Canucks rally to down Kraken, 6-5, on skills

In Vancouver, the Canucks’ season seemed to be hanging in the balance on Thursday night.

The visiting Seattle Kraken held a 4-2 lead after the second period, and held a 4-3 lead in the third, the Canucks rallied with three goals to tie it and force extra time, which solved nothing.

Elias Pettersson, who had a double in regulation, and five points, hit for the game-winner on penalties for a 6-5 win for the Canucks.

Pettersson forced the extra session when he tied the game with 80 seconds left in the third.

“I was getting a little exhausted at first, but just trying to find the energy somewhere,” Pettersson said. “It’s a great feeling, but on the other side we score five goals but also let in five goals. We got to get better in that aspect.”

Pettersson had not played in six days.

“I don’t think you guys realize how much of an anomaly that is being off the six days and then coming and playing that great,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It defied logic.”

Spencer Martin made 31 saves in the Vancouver win.

“There’s no quit in the room, that’s for sure,” Vancouver forward J.T. Miller said. “It’s mentally brutal and taxing to have to come from behind all the time. We’d totally rather have the lead, but [it] seems when we’re down a couple, we play really good.”

The Canucks improved to 14-15-3.

Seattle took a 1-0 lead when Martin cleared his crease expecting a dump and chase fr the Kraken, Jared McCann scored on the error.

“I was cheating on the rim, and I haven’t caught myself doing that before but it happened,” Martin said. “The blooper goal at the beginning, [stinks] to be on that end of it, but time and time again, this team has battled to keep me in games.”

Lane Pederson sent the game to the middle frame tied, 1-1, for the Canucks.

Oliver Bjorkstrand and Daniel Sprong scored 10 seconds apart in the middle frame for a 3-1 lead to the Kraken.

“We’re here to win a hockey game and we didn’t do that, so that’s disappointing,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said when asked about his scoring depth. “We’ll look at not only line combinations, but exactly what we did in the third period, and there’s a couple of things we have to do better. We have to do better when we’ve got a two-goal lead. That’s a game we should be able to close out.”

Seattle dropped to 18-10-3.

Pettersson and Seattle’s Alex Wennberg traded goals to send the game to the third wot the Kraken up, 4-2.

“He’s one of the best players in the League,” Martin said. “His impact right away showed. It’s not just the points and goals, but he’s an anchor in the [defensive] zone as well.”