Associated Press – Page 6

Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson (40) checks St. Louis Blues left wing Pavel Buchnevich (89) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Le)

By WARREN MAYES Associated Press

February 23, 2023

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Elias Pettersson had 10 shots. He connected on the last one.

Pettersson scored 4:45 into overtime, and the Vancouver Canucks rallied for a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.

“I felt good, but the puck wouldn’t find the way in until the last shot I guess so I’m happy with that,” he said.

Pettersson picked up his 28th goal when he beat goalie Jordan Binnington with a wrist shot.

“I had some ice to work with so I tried to get as much speed as possible,” Pettersson said. “I was thinking of going towards the inside but he covered that so I thought I’d try to shoot far and it went in.”

Coach Rick Tocchet, who was hired Jan. 22 after Bruce Boudreau was let go, was impressed.

“That was a laser,” Tocchet said. “He’s got an all-world shot. He had a lot of chances in the game.”

St. Louis led 2-0 before Miller scored his 20th goal 9:08 into the third, and Kuzmenko tied it on his 27th in the final minute.

“A lot of our best players not doing the job,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “I guess they don’t care about the team, I don’t know. Not sure why.”

Rookie Tyler Tucker scored his first career goal for the Blues, and Alexey Toropchenko had a short-handed goal. Binnington made 38 saves.

“Obviously it’s nice to be rewarded,” Tucker said about scoring his first goal. “Two points would’ve been better.”

Vancouver rookie Arturs Silovs had 20 stops in his third career NHL start.

Vancouver had a goal disallowed in the first period. Miller scored on a delayed penalty at 14:27, but it was waved off after St. Louis challenged for goaltender interference.

The Blues scored a short-handed goal when Toropchenko beat Silovs on a breakaway at 15:29. Pavel Buchnevich intercepted a pass and fed the streaking Toropechenko for his fifth of the season.

“That game was like, I don’t know what to say, but it’s like frustrating me. I don’t know. It’s really bad,” Toropchenko said. “I am trying to do everything that I can every game, and I am just wishing and hoping everybody on the same page. But it’s not good enough. I am so upset.”

St. Louis went up 2-0 on a wrist shot by Tucker at 6:45 of the second. The Canucks challenged the play, arguing the goal was scored on a high stick by Ivan Barbashev, but the original call stood. Barbashev got his 100th career assist.

Miller scored a short-handed goal on a wrist shot. He has 11 points in his last 10 games.

“All these games are important. We’ve got guys fighting for jobs,” Miller said. “We’ve got guys trying to prove something to the new coach. We didn’t get frustrated. We’ve scored a lot of 6 on 5 goals. That says a lot about our team. We’re never out of it.”

ICE CHIPS

St. Louis forwards Brandon Saad (upper body) and Pavel Buchnevich (lower body) returned to the lineup. It was Saad’s first game since Feb. 14. Buchnevich got hurt Saturday against Colorado. … The Blues assigned forward Matthew Highmore to the minors to make room for Saad’s return. … C Aatu Raty, who was acquired from the Islanders in the Bo Horvat trade, made his Canucks debut.

UP NEXT

Canucks: Host Boston on Saturday.

Blues: Host Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Vancouver Canucks right wing Conor Garland (8) scores against Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) during the third period. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)

2022.23

By Associated Press February 21, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Matt Duchene scored the only goal in the shootout as the Nashville Predators held off the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Vancouver tied it twice when trailing by two goals, the last with two goals about 50 seconds apart in the final 1:06 of regulation. Conor Garland made it a one-goal game, and Andrei Kuzmenko tied it with his second goal of the night with 15.4 seconds left.

Duchene beat goalie Collin Delia as Nashville’s second shooter, and he improved to 4 of 5 in shootouts this season. Goalie Juuse Saros stopped Kuzmenko, J.T. Miller and Elias Petterson for the win.

“When you get to four, you’ve got to be able to close out the game,” Nashville coach John Hynes said. “They had some breaks. They did a good job, too. I think on the six-on-five, we had multiple shot blocks, couldn’t get the clear on it. Guys were exhausted. They wound up making a good play.”

Cole Smith, Philip Tomasino, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund each had a goal for Nashville, winners of two of its last three. The Predators also took the season series at 2-0 — both in shootouts — with one game left in Vancouver on March 6.

“There’s a lot of areas we got to be better,” Niederreiter said. “But we found a way to win the game, which is all that matters right now.”

Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Sheldon Dries also had a goal for Vancouver, which has lost four of five. Pettersson had an assist in his 300th career game.

Miller said he thought the Canucks outplayed Nashville much of the game.

“Once you get past the end of regulation, it’s kind of a crapshoot from that point,” Miller said.

Smith put Nashville up 1-0 at 4:38 of the first period, tapping the puck in from the side of the net. Tomasino made it 2-0 on the power play at 7:57 of the second with his first goal since being called up to replace Filip Forsberg, out with an upper-body injury since Feb. 11.

Kuzmenko beat Saros over his glove at 12:47 of the second on the breakaway off a turnover by Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm for his third straight game with a goal. Kuzmenko extended his points streak to four games.

Vancouver tied it at 2 when Dries tapped in a puck Saros thought he had stopped before the net came off the pegs with 22 seconds left in the second. Nashville retook the lead 12 seconds later as Niederreiter got his 16th on a backhander past Delia.

Granlund provided what appeared to be the game-winner with a backhander at the left side of the net at 7:44 of the third before Vancouver’s final push.

INJURY ALERT

Predators center Ryan Johansen was helped to the locker room late in the second after Hughes’ skate appeared to clip the back of his right leg. Johansen left the arena on crutches with his right foot in a boot, putting no weight on that leg.

“It didn’t look good,” Hynes said. “I know that he got cut.”

PROTECTING SCHENN

The Canucks made defenseman Luke Schenn a healthy scratch, sending him back to Vancouver in advance of the March 3 trade deadline.

“It’s the world we live in right now, in that trade deadline world,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I talked to Luke today. Guy’s a great pro. I was talking to J.T. about this, around the trade deadline, a lot of weird things happen. Other teams are going through the same thing.”

HALL OF FAME SURPRISE

Former Nashville captain Mike Fisher was surprised during the first intermission with the announcement he will be inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in July. He retired after the 2017 run to the Stanley Cup Final before coming back in January 2018 as Nashville won its first Presidents’ Trophy.

UP NEXT

Canucks: At St. Louis on Thursday night.

Predators: At San Jose on Thursday night.