The Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday at Rogers Arena, riding a three-goal first period from Lucas Raymond and the top line to their fourth win of the season. Raymond scored twice and added an assist for a three-point night, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard set up three of Detroit’s five goals.
Detroit broke the game open early, scoring three times in the opening period before Vancouver managed a response. The Canucks pulled within one on Elias Pettersson’s power-play goal, but the Red Wings answered less than two minutes later and never trailed again. Kevin Lankinen took the loss in goal for Vancouver, stopping 26 of 31 shots.
Key Moments And How It Was Won
Raymond opened the scoring at 4:18 of the first period with a tip-in, assisted by Albert Johansson and Brandsegg-Nygard. William Wallinder made it 2-0 less than two minutes later on a snap shot, with Raymond and Brandsegg-Nygard both drawing assists. Pettersson answered for Vancouver on a power-play slap shot at 7:02, but Raymond restored the two-goal cushion at 8:56 with a backhand finish, assisted by Viktor Arvidsson and Alex DeBrincat.
Michael Rasmussen extended the lead to 4-1 with a second-period tip-in at 14:58, and Emmitt Finnie made it 5-1 early in the third on a wrist shot assisted by Arvidsson. Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored Vancouver’s final goal at 10:37 of the third, but Detroit’s lead was too large to threaten by that point.
Top Performers
Raymond finished with two goals and an assist for three points, leading all skaters. Brandsegg-Nygard did not score but collected three assists. Arvidsson had two assists on the night, including the primary helper on Finnie’s third-period goal.
Detroit goaltender John Gibson made four saves on five shots in relief duty, while Michal Postava stopped seven of eight. Lekkerimaki led Vancouver with a goal and an assist for two points, and Pettersson had the Canucks’ other goal.
Detroit Red Wings Vs Vancouver Canucks By The Numbers
Detroit outshot Vancouver 31-13, a lopsided margin that reflected the Canucks’ struggles generating offense at even strength. The Red Wings also won the special teams battle on volume, going 1-for-4 on the power play while Vancouver was 1-for-4 as well, though Detroit’s extra-man unit produced the tying-and-tiebreaking sequence that mattered most. Vancouver was credited with 25 hits and 14 blocked shots to Detroit’s 21 and 11, but the Canucks also gave the puck away 17 times compared to six giveaways for Detroit, a gap that helped explain the shot disparity. Both teams finished even in faceoff win percentage at 50%.
What It Means
The win pushed Detroit’s record to 4-3-3 on the season. Vancouver fell to 2-9-1, last in the Pacific Division standings, where Edmonton currently sits atop the group at 8-1-1. Detroit sits sixth in the Atlantic Division at 4-4-3 in the loss column format shown in the standings, behind division leader Boston. The result also gave Detroit a 1-0 lead in the season series between the two clubs.
For more on Detroit’s recent form, see the Red Wings’ shootout win over the Sharks behind a Raymond goal, and their earlier 2-1 win over the Flyers. Detroit also recently fell to Seattle in a game recapped in Kraken vs Red Wings Score, and dropped a shootout decision covered in Canadiens beat Red Wings.
What’s Next
Neither team’s next official opponent or date was included in the available data. Detroit will look to build on its 1-0 edge in the season series against Vancouver, while the Canucks try to climb out of last place in the Pacific Division after their ninth loss of the season.
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