It was a tense game last night which came down all the way down to the line with penalties. Thankfully two Seattle Kraken misses helped the Vancouver Canucks end the drama with a 6 – 5 win after penalties.
The Canucks will be happy to have the Center back on the team after losing 5 – 1 in back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Jets and St Louis Blues since Saturday last week. Illness has kept Pettersson back from the line for a week, but Boudreau is glad to have him scoring again.
‘I’m glad to see that he’s finally gotten healthy… Anytime he can join the group it makes us better,’ the Canucks manager told the press following the Canucks – Kraken showdown.
He was cautiously optimistic that Pettersson would be available for the massive showdown coming on Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers.
FIRST PERIOD
The Canucks skated into Wednesday night’s game with a game under their belts. A game of cat and mouse in their November 27th game saw the Canucks score 5 – 4 with Mikheyev scoring two exceptional goals.
The Kraken weren’t worried about facing the Canucks though. They’d just faced the Canucks’ former opponents and had done what they couldn’t, win. It was going to be a fight on the ice and Kraken were ready to take the win.
Kraken made their interests known when Jared McCann slammed the biscuit into the basket from the Canucks’ blue line. That goal came off of the Canucks building an attack but losing the puck in the centre.
Soucy collected the stray puck who passed to Beniers in the center, who just glanced it over to McCann. McCann cocked his arms and swung the puck directly at Demko, who could barely get a glove down on it to deflect.
Ten minutes later Pederson would sort out the equaliser for the Canucks.
The newly returned Petterson would scoop up the puck from behind the Canucks’ goal and feed it through to Kuzmenko. Almost without any struggles from the Kraken, he would skate along the left wing looking for Pederson.
Pederson was waiting in the centre for the right moment and it came just before the Kraken goal. Just a metre from the Jones and Pederson tapped the puck past him to make it 1 – 1.
SECOND PERIOD
Kraken weren’t happy with that dent just before halftime and they came back with vengeance in the Second.
Three minutes in and Bjorkstrand managed to beat Canucks’ keeper. Following a foiled attempt on Kraken’s goal, the free puck landed on Schwartz stick and he jailbroke the puck out to make an offensive on the Canuck’s half.
Bjorkstrand was waiting in the centre and a simple cross was enough to beat Martin for a second time. It was 2 – 1 Kraken.
Before Canucks could even take a breath and Kraken was already making it 3 – 1. Just 10 seconds after the face-off in the Canucks’ half, the puck was claimed by the Kraken and in the Canucks’ net.
Geekie took the puck and passed to Larsson who took a shot at goal. Sprong was surrounded by Canuck defence but a slight tip was enough to send it flying past Martin.
Canucks were not having anything more to do with a Kraken victory and their journey started with tap in from Pettersson.
After one failed attempt to beat the Kraken defence, the puck was brought back to the safety of the Canucks’ forwards who encircled the dangerzone.
Kuzmenko passed left to Schenn who cradled the puck until Pettersson was in the right position on the left of the net. He launched the pass and Pettersson tapped it past Jones.
Kraken would make it 4 – 2 when Wennberg managed to exploit the deflection off Martin. A race along the right wing by Borgen would set up the initial shot for Bjorkstrand to get his second of the game but the Canucks defence were ready for him.
They weren’t ready for Wennberg though. The Swede followed the play right up to the deflection and was in the dangerzone and ready to make that puck go Kraken’s way.
THIRD PERIOD
Kuzmenko was up next and it came off a counterattack. Kuzmenko collected the stray puck and raced down the right with the help of Ekman-Larsson and Pettersson on his left flank.
Kuzmenko got into the dangerzone and waited for Pettersson’s cross. The goal line was a busy affair so Pettersson crossed to Pederson and a short pass to Kuzmenko was enough to find the hole and score and make it 3 – 4.
The Kraken Sprong managed to get his second of the game with some excellent snatching of the puck from an attempted clear out from the Canucks.
Tanev was in support but Sprong had the goal lined up and a tap was all it needed to beat Martin and make it 5 – 3.
As the middle of the last period came into view, it was Boeser’s turn to crack the Kraken’s lead. Hughes and Pettersson mimicked the passing antics of earlier to find a hole in the Kraken’s defence and get the puck through to a waiting Boeser.
Boeser got his opportunity to deliver a Power-Play, tapping it through the right-hand side of the goal. The fatigue was starting to show now for the Kraken.
The equaliser came in the 18th minute of the game when Pettersson got his second. The Kraken were not taking any chances on this one and they had everyone back to put legs and sticks in front of the goal.
Kraken did put up a fight when the first shots collided with them, but the tiniest of gaps was enough for Pettersson to thread the shot and make it 5 – 5.
PENALTIES
It finally came down to penalties and it would be two successful shots from J.T. Miller and Pettersson which would give the Canucks the victory.
Canucks now face Edmonton Oilers on Friday evening while Seattle Kraken face Calgary Flames on the 28th.
