidence is where it needs to be now, and hopefully he keeps rolling.”
Michael Rasmussen tipped in his first goal of the season from the slot at 14:58 of the second to make it 4-1. The Canucks did not manage a shot in that middle frame, with Detroit controlling the puck and territory throughout.
Emmitt Finnie made it 5-1 four minutes into the third, taking an Arvidsson drop pass on the rush and firing over a falling Lankinen from the left circle after the Vancouver goalie lost an edge. Finnie has three goals and three assists in his past five games.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki finished a cross-crease feed from Marco Rossi at 10:37 of the third for Vancouver’s second goal. Lekkerimaki added an assist, while Pettersson had the other Canucks marker. Lankinen stopped 26 shots.
Unexpected crease change and another hard Vancouver night
Gibson needed only five saves through two periods, but he did not return for the third because of something in his eye. Postava, recalled from Grand Rapids earlier Thursday because Daniil Tarasov was dealing with an undisclosed injury, was suddenly handed his first NHL assignment.
The 24-year-old had left Grand Rapids at 6 a.m., reached Vancouver around noon following a Minneapolis connection, and then stopped all seven shots he faced. He said the rushed travel left him little time to dwell on the moment.
“It’s crazy,” Postava said. “It was probably the best way for me, because there wasn’t time to think. I just had to warm up and be ready.”
McLellan learned late in the second intermission that Gibson could not continue. The club dressed its emergency backup, informed Postava he would enter, and watched him settle in cleanly. McLellan said Tarasov is day to day after being injured in Wednesday’s practice, while Gibson’s eye problem was not expected to be serious.
Vancouver’s next shot after Pettersson’s first-period power-play goal did not arrive until 6:16 of the third. The crowd greeted it with sarcastic applause, though Postava chose to hear it differently.
“I was thinking they were judging my save,” he said. “I knew there had only been about five shots after two periods, so I told myself they were cheering for me.”
Canucks forward Brock Boeser called the result embarrassing and questioned the group’s execution. Vancouver coach Manny Malhotra said the players must recognize that the club’s standard and identity need to come from inside the room.
Detroit also received a return from J.T. Compher, who had missed seven games with an undisclosed injury. He logged 13:20, recorded an assist and a shot, and finished plus-1. DeBrincat extended his three-game run to four points, with two goals and two assists. Rossi, back after missing two games because of illness, played 9:38 and picked up an assist while finishing minus-1.
