Buium, Demko lead Canucks to 2-1 win over Devils as post-Hughes era begins

/ Uncategorized / By

Zeev Buium had a goal and an assist in his Vancouver Canucks debut, leading his new team to a 2-1 win over the host New Jersey Devils in NHL action Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Buium, along with Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, were picked up by the Canucks in a blockbuster trade for Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes on Friday.

Jake DeBrusk had the other goal for the Canucks (12-17-3), with Thatcher Demko sharp in making 25 saves for the goaltending win. Quinn’s brother Luke Hughes scored for the Devils (18-14-1). Former Canuck Jacob Markstrom stopped 13 of 15 shots and took the loss in goal.

DeBrusk opened the scoring just 61 seconds into the game on the power play, knocking home his own rebound in front of Markstrom. It was DeBrusk’s first goal in 11 games and ninth of the season. Eight of those have come with the man advantage.

Buium made it 2-0 at 6:48, when he flipped the puck toward the net and it banked in off a Devils defender. Buium now has four goals on the year.

Shots on goal after 20 minutes favoured the Canucks, 8-5.

The Devils pulled within 2-1 four minutes into the second period, when Hughes took a nice drop pass from Jesper Bratt and beat Demko glove-side from the slot.

New Jersey outshot Vancouver 13-6 in the middle period.

The Devils again carried the play in the third (outshooting Vancouver 8-1) and pulled Markstrom in favour of an extra attacker with two minutes to play but were unable to beat Demko.

Vancouver visits the New York Rangers on Tuesday (4 p.m.).

NOTES: Buium will wear No. 24 with the Canucks, while Rossi sports 93 and Ohgren 92… Rossi won nine of 15 faceoffs and played more than 18 minutes… Buium is the first defenceman in franchise history to record multiple points in the first period of his Canucks debut, and only the third overall to record multiple points in his first Vancouver game…. Demko picked up an assist on Buium’s goal… Vancouver was still without injured forward Elias Pettersson, who is now on injured reserve… The Canucks were 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Devils were 0-for-3.

READ MORE: Wild NHL trade: Canucks deal captain Quinn Hughes to Minnesota