Canucks Ride Jake DeBrusk’s Hat Trick to 5-4 Overtime Win Against Red Wings – The Hockey Writers Vancouver Canucks Latest News, Analysis & More

The Vancouver Canucks started slow but finished strong as Jake DeBrusk notched his second career hat trick, including the overtime winner, against the Detroit Red Wings in what ended up as a 5-4 final. Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson each had three assists and Kevin Lankinen became the first goalie in NHL history to start a season 10-0-0 on the road, besting the previous mark set by Cam Talbot and Glenn Hall, who both started 9-0-0. The Red Wings had the lead late but gave up the tieing goal to Erik Brannstrom and eventually the overtime winner to DeBrusk.

Game Recap

The first period was full of stops and starts as both teams tried to find their footing in a rare 12:30 pm ET puck drop. The Red Wings got the scoring started with Jonatan Berggren’s fourth of the season, finishing the opening frame with a 1-0 lead while outshooting the Canucks 11-6.

The second period started with the Canucks on a 5-on-3 power play after Simon Edvinsson and Justin Holl took hooking and holding calls respectively at the end of the first. DeBrusk scored his first goal of the night shortly into that power play tipping a shot by Pettersson past Talbot. On that goal, Hughes recorded his 311th career assist and passed Alex Edler for the franchise lead in assists by a defenceman.

DeBrusk struck again on the one-man advantage shortly after that, picking up a rebound that laid loose in front of Talbot and dragging it around him for the 2-1 lead. The excitement continued with Alex DeBrincat scoring his 10th at 6:38, slapping a puck past Lankinen for a 2-2 game. Former Red Wing Pius Suter responded late in the period with his ninth on a 2-on-1 with Kiefer Sherwood, snapping it past Ville Husso, who took over for Talbot after the latter inexplicably left midway through the period.

The Red Wings came out firing in the third with Rasmussen winning a battle in front of the net on the power play to tie the game at three. The goal survived a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference, and the Red Wings used the momentum from the ensuing power play to go up 4-3, 23 seconds after the advantage had ended. After some nice stickhandling by rookie Marco Kasper at center ice, Vladimir Tarasenko took a cross-ice pass from Berggren and wristed it top corner on Lankinen. The lead stood until 16:40 when Brannstrom tied it with a one-timer from the point after Pettersson fed him with a backhand pass from behind the net.

The overtime was mostly controlled by the Canucks as they outshot the Red Wings 3-1 with DeBrusk completing the hat trick four minutes into the extra frame. Taking a long pass from Hughes, Pettersson dropped the puck off to DeBrusk who wristed it top corner on Husso for his team-leading 10th of the season.

As mentioned off the top, it was Lankinen’s 10th straight road win, as he made 27 saves on 31 shots. He now holds a very impressive 12-3-2 record overall. On the Red Wings side, Talbot made 12 saves on 14 shots before giving way to Husso, who took the loss after making 15 saves on 18 shots. The Red Wings’ penalty kill was partly their downfall again as they allowed two power play goals on four chances to remain in 32nd place at a paltry 65.2 percent.

What’s Next for the Red Wings & Canucks?

The Canucks will finish their long six-game road trip in Minnesota on Tuesday as they take on the Wild for the first time this season. The Red Wings will face off against the Boston Bruins earlier that day as they start a quick two-game stint away from
Little Caesars Arena.