The Associated Press
DETROIT–Derek Dorsett has helped turn Vancouver’s first road trip of the season into a successful one.
Dorsett scored his fourth goal of the trip as the Canucks used a dominant second period to pull away for a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings last night.
“He’s been amazing for us,” said teammate Sven Baertschi. “He’s literally doing everything, and it’s fun seeing him scoring goals.
“Right now it’s just that feeling, whenever he has the puck and he’s going down and shooting, it’s just that feeling that that puck might go in.”
Baertschi scored twice for the Canucks while Jake Virtanen also tallied.
Vancouver scored three times in the second, outshooting the Red Wings 18-6 in the period.
The Canucks started the season with four home games and went 1-2-1. They’re 3-1 so far on this five-game trip.
Anthony Mantha netted the only goal for the Red Wings, tying it at 1-1 late in the first.
Detroit has lost four in a row, and coach Jeff Blashill didn’t mince words on a night his team was outshot 37-21.
“It was a brutal effort,” he said. “I thought it was an embarrassing effort, not even close to the level of competitiveness you have to have.
“We should be embarrassed of ourselves, from me at the top all the way on down,” he stressed.
“We got outcompeted, outworked, outdetailed.”
Dorsett was coming off a two-goal game Friday night in Buffalo.
“This is obviously a great feeling,” Dorsett said.
“The boys are enjoying reminding me about what is happening, and that’s been fun.”
Detroit had only one power play, which came in the latter half of the third period.
“We didn’t have the puck early so when you don’t have the puck, it’s hard to attract penalties,” Blashill said.
“We were late on every forecheck, we turned pucks over, we didn’t win any battles in our ‘D’ zone.
“Whenever we did have the puck, it seemed like we threw it away,” he added.
No other NHL games were scheduled last night.
