The defenseman was traded to Vancouver from Calgary on Thursday
CALGARY–In his debut, Nikita Zadorov helped score the game-winning goal, and the Vancouver Canucks held on to beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.
On Thursday, the Canucks traded the defenseman from the Flames. He cleared the puck from his goal line, and at the blue line, Elias Pettersson tipped it on the way out for an empty-net goal at 18:40, making it 4-2.
Elias Lindholm scored on the power play at 19:06 for the 4-3 final.
Pettersson, Ilya Mikheyev, and Sam Lafferty each contributed a goal and an assist for the Canucks (16-8-1), who have been alternating between regulation wins and losses for eight consecutive games. Thatcher Demko made 20 saves.
Lindholm scored twice, and Jacob Markstrom saved 18 shots for Calgary (10-11-3), who had previously won two consecutive games.
Quinn Hughes gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 2:02 with the game’s first shot, a wrist shot under Markstrom’s glove from inside the right face-off dot. This goal, his ninth, establishes an NHL career-high in 25 games and leads all NHL defensemen this season.
Lafferty extended the lead to 2-0 at 8:38 by tapping in a loose rebound at the edge of the crease. This followed Markstrom’s initial save on a Hronek one-timer from the point.
At 12:18, Calgary narrowed the lead to 2-1 with their first power-play goal in 18 attempts, as Mikael Backlund tapped in a backdoor goal on a feed from Adam Ruzicka.
At 19:32 of the second period, Mikheyev extended the Canucks’ lead to 3-1 with a chip shot over Markstrom’s glove and under the crossbar.
At 15:39 of the third period, Lindholm brought the Flames within 3-2 with a shot that slid along the ice and beat Demko.
