Pettersson, Canucks recover for shootout win against Predators

VANCOUVER -- Elias Pettersson scored his 30th goal of the season and the shootout winner in the third round for the Vancouver Canucks in a 4-3 victory against the Nashville Predators at Rogers Arena on Monday.

Pettersson also got his 300th NHL point (127 goals, 173 assists) in 306 games, making him the second-fastest player to reach the milestone in Canucks history behind Pavel Bure (246 games) and just ahead of Alexander Mogilny (307).
"That's obviously something I'm very happy with," Pettersson said.

Arturs Silovs made 29 saves for Vancouver (26-32-5), which is 5-2-1 in its past eight games.
"I didn't think we had our legs, but we hung in there," Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "Some guys didn't have their legs, but we grinded."
Luke Evangelista's first two NHL goals tied it in the third period, and Juuse Saros made 26 saves for Nashville (31-23-7), which lost for just the second time in seven games (5-1-1).
The Predators are five points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"We would have liked to get two [points], but in a tight playoff race, we'll take any point we can get," Evangelista said. "So, it was cool, the second one, to tie it up late, and it was a huge adrenaline rush. I was just happy to get the point."
Evangelista, who was robbed in tight by Silovs on a backdoor chance late in the first period, scored his first NHL goal in his fourth game on a rush rebound at 8:31 of the third to cut it to 3-2, then deflected Tyson Barrie's slap shot with 3:05 left to tie it 3-3.
"A lot of shock. Pretty big relief," Evangelista said. "I had a lot of chances and I just wasn't able to bury [them], so to finally see one go in the net was a big relief. It was pretty calming."

Pettersson gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 4:28 of the first period with a wrist shot over Saros' glove-side shoulder from outside the left dot.
"Obviously he didn't have his great game, but he's the type of guy he just needs one shot to win a game," Tocchet said of Pettersson.
Colton Sissons tied it 1-1 at 4:55. After Cole Smith deflected Jeremy Lauzon's shot off the post, it bounced out to the other side and left Sissons with an open net.
"I managed to get lost on the backside and just got a gift on the backdoor," Sissons said. "It was very easy for me to put that one in, so I'll take it."
Vasily Podkolzin gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead when he redirected a Kyle Burroughs point shot at 10:56.
Dakota Joshua made it 3-1 at 5:43 of the third from between the circles after a backhand feed from Nils Aman.
"That was really not an effort we were happy with, but wins have been hard to come by this year, so we'll take it," Joshua said.
In the shootout, Pettersson skated in slowly before shooting quickly under Saros' right pad.
"I tried to simplify my shootout and kind of wait to see what Saros is doing," Pettersson said. "He's beat me twice this season in the shootout, so I'm happy I got one on him."

NOTES: Defenseman Quinn Hughes became the first defenseman in Canucks history to have multiple 60-point seasons. … Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers played 21:36 in his 900th NHL game. … Predators forward Michael McCarron, who was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League earlier Monday, played 9:28 in place of forward Philip Tomasino, who skated in the morning but did not play after sustaining an undisclosed injury against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. … Nashville forward Filip Forsberg missed his 11th straight game with an upper body injury but skated Monday morning in a non-contact jersey and is considered day to day.