Canucks 4, Capitals 2: Elias Pettersson’s pair drives pivotal win in Washington

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It had to happen sooner or later.

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For all the looks, posts and crossbars, and all those shots that went wide to go with the ones he never got away with as he moved from line to line and center to wing, the sight of Elias Pettersson pulling the trigger on a game of power in the second period. Sunday afternoon in Washington, DC was more than encouraging.

Exciting test.

And when Pettersson followed in the same frame by putting in his own rebound against goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov, a backhand shot from a sharp angle and below the goal line, the courage to continue and the creativity to find the other side was like a giant weight slipping. from the shoulders of the Swede.

In Pettersson’s first multi-goal game since last February, doubt and indecision were replaced by confidence and he finished to power through a rare 4-2 victory over the Capitals. It showed in his first effort when he moved to the inside to get a better shooting angle before hitting the post and inside. He would finish with four shots and six attempts.

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Here’s what we learned most as the Vancouver Canucks outscored the Washington Capitals for the third time in the last 11 meetings (3-7-1) and improved to win 1-3-0 on a tough five-game road trip:

The power play has a day

Bruce Boudreau put it bluntly.

If the Canucks were going to have any success on the power play (they went 0-for-12 this trip on 16 shots before Sunday), they had to get away with being a Harlem Globetrotters version of the special teams game by stringing together multiple passes. . before finally shooting.

“It’s like everything else,” the Canucks coach said. “When you’re not doing as well as you want, you simplify things and make them easy. Bring the disk to the flanks and nose and shoot it. We can be as cute as we want and as elegant as we want.

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“But if you don’t throw the puck, you’re never going to score. We have to put them in the network and win battles and have the will and the desire to do it.”

Bo Horvat got the message.

The Canucks captain got into bumper slot position, took a fast forward from JT Miler and fired a high shot off the post late in the second period to provide a 3-1 lead and a 2 score. For 2.

Demko bends not breaks

Thatcher Demko soon discovered how heavy and accurate Alex Oveckhin can throw the puck.

Midway through the first period, the winger fired a 100 mph shot from his shooting sweet spot through the Canucks’ starter to open the scoring. To Demko’s credit, he adjusted and stopped Ovechkin twice in the second period sequence: the first in tight and the second in a 3-on-1 break. He then thwarted the winger twice on a third-period foray.

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Ovechkin would finish with seven shots and nine attempts.

It was Tom Wilson’s third-period power play effort from the slot that came off Tyler Myers and found the other side that made it 3-2 nail-biter before Miller bagged the empty net to seal the deal. .

Demko had to be up bright and early as the capitals were in an uproar. A Pettersson fumble in the slot forced Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov to save before Orlov fired Demko’s mask. The starter was also forced to make a big save with the left pad to thwart a breakaway from Daniel Sprong as he sliced ​​past the crease.

One of Demko’s toughest saves came from former Canuck center Nik Dowd, who lost the handle on a run to the net and forced the stopper to quickly close the wickets.

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Chiasson enters, Garland leaves

One inside and one outside.

Alex Chiasson returned to the Canucks’ lineup from the COVID-19 protocol, just as Conor Garland was added to the National Hockey League’s growing roster Sunday of those affected by the aggressive variant of the Omicron virus.

The lineup dance saw Nils Hoglander, who received an assist for his second point in 11 games, line up with Horvat and Pettersson, while Miller worked between Tanner Pearson and Brock Boeser. Juho Lammikko crossed Tyler Motte and Matthew Highmore while Chiasson lined up with Vasily Podkolzin and Chiasson.

those were the days

The Canucks’ latest victory in Washington was memorable on several fronts.

In a morning session on 23 November 2019, Horvat scored the only goal in seven rounds of a penalty shootout to provide a 2–1 comeback victory. One day a hard hit from Ovechkin sidelined Alex Edler with an upper-body injury, Pettersson forced overtime and Jacob Markstrom finished with 32 saves. Ovechkin remained off the scoresheet despite seven shots.

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