Canucks 3, Hurricanes 2: Elias Lindholm strikes twice in debut, flirts ...

It’s like the first game of an NHL season.

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You can’t wait for it. You obsess about it. And then you over-analyze the result, win or lose.

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For the Vancouver Canucks, it was a somewhat similar scenario Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C. 

After a much needed nine-day break between games to rest and recharge, the league’s top team knew extending an 11-game unbeaten streak wasn’t going to be easy. Even though they’ve scored the most first-period goals, and unveiled a new multi-purpose weapon in Elias Lindholm.

There would be rust before they found the trust in their game.

Lindholm didn’t look like he had any kind of break. He looked fresh. He looked fast. He struck twice on the power play with deft deflections of point shots by Quinn Hughes in what would be a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes to open a five-game road trip crammed into eight days.

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Lindholm also flirted with franchise history.

He had one period to become the first franchise player to connect for a hat trick against the Hurricanes. The last time that occurred was Jan. 14, 1984 when Tony Tanti struck for a trio of goals against the then Hartford Whalers.

“I felt pretty good,” said Lindholm. “Obviously, kind of nervous before the game. A lot of new things. We played pretty good and it was a playoff-type game. There wasn’t a lot of room out there but we stuck with it.

“It was a relief to score. Nice shot there by Huggy on my first goal and I obviously got a piece of it and it was nice to see it go in. I’m playing with a lot of good players here and a really tight group. There are obviously still some things that I can be better at but I stuck with it.

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“Hopefully, I can get a little bit better.”

The decisive blow Tuesday came from J.T. Miller in the third period. A tag-up play in the Hurricanes zone confused off-balanced Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov. He struggled to get back to the net as Brock Boeser took a whack at a bouncing puck before Miller connected.

The Hurricanes then pressed relentlessly and forced Thatcher Demko to hold the fort with 13 third-period saves for his ninth-consecutive victory. It surpasses Roberto Luongo and matches Dan Cloutier’s franchise mark established from Nov. 9-30, 2002.

“There’s an urgency from the coaching staff and the players to not waste any time to get going (after the break) and keep pushing every game and that’s what we keep doing,” said Hughes.

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“Lindholm is a massive add. Obviously, he’s not going to get two goals every game, but taking faceoffs, competing, defensive game, supporting the puck, and in the O-zone, he’s an excellent player. He’s going to have a lot of success here. Really skilled with the tips. If I shot 50, he’d probably tip 49 of them. That’s the kind of guy we’re dealing with.

“And we need those type of goals, especially with them (Hurricanes) playing us high.”

Here’s what we learned as the Canucks improved to 34-11-4 and now face the Boston Bruins on Thursday:

Carolina Hurricanes’ Brett Pesce (22) works against Vancouver Canucks Elias Lindholm (23) as Canucks’ Quinn Hughes (43) and Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis (24) watch during the third period Photo by Karl B DeBlaker /APLindholm as good as advertised

One player doesn’t make a team.

However, one very good, versatile and opportunistic player can make an elite team deeper, deadlier and more difficult to defend.

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Lindholm doesn’t have to be a saviour after arriving Wednesday in the multi-package trade that sent Andrei Kuzmenko to the Calgary Flames. But he played a lead role Tuesday. In the first period, he was spotted early in the slot by Elias Pettersson, but couldn’t get to the puck. He was then denied on the power play before announcing his arrival in fine style.

Lindholm first found an opening behind a defender and made sure his stick was in the right wide position to tip the Hughes shot down and toward the net to make it 1-1. You can’t teach that stuff. It takes time.

Lindholm then demonstrated the same smarts and finish with a spin-and-tip of another Hughes man-advantage point shot in the second period to put the Canucks up 2-1. He also looked effective on the penalty kill.

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“Take away the goals and there was that blocked shot at the end,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. “He knows when to be aggressive and not to be and you can just tell. When we go through the tape, we’ll see hockey I.Q plays and he was obviously great. He was just very calm and I enjoy talking hockey with him.

“And I’m the happiest guy. Those net-front goals are my favourite.”

The book on Lindholm is that he’s good around the crease area. His feel for seeking out soft coverage areas — especially on the power play — will also make him good in the bumper position to take those quick feeds from Miller.

“He has good timing to get in the slot,” said Miller. “A lot of teams are going to give up those little plays around the net and he’s good at finding those spots.”

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It’s not just the offence. Lindholm is a classic 200-foot forward and a beast in the faceoff circle.

“I’ve had to match up and he’s really hard to play against,” added Miller. “Anxious to see what he can do, His line is going to be dangerous. He’s a heck of a player and I’m glad we got him.”

Carolina Hurricanes’ Stefan Noesen (23) gathers in the puck in front of Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) during the second period in Raleigh, N.C. on Tuesday night Photo by Karl B DeBlaker /APSlow start before finding spurt

The Canucks surrendered an early short-handed goal to Jordan Martinook on a slow and sloppy power play change to the second unit. 

They were lackadaisical retreating to their own zone and allowed the Hurricanes winger to walk out of the corner and put a short-side backhander past a surprised Demko.

However, the Canucks quickly came alive. Conor Garland rang a shot off the post to end the man-advantage before Illya Mikheyev unloaded a heavy wrist shot from the slot in a bid to end a 17-game goalless funk.

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The third line then went to work with a forechecking sequence that saw Teddy Blueger get the puck to Garland, who found Dakota Joshua for a Grade A chance.

The Canucks kept pushing the forechecking and playmaking pace against the aggressive and shot-suppressing Hurricanes. However, a second-period minor for too many men (defencemen) on the ice late in the second period opened the door for Sebastian Aho to unload a deflected shot that found the top corner to draw the Hurricanes even at 2-2.

“We had an excellent first and then grinded it out at the end,” said Tocchet. “We did a nice job protecting the guts of the ice and Demmer was good at the end. A good, all-round effort for us. They like to throw a lot of pucks at the end and we had a bend-but-don’t-break type of defence.

“It was a fast-paced game and little bit of a playoff atmosphere.”

OVERTIME — Hughes now owns another franchise record. With his first-period assist, the Canucks captain collected his 51st helper in his first 50 games of this season. That topped the team mark of 50 assists in 50 games held by Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

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