Historic Moments, Milestones Reached in 6-4 Road Win Over Devils

The Vancouver Canucks scored three goals in four minutes in the second period for a 3-0 lead and led the rest of the way.

The Canucks scored all three goals by 4:37 to start the second which is the 10th fastest time to score that many goals to start a period by a team on the road.

J.T. Miller said there were a number of things he liked about the Canucks’ compete level and defensive effort and as a group they’re still learning how to stay on the attack with multi-goal leads.

“It feels good to win a road game on a big road trip. I liked a lot of our game today, I think most of us felt pretty good about it,” Miller said. “I just think the classic case of us sitting back a little too much with the lead and they have a ton of talent over there so they’re going to find a way to make plays and we’ve got to find that happy medium where we’re staying aggressive in our structure to where we don’t give them so much time and space.”

Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes each had themselves three-point outings – Pettersson and Miller two goals and a helper each, and three assists for Hughes.

Upon tallying his second assist of the night, Hughes now holds the new franchise record for most multi-point games by a Canucks defenceman with 69, eclipsing Alex Edler.

The Lotto Line was back together and with Brock Boeser’s two assists, that trio accounted for eight points. Pettersson said the chemistry they have will always be there.

“We played a ton [together back] in the day, so just trying to work hard, make plays and be reliable for each other,” he said.

Head Coach Rick Tocchet decided to put Boeser, Miller and Pettersson together to try something different under his tutelage and 

“The puck possessions, regroups, getting the puck with speed through the neutral zone,” Tocchet said. “When you’ve got guys like Huggy and Fil [Hronek], if you’re skating you’re going to get the puck on your stick; we can creat those odd-man rushes, some mismatches, so we’ll see how long we keep it together but I thought those guys did a nice job for us tonight.”

Thatcher Demko earned his 100th career win as a Canuck, having played 196 games in his NHL career. He holds the fifth spot for wins in franchise history.

“He’s awesome back there, he’s been playing great for a while. Not surprised he’s reached this milestone and I’m sure he’s going to get us more wins as well,” Pettersson said.

Carson Soucy was back in action for Vancouver on the blue line with Tyler Myers.

Game Recap

In the second period, Pettersson scored on a tip-in from Filip Hronek’s shot from the point and Miller scored back-to-back goals; the first redirecting the puck in after it bounced around net-front and the second from the right faceoff circle off a cross-ice pass from Pettersson.

Devils’ defenceman Colin Miller fired a laser from the point to get his team on the board, then forward Erik Haula scored on the rush from the slot.

Conor Garland used his speed and scored a nifty wraparound going from right to left to give the Canucks a 4-2 lead going into the second break.

In the third, Pettersson scored his second of the night off the rush beating Nico Daws five-hole to extend the lead.

The Devils pressed on, Miller scoring his second of the night and defenceman Brendan Smith notched a one-timer to bring his team within one goal, Vancouver leading 5-4.

Dakota Joshua scored his 10th goal of the season on a hard-earned empty-netter, helping the Canucks leave the Prudential Center with a 6-4 win.

Next up for Vancouver is the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday, January 8th at 4 p.m. PT.