Pettersson pots milestone as Canucks edge Predators in a 4-3 shootout
VANCOUVER — Elias Pettersson scored the shootout winner Monday as his Vancouver Canucks held off the Nashville Predators for a 4-3 victory.
Pettersson, Vasily Podkolzin and Dakota Joshua scored for the Canucks (26-32-5) in regulation.
Luke Evangelista had a pair of goals for the Predators (31-23-7), while Colton Sissons also found the back of the net and Jeremy Lauzon contributed a pair of assists.
Rookie Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs stopped 29-of-32 shots and improved to 3-2-0 in his brief NHL career.
Juuse Saros made 26 saves for Nashville, who are halfway through a six-game road swing.
Pettersson put a shot through Saros’ legs in the third round of the shootout before Silovs denied Tommy Novak to seal the win.
Pettersson nearly ended the game 59 seconds into overtime, sending a backhanded shot off the post.
An unfortunate clearing attempt helped Nashville level the score at 3-3 late in the third period.
Vancouver defenceman Guillaume Brisebois tried to shovel the puck out of the Canucks’ zone and instead put it on the tape of Predators defenceman Tyson Barrie. The blue liner sent a blast flying from above the faceoff circle and Evangelista tipped it in for his second goal of the game at the 16:55 mark.
Evangelista bit into the Canucks’ advantage 8:31 into the third, collecting a rebound off Kiefer Sherwood’s shot and delivering it into the back of Vancouver’s net to make it 3-2 with his first NHL goal.
The 21-year-old Toronto native was playing his fourth NHL game.
Joshua gave Vancouver a two-goal cushion 5:43 into the final period.
Nils Aman dashed into Nashville territory and sent a back pass to Joshua in the slot. The bruising Canucks forward put a wrist shot through the legs of Predators D-man Ryan McDonagh for his ninth goal of the season.
The second proved to be a goalless battle between the two netminders.
Saros stymied Vancouver’s Andrei Kuzmenko 16:40 into the period, stretching the width of the net to get an improbable stick on the Russian winger’s wrist shot from in tight.
At the other end of the ice, Silovs dove out of his crease 8:03 into the frame to smother a blast from Nashville’s Matt Duchene.
Podkolzin gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead midway through the opening frame.
Kyle Burroughs unleashed a long bomb from inside the blue line and Podkolzin, stationed in the slot, deflected it up and over Saros’ blocker 10:56 into the first.
The Predators levelled the score at 1-1 just 4:55 into the game.
Jeremy Lauzon fired a shot from the top of the circle and Cole Smith tipped it, sending the puck ricocheting off the post. The rebound hit Silovs in the skate before Sissons tapped it into the yawning net from the top of the crease for his 11th goal of the year.
Twenty-four seconds earlier, Pettersson got the Canucks on the scoreboard.
The Swedish centre collected a pass from Kuzmenko and waited patiently at the faceoff dot for his moment before ripping a blistering shot up and over Saros’ shoulder 4:31 into the first period.
The goal – Pettersson’s 30th of the season – marked his 300th regular-season NHL point. It came in his 306th career game, making him the second-fastest player in Canucks’ history to achieve the feat behind only Pavel Bure (246).
Both sides struggled on the power play. Vancouver went 0-for-3 with the man advantage and Nashville was 0-for-1.
Silovs was called up from the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks on an emergency basis after goalie Collin Delia was sidelined with a non-COVID illness.
Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers played his 900th regular-season NHL game. Drafted 12th overall by the Sabres in 2008, the 33-year-old blue liner has registered 88 goals and 248 assists over 15 seasons with stints in Buffalo, Winnipeg and Vancouver.