Centre Elias Pettersson scored his fourth goal in five games, helping the Vancouver Canucks to a convincing 6-2 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.
Quinn Hughes, Tyler Myers, Conor Garland, Nils Aman and Pius Suter also scored for Vancouver (31-24-11), while Alex Vlasic and Wyatt Kaiser replied for the Blackhawks (20-38-9). Goalie Arturs Silovs made 17 saves to earn his second win of the year for Vancouver, while Arvid Soderblom allowed all six Vancouver goals on just 15 shots in absorbing the loss.
With the win, the Canucks moved two points up on the Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues in the battle for the final wildcard spot in the NHLB次元官网网址檚 Western Conference.
Petey shot = GOOD GOAL.
B次元官网网址� Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks)
That's goals in three straight games for Elias Pettersson鉂楋笍
Canucks captain Hughes opened the scoring at the 17:46 mark of the first period with his 15th goal of the year, walking in from the left point and firing a shot from the faceoff circle past Soderblom. Just 35 seconds later, Myers scored his fifth of the season, taking a drop pass from Kiefer Sherwood and scoring from close to the same spot as Hughes.
Garland made it 3-0 eight minutes into the middle frame, lifting a backhand past Soderblom after a nice give-and-go with Suter. Garland now has 17 goals for the year.
Vlasic got Chicago on the board late in the period, floating a point shot past a screened Silovs.
Early in the third, Pettersson upped the lead to 4-1, firing a shot just under the crossbar for his 15th goal of the year. Play actually continued for a short time as the puck quickly went in and out of the net and VancouverB次元官网网址檚 Nils Hoglander then fired another shot past Soderblom. After a replay, PetterssonB次元官网网址檚 goal was confirmed.
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Chicago pulled within two shortly thereafter, when Kaiser beat Silovs high to the glove side.
Midway through the period, Aman made it 5-2, scoring his first of the season after Teddy Blueger won a race to a loose puck behind the Chicago net, sending it in front to Sherwood, who found a wide-open Aman.
Eight seconds later off the ensuing faceoff, Suter finished off a nice three-way passing play with Garland and Dakota Joshua. Suter now has 18 goals on the year.
Vancouver is back in action Sunday night, when they host the Utah Hockey Club (5 p.m.).
"Every point matters now. Sure helps playing in front of these fans. We'll try to keep it up."
B次元官网网址� Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks)
馃棧 First star Elias Pettersson on ice-level with Rinkside Reporter Olivia McDonald after recording two points in the win over the Blackhawks.
NOTES: Both teams were scoreless on the power play, with Vancouver going 0-for-2 and the Blackhawks 0-for-3B次元官网网址� Chicago defenceman Artyom Levshunov, the second overall pick in the 2024 NHL entry draft, picked up his firsrt career point with an assist on KaiserB次元官网网址檚 goalB次元官网网址� Chicago centre Connor Bedard, a B.C. product, picked up a misconduct penalty for the second straight game after a mild tussle with VancouverB次元官网网址檚 Filip Hronek late in the gameB次元官网网址� VancouverB次元官网网址檚 Filip Chytil left the game after taking a hit from behind near the boards from former Canuck Jason Dickinson.
