Elias Lindholm received a warm welcome at Rogers Arena, with lots of cheering for his first goals on home ice as a Vancouver Canuck.
“It felt pretty good, our team played pretty well. Obviously, there was a lot of penalty killing but when we needed a big save, Demmer was making some big stops for us,” Lindholm said.
Nikita Zadorov returned to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension and felt the team was solid from puck drop, proving they are tough to play against at home. Zadorov scored his first goal as a Canuck which he says is a relief.
“I think I can contribute more offensively for sure in this team and it took me some time to adjust. I think I'm feeling more comfortable every game for sure,” Zadorov said.
With the win, the Canucks avenged last Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings and the penalty kill successfully stopped all five of Detroit’s chances on the man-advantage. Zadorov said they spent time preparing for Detroit’s power play and that everyone played their role on the PK.
The first game at home after a long road trip can be tough, but Head Coach Rick Tocchet thought his group showed resiliency handling it well and was impressed by some timely saves from Thatcher Demko who turned aside 27 of 28 shots he faced.
“There was a lot of penalties they had to kill, but like I said, we hung in there, Demmer was great, we got some timely goals. Lindholm actually had a super game for us,” Tocchet said.
Game Recap
In their last matchup, the Red Wings scored in the first minute of play, but J.T. Miller fired a shot from the left faceoff circle to get Vancouver on the scoreboard 1-0 in the first.
