In Vancouver, the Canucks let a 3-1 lead get away from them in the third period when the Nashville Predators’ Luke Evangelista scored his first two career NHL goals to tie the game, 3-3, and force extra time.
The extra session settled nothing, and Elias Pettersson scored the only goal on penalties for the 4-3 win to the Canucks.
Pettersson scored his 30th goal of the campaign in regulation.
“That’s obviously something I’m very happy with,” Pettersson said.
He also has accumulated 300 career points.
Arturs Silovs made 29 saves in the Canucks win.
“I didn’t think we had our legs, but we hung in there,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “Some guys didn’t have their legs, but we grinded.”
Vancouver moved to 26-32-5, they are 5-2-1 in their last eight.
Pettersson’s regulation goal gave the Canucks a 1-0 first period lead.
“Obviously he didn’t have his great game, but he’s the type of guy he just needs one shot to win a game,” Tocchet said of Pettersson.
Nashville tied it, 1-1, 27 seconds later on a goal from Colton Sissons.
“I managed to get lost on the backside and just got a gift on the backdoor,” Sissons said. “It was very easy for me to put that one in, so I’ll take it.”
Nashville dropped to 31-23-7.
“We would have liked to get two [points], but in a tight playoff race, we’ll take any point we can get,” Evangelista said. “So, it was cool, the second one, to tie it up late, and it was a huge adrenaline rush. I was just happy to get the point.”
Vancouver reclaimed the lead midway in the first on a strike by Vasily Podkolzin
Dakota Joshua pushed the lead to 3-1 in the third period for the Canucks.
“That was really not an effort we were happy with, but wins have been hard to come by this year, so we’ll take it,” Joshua said.
Pettersson was the only striker in the skills competition.
“I tried to simplify my shootout and kind of wait to see what Saros is doing,” Pettersson said. “He’s beat me twice this season in the shootout, so I’m happy I got one on him.”
Juuse Saros made 26 saves in the Preds loss.
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