#LGRW Final: Red Wings beat Canucks, 3-1, for first win of 2021-22 season

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings, playing without their captain and coming off a tough loss on Thursday, bounced back with a complete performance as they got their first victory of the 2021-22 season, a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.
Thomas Greiss made 40 saves in his first start of the season as he notched the victory, while Filip Zadina, Robby Fabbri and Sam Gagner each scored their first goals of 2021-22 as the Red Wings improved their record to 1-0-1 (3 points).

Conor Garland scored the lone goal for the Canucks, who saw their record fall to 1-1-1 (3 points), and Jaroslav Halak made 18 saves in the losing effort.

Captain Dylan Larkin missed Saturday's game as he served a one-game suspension after he was ejected from Thursday's game after taking a match penalty by punching Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph in retaliation for a hit along the boards.
The Red Wings got the scoring started at just over the midway point of the first period as Marc Staal took a wrist shot from just outside the circle that was deflected perfectly by Fabbri into the top corner of the net past the glove of Halak to make it 1-0.

As the game moved into the second period, Garland evened things at 1-1 at the 4:56 mark as he took a shot from a bad angle, right along the goal line, and snuck the puck up high off the back of the mask of Griess.
After the Canucks took a penalty just a minute after the goal from Garland, Detroit wasted no time answering. Forty-six seconds into the power play, Zadina was stationed in the circle and fired a one-timer past Halak to give the Wings the lead again, 2-1.
Greiss had the save of the night late in the second as he made a phenomenal glove stop as he went post-to-post to thwart Nils Hoglander as he tried to finish a 2-on-1 break.

With just 2:31 left in the third period, the Canucks thought they tied the game, but the goal was waived off as the officials said Hoglander interfered with Greiss. Greiss followed that up by robbing Bo Horvat right on the doorstep with 1:56 remaining in the game.
Gagner put the game away for good with an empty-net goal, giving the Red Wings a hard-fought victory.
Moritz Seider notched his third assist of the season, while Filip Hronek and Tyler Bertuzzi also found the scoresheet with their first assists of the season.