Canucks hold off Hurricanes for fourth straight win under Boudreau

Demko makes 29 saves to help hand Carolina first loss in five games

J.T. Miller watches Brock Boeser’s shot put Canucks up 1-0 in opening period.

by Kevin Woodley / NHL.com Independent Correspondent

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks won their fourth straight game under coach Bruce Boudreau, 2-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Arena on Sunday.

Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson scored, and Thatcher Demko made 29 saves for the Canucks (12-15-2), who were 2-10-1 in their previous 13 games before firing Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning on Dec. 5.

Martin Necas scored, and Antti Raanta made 24 saves for the Hurricanes (19-7-1), who lost for the first time in five games.

Carolina was coming off a 3-1 win at the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and played without center Sebastian Aho, who was a late scratch because of a non-COVID illness. Aho leads the Hurricanes with 32 points (15 goals, 17 assists) in 26 games and was on a five-game multipoint streak.

Boeser put Vancouver ahead 1-0 at 18:29 of the first period when he finished a give-and-go off the cycle with J.T. Miller from the right hash marks.

It was the third goal in the past four games for Boeser, who ended a 13-game goal drought in Boudreau’s first game.

Elias Pettersson scores beautiful goal.

Pettersson made it 2-0 at 7:44 of the second period, beating Raanta blocker side with a shot from the slot on a 4-on-2 rush. It was Pettersson’s first goal at even strength this season.

Necas cut it to 2-1 at 2:32 of the third period. He received a pass on a 2-on-1 from Seth Jarvis, deked back to his backhand and shot five-hole on Demko.