The Canucks’ Mikheyev-Pettersson-Lafferty line was working once again for the Hockey Night in Canada game.
Their line filled the stat sheet, combining for seven points – Mikheyev (1g, 1a), Pettersson (1g, 2a), and Lafferty (1g, 1a). They surpassed last Saturday’s outing where the line had a total of six points – each with one goal and one assist.
Vancouver led for most of the game, but the Hurricanes kept the pressure on and never let the game get too far out of reach.
Pettersson got the go-ahead goal in the third period, capitalizing on great reads by him and Mikheyev.
“Lafferty makes a good play getting the puck in then Hronek shoots. Mik gets it's on the half wall. I saw him cycle and I just tried to create space for myself and then do the wraparound. I’m glad it went in,” he said.
“We're trying to build for something long term obviously and every game is different. Today it was a very tough game almost like a playoff game and we're happy with it,” Pettersson said.
To bring the game home in the third period, Head Coach Rick Tocchet said the team was disciplined, taking no penalties in the final frame and made every shift count. He noted few times in the last period his players stayed out for a shift too long.
“That third period I went to three lines, and the guys are taking 30-second shifts. I thought that was a key, that was unselfish of the team to do that,” Tocchet said.
“They're a good team. They full-court pressed us and I thought we held up pretty good. Then when we didn't, Demmer was there for us.”
Game Recap
Lafferty broke open the scoring for the Canucks in the first period off a rebound from Elias Pettersson’s shot.
In the second, Ilya Mikheyev held his position in the crease against Martin Necas, Pettersson fed him a cross-ice pass and Mikheyev tapped it in.
