Following what head coach Adam Foote called a “gritty” win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, the Vancouver Canucks will try to win back-to-back home games for the first time this season when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.
The Canucks, last in the Pacific Division with 25 points, surprised the Wild and red-hot goaltender Jesper Wallstedt with a 4-2 win to snap a four-game losing streak and win for just the second time in nine games.
The Canucks did it without star center Elias Pettersson who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. Pettersson, tied for the team lead in points with defenseman Quinn Hughes with 22, was scheduled to have an MRI on Sunday to determine a timeline for his recovery.
With Pettersson out, Aatu Raty stepped up with two goals and an assist, his first career three-point game. Rookie defenseman Tom Willander, the 11th overall pick of the 2023 Draft, scored his first NHL goal and also had an assist.
“We played a grittier game,” Foote said. “The confidence went up and you saw that with the young players. They had more zip. … They were challenged to play more in the hard areas and have snap and more gristle.”
The 20-year-old Willander tied it 1-1 in the second period when he ripped a wrist shot from above the right circle into the top far corner.
“It meant everything,” Willander said of scoring his first career goal. “That was amazing. A big personal achievement, but helping chip into the team, getting one of these in very important victories, it was great.
“We’ve had a rough run. I think maybe the results haven’t really reflected how we play. Being on the good end of that feels good.”
Detroit will be playing the third game on a season-long six-game, 10-day road trip that started with a 6-5 shootout loss at Columbus on Thursday and continued with a 4-3 win at Seattle on Saturday.
Patrick Kane scored the game-winner with 2:29 remaining in the third period when he ripped a wrist shot from the high slot off an Alex DeBrincat pass over goaltender Joey Daccord’s glove and into the top-right corner for his 497th career goal.
It was also Kane’s 1,500th career point (regular season and playoffs), making him the second U.S. born skater to reach that mark after Mike Modano (1,520).
“It’s been the same the 20 years that I’ve known him,” James van Riemsdyk said of Kane’s goal. “When the game’s on the line, he’s the guy you want with the puck on his stick, and he usually comes through. Obviously, a world-class shot there and a big two points for us.”
Van Riemsdyk tied the game at 3 late in the second period with his fifth goal in six games. Kane and he were the first two players selected in the 2007 NHL Draft to Chicago and Philadelphia, respectively.
The long-tangled pair is now together, with Kane in his third season at Detroit while Van Riemsdyk joined the Red Wings this offseason.
The Red Wings have largely been alternating in goal. John Gibson (3.58 goals-against average) started the Seattle win and has won his last two starts. Cam Talbot (3.01 GAA) has lost his last four starts since starting the season with a 9-2-0 record.
After Monday’s game, Detroit has a back-to-back at Calgary and Edmonton on Wednesday and Thursday before finishing the trip at Chicago on Saturday.
