Canucks' Demko denies Predators as Vancouver jumps Edmonton for 6th in Pacific

Thatcher Demko made 31 saves to lead the Vancouver Canucks over the skidding Nashville Predators 3-1 on Tuesday night.

Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Juho Lammikko scored in Vancouver's second consecutive victory. The win ended the Canucks' stretch of nine straight road games on a high note. Vancouver last played at home Dec. 14.

"We have a lot of heart," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We've got a great goaltender. There's no doubt about it. He stopped two or three clean-cut breakaways tonight. He's a wall back there."

"We've had some good stretches here, and I think now the attention to detail we need to play with, the consistency level with that, needs to be better and that's what we want to focus on here," coach John Hynes said. "We're not playing the way we need to play to give ourselves a chance to win."

Tomasino scored the opening goal at 2:51 of the second period.

With the Predators on a power play, Tomasino beat Demko high to the far side with a half slap shot from just above the right faceoff dot for the rookie's sixth goal of the season.

Pettersson tied it at 7:23 of the second, cleaning up the rebound of Vasily Podkolzin's shot from the slot.

"In the second, I felt like we didn't play hard enough," Predators captain Roman Josi said. "We gave them a lot of time in our zone. They started creating a lot of stuff in our end. All in all, it's a disappointing loss. There's definitely things we could have done better."

Pettersson has three goals in his last two games.

Vancouver took a 2-1 lead at 3:41 of the second on Boeser's power-play goal. J.T. Miller sent a wrist shot on net from the left circle. Standing just outside the crease, Boeser tipped the puck by Rittich.

WATCH | Canucks' Boeser pots game-winning goal:

Brock Boeser, Canucks deal Predators a 4th straight defeat

3 years ago

Duration 0:49

Brock Boeser scored the eventual game-winning goal as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Nashville Predators 3-1.

"We were looking for some certain plays, and that was one there," Boeser said. "We went low a few times. [Miller] made a great shot-pass there."

Demko was sharp, particularly in the second period, when he denied 14 of Nashville's 15 shots on goal. Demko was recently selected to his first All-Star Game.

"I think it was huge to lose three and then bounce back and win two," Demko said. "We've just got to get our wins here one at a time."