Boeser breaks tie in 3rd to lift Canucks past Maple Leafs

VANCOUVER -- Brock Boeser scored the go-ahead power-play goal at 8:56 of the third period for the Vancouver Canucks in a 2-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Thatcher Demko left midway through the first period and did not return after the Canucks goalie stopped all six shots he faced.

Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet didn’t think the injury to Demko was serious.

"It was just something happened during the game,” Tocchet said. "I don't think it's that serious. I don't know from early reports. It's not the knee. We don't have to have you guys speculate ... I don't think it's as serious, but we'll see.”

Demko was replaced by Kevin Lankinen, who made 21 saves, including a sprawling glove save on Auston Matthews on a Toronto power play with 1:57 left in the third period.

“It’s a great challenge,” said Lankinen, who will represent Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20. “I always embrace it, just get tossed into the fire and kind of come out with a tan from it, so that's how I think about it.”

Filip Hronek had a goal and assist for the Canucks (26-18-11), who have won three in a row and six of eight (6-1-1) despite missing top defenseman Quinn Hughes the past four because of an undisclosed injury.

“We've been playing great, really tight defensively,” Lankinen said. “We don't give up much, everybody is buying in, and we're a good five-man unit out there, and obviously when we get our captain (Hughes) back we’ll be even more dangerous.”

Morgan Rielly scored, and Joseph Woll made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs (33-20-2), who had won three in a row and six of nine (6-3-0).

“It's a pretty tight game, comes down to the wire, and their goalie made a great save at the end to keep them up by one,” Woll said. “Both teams played well.”

Toronto finished 3-1-0 on a four-game road trip.

“If you look at the road trip as a whole, it's a positive,” Rielly said. “This would have been great to end it off on a high note going into the (4 Nations Face-Off) break. Didn't happen that way but it's a good trip all around. We just missed out on making it great.”

Hronek gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 7:00 of the first period, pinching down from the right point and one-touching a cross-ice backdoor pass from center Elias Pettersson along the left point boards up over Woll’s glove.

"‘Petey’ did a great job of selling it too,” Tocchet said. “He looked somewhere else. The Leafs kind of looked where they thought he was going to pass. That's a high-level play, that got things going, really got the crowd going.”

Rielly tied it 1-1 with six seconds left in the second period, beating a screened Lankinen far side along the ice from the right face-off dot four seconds after a Toronto power play expired. The goal was the first in 14 games dating back to Jan. 5 for Rielly, who was playing in his hometown.

“It's fun but ultimately the result is all that really matters,” Rielly said.

Hronek helped put the Canucks back ahead 2-1 nearly midway through the third after hustling to keep the puck in at the left point and whipping it across to Filip Chytil. He then passed it back to Boeser cutting through the slot for a low shot past the left pad of a screened Woll.

Hronek, who missed 21 games through mid-January with an upper-body injury and a lower-body procedure, has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games despite missing Hughes, his usual defense partner, in four of them.

“Being out two months, he was a little rusty,” Tocchet said, “But I think he's getting some really good traction … [Heck] of a pass on that power play."

Vancouver finished 1-for-2 on the power play. Toronto was 0-for-2 despite pulling Woll to create a 6-on-4 for the final 50 seconds of the late power play.

“Special teams,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said when asked what the difference was in the game. “I thought it was a competitive game, fast game, they got a power play goal, and we had a chance at the end, and we didn't get it.”

NOTES: Matthews assisted on Rielly’s goal, extending his point streak to four games (seven assists). … Rielly, who extended his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists), scored his 86th goal in the NHL, tying Hap Day for fourth most by a defenseman in Maple Leafs history. … Boeser’s goal was his 197th in the NHL, moving into a tie with Thomas Gradin for ninth in Canucks history.