In the battle of stretch drive, pre-NHL Trade Deadline “sellers”, the Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in overtime, which moves the Blues just a little bit closer to winning the NHL Draft Lottery, while nudging the Canucks a little bit further away.
That fact should not take away from the outstanding effort from Canucks star Elias Pettersson, who capped off a three-point night with an overtime dash to score the game winner.
Early Deficit
The Canucks fired a lot of rubber towards Blues netminder Jordan Binnington over the first two periods, but couldn’t solve him. Meanwhile St. Louis, despite being out-shot 25-13 through forty minutes, managed to tally twice, including a shorthanded effort to open the scoring against Arturs Silovs.
The Canucks gave up an NHL leading 10th shorthanded goal while going 0-for-4 in the game with the man advantage. The Blues went 0-for-3.
Review Trauma
Video hasn’t been too kind to the Canucks since head coach Rick Tocchet took over and the phenomenon continued in this game. Past the midway point of the first period, J.T. Miller thought he had scored his 20th goal of the season, but it was waved off for goalie interference on Conor Garland, who had his skate tied up with Binnington on the edge of the crease. It was highly debatable whether the goalie would have had any chance to make the stop.
In the second period, it appeared that Ivan Barbashev may have knocked the puck down with a high stick, but played continued and Tyler Tucker scored his first ever NHL goal. This one could very easily have gone either way, but the play was deemed legal.
Canucks Goal Scorer
3rd Period
2-1 Blues – Shorthanded – J.T. Miller (20) from Elias Pettersson, 9:08
Justice served, as Miller gets his 20th after all, on a steal by ‘Petey’, a 2-on-1 rush and a saucer pass to a one-timer.
2-2 Tied – Even Strength (extra attacker) – Andrei Kuzmenko (27) from Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller, 19:31
“Koozy” banged home a rebound after a one-timer from the top of the right circle from ‘Petey’.
3-2 Canucks – Even Strength (3 on 3) – Elias Pettersson (28) from Anthony Beauvillier and Ethan Bear, 14:45
Pettersson picks up the puck in front of his net and blazes down the left wing 170 feet and snipes from the left circle.
— For the game the Canucks ended up out-shooting the Blues 41-22.
— Prospect centre Aatu Raty, acquired in the deal on January 30th with Anthony Beauvillier from the New York Islanders for Bo Horvat, played his first game with the big club. He registered one hit in 8:06 of ice time.
— The Canucks host the Boston Bruins on Saturday night. The Bruins were tied 1-1 with the Seattle Kraken after the first period at the Climate Pledge Arena when the Vancouver game wrapped up.