Danton Heinen scored twice in the first period and Kevin Lankinen made 31 saves to lift the visiting Vancouver Canucks to a 6-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
J.T. Miller and Conor Garland also scored for the Canucks during a back-and-forth opening period that featured six of the nine goals in the game.
Vancouver stayed in control on the way to its third win in a row to close a four-game trip. Lankinen, a recent acquisition as the team navigates Thatcher Demko’s recovery from a knee injury, was in net for each victory.
Miller contributed a goal and two assists, Garland had a goal and an assist and Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood both had two assists for Vancouver.
Heinen opened the scoring just 21 seconds into the game, beating Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek after a tic-tac-toe passing sequence off a turnover by Chicago’s Wyatt Kaiser in his own zone.
Vancouver doubled the advantage on a power-play goal by Miller at 6:01 of the first period, capitalizing on a prime rebound of Hughes’ shot off the end boards.
Ryan Donato responded with Chicago’s first goal 3:24 later, finishing a centering pass from Jason Dickinson. The Canucks restored a two-goal lead less than 90 seconds later as Heinen’s goal was upheld after the Blackhawks challenged the play for being offside.
Taylor Hall brought Chicago within a goal once again, but that momentum also was short-lived as Garland scored at 15:17. Seven Vancouver players were on the ice, but officials missed the call.
Lankinen stymied his former club throughout the night but was especially sharp in the second period, which featured no scoring. He turned aside multiple Chicago chances on its last of two power plays in the period.
The Blackhawks fell to 1-2-0 on a four-game homestand that concludes Friday. Chicago was 1-for-5 with the man advantage, capitalizing on a five-on-three opportunity when Tyler Bertuzzi scored at 14:04 of the third.
Vancouver’s Brock Boeser and Pius Suter scored 29 seconds apart midway through the period to put things away. Boeser’s goal came on the power play.
Mrazek stopped 24 shots for Chicago.
–Field Level Media
