Canucks stop skid with impressive win over Preds
Pettersson scores on penalty shot in Vancouver’s 5-3 victory over visiting Nashville
VANCOUVER (CP) — Rookie Elias Pettersson scored on his first NHL penalty shot as the Vancouver Canucks used a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
Pettersson was awarded the penalty shot with 71 seconds left in the second period after being hauled down on a breakaway by Nashville defenceman Mattias Ekholm. On the shot, Pettersson weaved his way across the ice, then tucked the puck past goaltender Pekka Renne’s toe for a 4-1 lead.
The 20-year-old Swede, picked fifth overall in the 2017 draft, leads all rookies with 14 goals and 25 points.
Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen each had a goal and assist for the Canucks, who have just two wins in their last 14 games (2-10-2).
Alex Edler, on a power play, and Loui Eriksson also scored for Vancouver (1216-3). Antoine Roussel had two assists. Nikolay Goldobin, a healthy scratch in Vancouver’s 3-2 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday, assisted on Edler’s goal, giving him a team-leading 13 assists.
Ryan Hartman, Colton Sissons and Matt Irwin scored for Nashville (19-9-1), which saw a two-game win streak end.
Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 shots. Rinne, making his sixth straight start, made 21 saves before being replaced to start the third period by Juuse Saros. He stopped four shots.
Eriksson made it 5-1 early in the third period, scoring his fifth of the season just one second after Nashville killed a penalty. It was Eriksson’s first point in 11 games.
It took Vancouver just 19 seconds to score on the game’s first power play after Austin Watson was called for holding. Edler took Goldobin’s pass and let got a shot from just inside the blue line that travelled through traffic and sailed past Rinne’s glove to open the scoring.