Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists for the visiting Calgary Flames in a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

Rasmus Andersson had a goal and an assist, and Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau also scored. Dan Vladar made 23 saves for the Flames, who stretched their lead in the Pacific Division to eight points with 20 games left.

Matthew Highmore and Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who have lost four of five to dim their playoff hopes. Thatcher Demko allowed four goals on 29 shots over two periods before he was replaced by Jaroslav Halak, who made 14 saves.

The Flames built a 3-0 lead against Demko in the first period.

Hanifin gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 4:45 after Calle Jarnkrok made a diagonal pass to him coming through the neutral zone. Hanifin brought the puck into the left circle before scoring with a wrist shot on the near side.

Jarnkrok, acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, recorded his first point with Calgary.

The Flames made it 2-0 at 7:46 when Mikael Backlund sent a pass into the middle from along the boards. Tkachuk stopped the puck at the inside edge of the left circle before turning and firing it past Demko.

Andersson scored his third goal of the season to extend the lead to 3-0 at 13:51.

Dillon Dube brought the puck into the Vancouver zone on a rush, passed it to Tkachuk on his right. He left the puck for a trailing Andersson, who skated in and scored from the right circle for the 100th point of his NHL career.

Lindholm scored his 31st goal of the season at 4:29 of the second period to make it 4-0.

Halak replaced Demko to start the third period and Gaudreau scored a power-play goal at 6:28 to make it 5-0.

The Canucks scored twice in the final eight minutes to deny Vladar his third shutout of the season.

Highmore scored at 7:37 to make it 5-1, and Boeser scored a power-play goal at .17:14 to cut it to 5-2.

--Field Level Media