Lotto Line Combines for Four Goals and Canucks Have a Four-Game Winning Streak on the Road

The Lotto Line popped off for four combined goals and that gave the Vancouver Canucks their fourth straight road win. 

Brock Boeser scored the first two goals for the Canucks and Elias Pettersson buried a pair as the Canucks were forced to bend but not break in the later stages of Thursday’s game. 

The Lotto Line of Boeser, Pettersson and J.T. Miller combined for nine points on the night with Pettersson being in on all four Canucks goals and finishing the night with a pair of goals and a matching two assists. 

“We have some chemistry from the past and we're just trying to work hard and rely on each other and see the play that's ahead of us [and] not try to complicate things,” said Pettersson of his line. “It's a very good start for our line but we have to keep going.”

Filip Hronek made a tremendous defensive play in overtime and then sent Pettersson in on a breakaway where he made a move and slipped the puck past Tristan Jarry, who replaced Alex Nedeljkovic after the first period.

Thatcher Demko made 32 saves on the night, including 13 in the third period. Demko was tested early in the third and made some huge saves as the third frame went along.

The Canucks killed off all four Penguins power plays including one in the final five minutes. They won the special teams battle as they scored once on their two power play attempts.

Head coach Rick Tocchet spoke about his team’s mentality heading into overtime after giving up the game-tying goal with under 30 seconds remaining.

“I think guys were disappointed, but we weren't hanging our heads,” said Tocchet. “It was a little bit of a coverage blown there but I think the reaction of the guys and stuff was like, ‘Hey let's go win the game,’ which was nice.”

Game Recap

The Lotto Line went to work early, and Brock Boeser scored his 26th goal of the season just 5:44 into the first period on a tap-in from a cross-ice pass off the stick of Elias Pettersson. J.T. Miller picked up the secondary assist, which completed the Lotto Line connection.

Boeser went back for more and scored his 27th of the season on a tip-in from a Miller shot on the power play. Pettersson snagged the secondary assist on the power play marker and that gave the Lotto Line even more points on the night.

The Pens bounced back with 3:40 remaining in the period on a Marcus Pettersson point shot that was heavily screened.

Elias Pettersson saw the other Pettersson scoring a goal and Elias wanted his own. He tipped in a point shot from Filip Hronek and gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

The Pens scored the one and only goal of the second period. Sidney Crosby scored during a two-on-one and cut the Canucks’ lead to one goal.

With the goalie pulled and in the final 30 seconds of the game, Crosby was able to get a deflection into the back of the net for his second goal of the game and we were off to overtime.

It was a back-and-forth overtime and Hronek defended a three-on-one to perfection before sending Elias Pettersson in on a breakaway. He made a deke before slipping the puck between Tristan Jarry’s five-hole and giving the Canucks a 4-3 win.

The Canucks now travel to Buffalo where they have an early game against the Sabres on Saturday. The game is scheduled for 1:00 pm PT and you can watch it on Sportsnet or listen to Brendan Batchelor do his thing over on Sportsnet 650 for the radio broadcast.