Zeev Buium had a goal and an assist in the first period of his debut for the Vancouver Canucks, who defeated the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Sunday in Newark, N.J.
He was the first defenseman in Canucks history to record a multi-point opening period with the team.
Vancouver acquired Buium and forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren from the Minnesota Wild on Friday in a trade that sent captain Quinn Hughes the other way.
Conor Garland had two assists for the Canucks, who won for just the third time in their past 12 games (3-8-1). Thatcher Demko made 25 saves.
Luke Hughes scored and Jacob Markstrom made 13 saves for the Devils, who had won two of three.
Jake DeBrusk gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead on the power play at 1:01 of the first period when he collected his own rebound and chipped it over Markstrom’s left pad.
Buium made it 2-0 with another power-play tally at 6:48. He took a pass from Garland to the left circle and sent it toward the back door of the crease, where New Jersey defenseman Brenden Dillon inadvertently redirected it into his own net.
Hughes cut the deficit in half at 4:02 of the second period. Jesper Bratt sent a short backhand feed to Hughes in the slot and, with Luke Glendening screening Demko, the defenseman fired a wrist shot that beat the netminder blocker side.
The Canucks came within inches of restoring their two-goal lead just eight seconds later when Rossi hit the post glove side, but then the Devils started to push the pace and control the play.
New Jersey pressured with less than six minutes to go in the second, keeping Vancouver stuck in its defensive zone for nearly two minutes.
The Canucks had four shots on goal in the period just more than seven minutes into the frame but didn’t get their fifth until nearly three minutes left.
The Devils outshot the Canucks 13-6 in the second period and 8-1 in the third.
–Field Level Media
