Canucks Beat Flames in Saddledome Rumble, Zadorov Earns First Point as a Canuck 

The Ilya Mikheyev-Elias Pettersson-Sam Lafferty line went to work against the Flames for Vancouver’s quick road trip to Calgary, coming away with a 4-3 win.

Lafferty, who had a goal and an assist, liked their effort throughout the game and knows learning how to close out tight games will be important as the season progresses.

"It's been good. Those guys [Pettersson and Mikheyev] are really easy to play with. My job is pretty simple out there, just hunt pucks, go to the net and they play really great, they make it easy on you," Lafferty said.

Canucks’ defenceman Nikita Zadorov got a point in his first game with his new team, recording an assist on Pettersson’s empty-net goal. 

“We got the job done, we got the W that’s all that matters,” Zadorov said.

Playing his old team in his first game with Vancouver was met with mixed emotions, feeling grateful for his time in Calgary and looking forward to playing with a Vancouver squad showing a lot of promise.

“It’s a new opportunity, new day. Like my old goal coach would say it’s a new day league so you have to be ready to play every night and they have a really good team so I’m enjoying to play,” he said.

More from the Canucks’ blue line, Quinn Hughes scored a goal in the first period to extend his road point streak to 11 games, making him the sixth defenceman in 25 years to record a road point streak of at least 11 games.

Game Recap

The Canucks set the tone to start, Hughes scoring Vancouver’s first goal at 2:03 off a pass from Brock Boeser to put the Canucks on the board.

Sam Lafferty connected with a rebound in the crease and sent it to the back of the net off a wrist shot.

Flames’ centreman Mikael Backlund scored on the power play to bring Calgary within one, giving the Canucks a 2-1 lead heading into intermission.

With under 30 seconds remaining the in second, Filip Hronek sent the puck to the front of the net where Mikheyev, Pettersson, and Lafferty were in position around the crease; Mikheyev batted it in to give the team a two-goal before the final period.

Calgary has five comeback wins in only 23 games thus far, good for second place in the NHL. Elias Lindholm brought his team within one at 15:39, but Zadorov belted a shot from nearly 200-feet and Pettersson put it in for the empty-netter, giving the Canucks another two-goal lead.

On a delay of game penalty, the Flames notched a power play with a minute remaining and Jonathan Huberdeau scored to make it 4-3 but the Canucks held it down to finish the game leaving the Saddledome with two points.

Canucks head back to Vancouver for a five-game homestand, starting with the New Jersey Devils Tuesday, December 5th at 7 p.m. Tuesday’s game is also First Nations Night to celebrate Indigenous traditions and culture.