NEW YORK (AP) — Elias Pettersson scored twice in the third period and the Vancouver Canucks snapped a two-game skid with a 6-5 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Brock Boesser, Nils Aman and Anthony Beauvillier also scored for the Canucks. Collin Delia made 24 saves in the third game of a four-game trip to begin the second half of the season. J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes each had two assists.
“We’ve been close the previous two games, glad we found a way to get the win today,” Pettersson said. “We are trying to build here, but we can’t let in that many goals every game. We are changing our systems to play more aggressive and maybe it will take a while, but we are working to perfect it and play better as a unit.”
Bo Horvat, picked up in a trade with Vancouver at the end of January, Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, Mathew Barzal and Noah Dobson scored for the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin finished with 28 saves as the Islanders' four-game winning streak came to an end.
Pettersson fired a wrist shot under the glove of Sorokin at 8:28 to give the Canucks a 5-4 lead. He notched his first of the game on the power play, tying the score at 4 at 4:38 of the third. Pettersson's shot from the point glanced off Sorokin’s leg before crossing the goal line.
“We did a good job of staying with it,” Miller said. “Power play has been a little dry lately, not bad but hard time finding the net and to see a couple go in that meant a lot, that was big for the group.”
Beauvillier extended the Canucks lead to 6-4 late in the third period when he redirected Boeser’s shot at 16:58.
Dobson pulled the Islanders to within one goal at 19:11 of the third with a power-play goal.
Barzal and Horvat each scored in the middle frame to give New York a 4-2 advantage. Barzal converted a one-timer from the left face-off circle at 2:26, shortly after Horvat’s apparent power-play goal was waived off due to goaltender interference. Barzal extended his point streak to four games.
Horvat converted a one-timer at 15:13, when Barzal slipped a backhand pass into the slot.
Vancouver cut its two-goal deficit in half when Aman scored from near the top of the crease.
“The fourth line played well, they were grinding and they deserved that goal,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “ It picked our bench up.”
Vancouver and New York combined for four goals during a 3:29 stretch in the first period.
Palmieri notched his eighth of the season and opened the scoring with a wrist shot that rang off the post and in at 11:05 of the first.
The Canucks responded with two goals within 46 seconds. Sorokin struggled to pick up Ekman-Larsson’s fluttering shot from the point due to traffic in front as Vancouver evened the score.
Boesser buried a feed from Miller to give Vancouver a short-lived one-goal edge.
“I saw a lot, a lot of mistakes being made and a lot of individual turnovers,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “Twenty-three giveaways, you are not going to win a hockey game doing that. "
Nelson took advantage of Kyle Burroughs offensive zone turnover and sent a wrist shot over the glove of Delia, tying the score at 2. The Islanders alternate captain extended his point streak to nine games.
PRIDE NIGHT
The Islanders celebrated the LGBTQIA+ community with the team’s annual Pride Night at UBS Arena. Proceeds from fundraisers will to NY Gay Hockey Association and LGBT Network.
BEAUVILLIER RETURNS
Anthony Beauvillier returned to UBS arena for the first time since being dealt to the Canucks as part of a package in exchange for Horvat on Jan 30. The Islanders selected Beauvillier in the first round of the 2015 NHL draft, and his most memorable moment came when he scored an overtime goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning to force a Game 7 in the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals.
“I came here as a teenager and left as a man,” Beauvllier said before the game. “I owe everything to the organization and the guys in the locker room.”
UP NEXT:
Islanders: At Montreal on Saturday.
Canucks: At Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
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