Elias Pettersson scored two goals, including the winner, as the host Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Monday night.
Pettersson, a 19-year-old Swedish rookie, notched the second two-goal game of his seven-game NHL career. With a team-leading seven goals on the season, he is scoring at a goal-per-game clip.
Despite missing several players due to injuries, the Canucks picked up their first win in three games. The Wild saw their win streak end at five games.
Pettersson's first goal, on a one-timer off a Michael Del Zotto pass at 6:51 of the second period, gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead.
He scored his second goal on a breakaway at 6:29 of the third. Pettersson blocked Matt Dumba's shot near the Vancouver blue line and took a lead pass from Brock Boeser to put Vancouver ahead 4-2.
Markus Granlund, Jake Virtanen and Ben Hutton, with an empty-netter in the final minute, also scored for the Canucks.
Jordan Greenway, with his first career NHL goal, and Ryan Suter tallied for the Wild.
Minnesota was hampered by a lack of productivity on the power play, converting just one of five man-advantage opportunities. The Canucks were good on one of four.
Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 37 of 39 shots for the win, Minnesota netminder Devan Dubnyk blocked 26 of 30.
Granlund opened the scoring 7:17 into the game as he fired in Bo Horvat's pass from behind the net while left alone in front.
Greenway drew the Wild even only 35 seconds later by jamming in a rebound. He made a successful return to the NHL after posting a hat trick Sunday for Iowa of the American Hockey League, where he was sent for a two-game stint intended to get him to shoot more.
Virtanen gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead on a power play 5:15 of the second period. He caught Dubnyk going the wrong way on a slap shot from the blue line. Pettersson doubled the lead less than two minutes later.
The goals came on Vancouver's first two shots of the period.
Suter pulled Minnesota within one goal on a power play at 14:37 of the middle frame. He took a pass from Mikael Granlund, the brother of Vancouver's Markus, and beat Markstrom with a long wrist shot through traffic.
The Canucks lost center Brandon Sutter to an undisclosed upper-body injury in the second period.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Vancouver | |
Jordan Greenway 1 | Points | Elias Pettersson 2 |
Jordan Greenway 1 | Goals | Elias Pettersson 2 |
Charlie Coyle 1 | Assists | Alex Biega 1 |
Ryan Suter 1 | Power Play Goals | Jake Virtanen 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Devan Dubnyk .867 | Save Percentage | Jacob Markstrom .949 |
Devan Dubnyk 26 | Saves | Jacob Markstrom 37 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Minnesota | 39 | 2 | 1-5 | 3-4 | 10 | 34 |
Vancouver | 31 | 5 | 1-4 | 4-5 | 12 | 31 |