Pettersson has goal, assist to lift Canucks past Flames

VANCOUVER -- Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist for the Vancouver Canucks in a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

Erik Brannstrom also had a goal and an assist, and Kevin Lankinen made 27 saves for the Canucks (8-3-3), who bounced back from a 7-3 loss against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday to get their fourth win in their past five games.

J.T. Miller had two assists within a span of 2:15 early in the second period, during which the Canucks ultimately outshot the Flames 14-7 and scored twice.

“Really took over in the second period,” Miller said. “We know that's a tired team over there and long change for them in the second, thought we did a good job of making them play a lot of defense, making them pretty tired. … We knew that's a period where we could kill them there. So I thought we just did a good job of executing the game plan and put it down their throat.”

Justin Kirkland scored, and Dan Vladar made 29 saves for the Flames (8-6-3), who were coming off a 3-1 win at home against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.

Tuesday was the fifth game in five cities over the past eight days for Calgary, and it was the first time it failed to record a point (2-1-2) during the stretch.

“I'm sure there's a little bit of fatigue, but that's no excuse,” Kirkland said. “We know what we're getting into. For the first and the third period, I think we liked our game as a group. Got away from it a little bit in the second there and that ended up costing us the game.”

Kirkland put the Flames ahead 1-0 at 19:00 of the first period after Kevin Rooney threw the puck to the net from the left wing and the rebound bounced off the stick of Quinn Hughes right to Kirkland in front.

The Canucks have now given up the first goal in eight straight, but they improved to 5-2-1 in those games.

“Sometimes it happens,” Miller said. “It's 60 minutes and you'd like to start with the lead, but I thought we had a lot of chances right before their goal, and obviously that's a flukey one so we’re not going to worry about it.”

Vancouver started the second period on the power play and only needed 23 seconds to tie it 1-1. Pettersson tapped in a backdoor pass from Miller, who skated toward the left face-off dot after a cross-ice pass from Hughes.

“He's been making those plays from that spot on the power play in all his years here, so we locked eyes right away and I knew I was getting the puck so I just tried to be available,” Pettersson said.

Pettersson has scored in consecutive games for the first time since scoring in three straight games last January. He has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games, matching his total from the previous eight.

“I feel good,” Pettersson said. "Just try and chip away and get better every day.”

Pius Suter made it 2-1 at 2:38, taking Miller’s pass from along the right boards into the slot and beating Vladar under the blocker for his sixth goal of the season, tied with injured forward Brock Boeser for the team lead.

“I love playing with Pius [Suter],” Miller said. “He's just in the right spot all the time. Nothing flashy about his game. He's leading our team in goals quietly, I think, at this point, and can put it in the net.”

Brannstrom scored his first goal of the season, and first with the Canucks since being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 6, on a wrist shot from the blue line through Kiefer Sherwood’s screen to make it 3-1 at 6:19 of the third period.

“It's always fun to score,” Brannstrom said “[Vladar] didn’t really see the puck.”

Calgary outshot the Canucks 12-6 in the third period, but couldn’t close the gap despite some good chances.

“Again, a resilient team that pushed,” coach Ryan Huska said. “It's just learning your games like this that you still have to find more, and a lot of that means it's just play a simpler brand of hockey and make sure you're not putting yourself in a position where you have to try to make up for an unforced error.”

NOTES: Canucks forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki, who was picked in the first round (No. 15) of the 2022 NHL Draft, played 14:07 in his NHL debut and finished with two shots, one hit and two giveaways. … Hughes extended his point streak to five games (one goal, seven assists).