Lucas Raymond scores twice as Detroit Red Wings defeat Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at Rogers Arena

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

VANCOUVER — Lucas Raymond scored twice and added an assist as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday at Rogers Arena, handing Vancouver its ninth consecutive loss in the opening contest of the night’s NHL action in the city.

Detroit improved to a 4-3-3 record while extending its point streak to six games (3-0-3). William Wallinder and Michael Rasmussen also scored for the Red Wings, and the club received a pair of two-assist performances from Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Viktor Arvidsson.

The Canucks were led offensively by Elias Pettersson, who scored for Vancouver, and by Michal Postava, who made his NHL debut in relief after John Gibson exited the game following an upper-body injury. Kevin Lankinen made 26 saves for Vancouver as Detroit built a multi-goal lead.

Gibson started the game and stopped four of five shots through the first two periods. The Red Wings’ scoring chances continued to mount, but Gibson did not return for the third period due to the injury, forcing the Canucks to use Postava in relief. Earlier in the day, Postava was recalled from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids roster because of an undisclosed injury to Daniil Tarasov.

Raymond gave Detroit the early advantage at 4:18 of the first period, deflecting an Albert Johansson point shot between his legs and over Lankinen’s blocker while skating toward the slot near the bottom of the left face-off circle.

Detroit doubled its lead at 6:04 when Wallinder banked in a shot off Lankinen from the goal line after his cross-ice pass bounced back to him off Dylan Larkin.

Vancouver responded on the power play at 7:02 when Pettersson cut the deficit to 2-1 with a one-timer under Gibson’s left pad from the right dot. That goal came in a game state where Detroit controlled much of the early momentum.

Raymond pushed the lead back to two goals at 8:56 of the first period, scoring on another power play after Alex DeBrincat threw the puck into the crease from the bottom of the left circle. With the puck caught under the right leg of Arvidsson as he was knocked down in the blue paint, Raymond pounced on the loose puck and backhanded it into an open net before Lankinen could cover it.

Rasmussen added to the Red Wings’ advantage at 14:58 of the second period with his first goal of the season, finishing with a deflection in the slot.

Detroit outshot Vancouver 13-0 in the second period, a stretch that helped turn its earlier lead into a commanding game flow heading into the third.

The Canucks saw their deficit grow further when Emmitt Finnie scored at 4:00 of the third period. Finnie took a drop pass from Arvidsson off the rush at the hash marks with speed, then shot over a falling Lankinen from the bottom of the left circle after the goalie lost an edge.

Vancouver’s first shot on goal of the third period did not arrive until 6:16, coming after the game had already tilted well in Detroit’s favour. At 10:37, Jonathan Lekkerimaki made the score 5-2 by converting a cross-crease pass off the rush from Marco Rossi, setting the final margin.

With the loss, the Canucks fell to 2-9-1 on the season and entered the night on a stretch of 0-8-1 in their previous nine games. For Detroit, the win continued a strong stretch that included six straight games with points as Raymond’s production carried the Red Wings’ offence in a decisive victory at Rogers Arena.