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      Canucks at Predators | Recap

      NASHVILLE -- Thatcher Demko made 31 saves, and Quinn Hughes had two assists for the Vancouver Canucks in a 3-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday.

      Demko had lost four of his previous five starts (1-4-0).

      “[Demko] is a world-class goalie,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I have a ton of confidence in the guy, so that’s why we started him. He was awesome tonight.”

      Hughes had his third straight multipoint game and has 11 points (five goals, six assists) on a seven-game point streak. The Canucks captain leads NHL defensemen with 58 points (14 goals, 44 assists).

      Linus Karlsson scored his first NHL goal for the Canucks (23-17-10), who have won three consecutive games.

      “Of course, you always want to score, but you have to do other things to get there,” Karlsson said. “It was just nice to see it went in. It was like a relief. You score the first and just try to keep going.”

      Juuse Saros made 19 saves for the Predators (18-24-7), who have lost consecutive games after winning their previous five. Filip Forsberg’s 10-game point streak ended.

      “I think we had a lot of good looks, especially in the third, to tie it up,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. “We knew it was going to be a tight game. I feel like every time we play Vancouver it’s pretty tight out there. I thought our first 10 minutes were slow, and then we got better as the game went on.”

      Nils Hoglander gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 7:11 of the first period on a wrist shot from the slot on the rush on a pass from Hughes.

      “It was nice to see [Hoglander], great shot,” Tocchet said. “I thought he had some jump tonight. Obviously [Karlsson], that’s where he’s good, around the net. It’s nice for that line producing for us.”

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          VAN@NSH: Hoglander controls Hughes' feed and fires it in to start the scoring

          Tommy Novak scored for the Predators to tie the game 1-1 at 8:41 of the first period on a rebound of a shot from Zachary L'Heureux.

          “I’m just trying to play more confident and free-flowing,” Novak said. “I feel pretty good right now. My linemates have been playing great. I got a lucky one tonight, which was nice. Just focusing on bringing it every night and see what happens.”

          Karlsson gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead at 1:28 of the second period on a tip-in of a cross-ice pass from Tyler Myers. It was Karlsson’s first NHL point in his 10th game.

          “I tried to find an open spot,” Karlsson said. “I’m lucky that [Myers] found me. It was a really good pass. I just put it in there.”

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              VAN@NSH: Karlsson taps first career goal in behing Saros

              Pius Suter scored an empty-net goal to make it 3-1 at 19:41 of the third period.

              The Predators went 0-for-3 on the power play.

              “I don’t know if anybody is really comfortable, besides [Josi], bringing the puck up all the time,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “We knew coming into the year it would be a little bit of a challenge. That was probably the Achilles [heel] a little bit of us, and we’d have to find a way to be a little creative or somebody to be a little bit more comfortable carrying it in. We’ve sort of had a hard time.”

              NOTES: Hughes factored on the game-winning goal for the 10th time this season, most among NHL defensemen. … Hughes finished with two shots on goal and was plus-2 in 24:36 of ice time. … Hughes had his 78th multi-assist game, fourth in Canucks history behind Henrik Sedin (181), Daniel Sedin (107) and Stan Smyl (79). … Canucks forward Dakota Joshua returned to the lineup after missing 11 games because of a lower body injury, playing 11:48.