VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist in his return from a knee injury, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Sunday.
The 20-year-old rookie, who ran his point total this season to 44, missed five games after suffering an MCL sprain against Montreal on Jan. 3.
Antoine Roussel and Bo Horvat also scored for Vancouver, and Brock Boeser had two assists.
Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek scored for Detroit.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 27 shots for the Canucks, and Wings goalie Jonathan Bernier had 22 saves.
Roussel broke a 2-2 tie with 6:47 remaining in the game, tipping in a shot fired by Jake Virtanen. The play came less than three minutes after Bernier stopped Roussel on a breakaway.
Vancouver struggled to get shots early, but capitalized on just its second chance of the game.
Midway through the first period, Boeser took a shot from the blue line, and Pettersson, who was standing outside the crease, deflected the puck in the air and tipped it past Bernier.
Detroit roared back in the second period, dominating play and keeping the Canucks pinned in their own end.
Nielsen put the Wings on the board at 8:34 into the period, collecting a pass from Anthony Mantha and firing a one-timer past Markstrom. The goal marked the 450th point of the 34-year-old’s NHL career.
Nielsen added an assist six minutes later when Vanek, a former Canuck, deflected Danny DeKeyser’s shot into the net.
Horvat evened the game 7:27 into the third, sweeping in a low wrist shot off the faceoff for his 18th goal of the year.
The tally broke a scoring drought for Horvat, who had 38 shots without a goal in his previous 11 games.
UP NEXT
The Wings will wrap up a Canadian road swing Tuesday when they visit the Oilers in Edmonton.
The Canucks have one more game before the All-Star break. They’ll host the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.
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