Elias Lindholm scored twice and Elias Pettersson had three assists as the Vancouver Canucks became the first NHL team to hit the 80-point mark this season with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
J.T. Miller and Nikita Zadorov also scored goals for Vancouver, which improved to 19-4-2 at home. The Canucks also extended their lead in the Pacific Division to 12 points over the second-place Vegas Golden Knights.
Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for his league-leading 30th win of the season (30-9-1). Demko improved to 18-2-1 in his past 21 starts.
J.T. Compher scored the 100th goal of his career for Detroit, which lost its second straight game. Alex Lyon finished with 17 saves.
Vancouver, playing its first home game since Jan. 27, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 9:31.
Miller made it 1-0 after he intercepted a Jeff Petry outlet pass by the left boards. He skated in and rifled a wrist shot from the left circle into the top far corner of the net for his 24th goal of the season at 7:37.
Lindholm, playing his first home game since being obtained in a trade with the Calgary Flames on Jan. 31, increased the lead to 2-0 less than two minutes after Miller’s goal. He snapped a wrist shot around the left leg of defenseman Jake Walman and in off the left post.
Zadorov increased the Vancouver lead to 3-0 at 12:51 of the second period with a wrist shot from the left point through traffic.
Compher got Detroit on the board at 14:25 of the second. He buried a rebound of a Patrick Kane shot from the low slot past Demko’s blocker side for his 12th goal.
Lindholm made it 4-1 at 12:59 of the third period. He finished a two-on-one with Pettersson with a wrist shot into the top left corner for his 13th goal and fourth in six games with his new team.
–Field Level Media
