Pettersson marks birthday with two points as Canucks beat Flames

VANCOUVER — Elias Pettersson, celebrating his 26th birthday, tied the game on the power play early in the second period and assisted on Erik Brannstrom’s goal in the third as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames 3-1 Tuesday night.

Pius Suter also scored for the Canucks (8-3-3). J.T. Miller had two assists.

Justin Kirkland scored for Calgary (8-6-3)

Vancouver goaltender Kevin Lankinen stopped 27 shots to improve his record to 8-1-2.

Flames goalie Dan Vladar made 29 saves.

The goal was the first as a Canuck for Brannstrom who was obtained in an Oct. 6 deal with Colorado.

Swedish rookie Jonathan Lekkerimaki, the 15th pick in the 2022 draft, played his first game as a Canuck. He took Brock Boeser’s spot on the first-unit power play.

The Canucks played their second game without Boeser, who is recovering from an upper-body injury after being hit in the head by Tanner Jeannot of the Los Angeles Kings last Thursday.

The Flames were coming off a 3-1 win over the Kings in Calgary on Monday night.

TAKEAWAYS

Canucks: Combined with his goal in the loss to Edmonton on Saturday night, it was the first time in 50 regular-season games that Pettersson has scored in back-to-back games. He last had consecutive goals in a three-game stretch from Jan. 15 to Jan. 20.

Flames: After winning five of their first six games the Flames have just three wins in their last 11 (3-6-2).

KEY MOMENT

Calgary led 1-0 after scoring at the 19-minute mark of the first period but defenceman Daniil Miromanov was called for high-sticking just before the period ended. Pettersson tapped in a Miller shot to tie the game on the power play just 23 seconds into the second, then Suter made it 2-1 2:15 later.

KEY STAT

The Canucks gave up the opening goal for the eighth consecutive game but are 5-2-1 during that stretch.

UP NEXT

Flames: Host the Nashville Predators on Friday.

Canucks: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.