Lucas Raymond scored twice and added an assist as the Detroit Red Wings cruised past the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday night at Rogers Arena, extending the hosts’ winless streak to nine straight games, according to Field Level Media.
Raymond opened the scoring at 4:18 of the first period, assisted by Albert Johansson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, and Wallinder doubled the lead less than two minutes later. Pettersson briefly cut the deficit at 7:02, but Raymond answered at 8:56 to make it 3-1 before the intermission. Rasmussen stretched it to 4-1 in the second and Finnie made it 5-1 early in the third before Lekkerimaki’s late consolation. Viktor Arvidsson and Brandsegg-Nygard each finished with two assists, per SportsFBI’s game recap.
Vancouver, which fell to 2-9, is in free fall. The Canucks are 0-8-1 over their last nine and just 1-4-0 on home ice. Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored and added an assist while Pettersson also tallied, but the hosts were outshot 31-13 and never truly threatened after the first period.
Gibson exits, rookie steps in
Detroit’s night was not without concern. Goaltender John Gibson left the game with an upper-body injury after stopping four of five shots through two periods. Rookie Michal Postava came on for his NHL debut and stopped seven of eight shots to preserve the win.
The Red Wings will hope Gibson’s injury is minor. The veteran has been a stabilizing presence during Detroit’s six-game point streak, and his status will be one of the most closely watched storylines around the club with the schedule tightening. Postava’s composed debut, meanwhile, gives the Wings at least a measure of confidence in their depth.
Canucks searching for answers
Vancouver netminder Kevin Lankinen stopped 26 of 31 shots but fell to 1-7-0 on the season. The Canucks’ slide is becoming one of the NHL’s early-season stories for all the wrong reasons: the offense stalls for long stretches, the defense leaks high-danger chances, and the home crowd is growing restless.
Detroit, meanwhile, keeps banking points. Six straight games with at least a point has the Red Wings climbing, and with Raymond producing at this level, the attack looks dangerous. The Wings get a day to check on Gibson before their next outing.
