ST. LOUIS — Elias Pettersson scored with 15 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Vancouver Canucks rallied for a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
Pettersson, who also had two assists, skated down the wing and snapped a shot from the left face-off circle glove side on Jordan Binnington.
“It was nice,” Pettersson said. “I said five minutes earlier, I had 10 shots today I think, and never had that before. Felt good, but the puck wouldn’t find the way in until the last shot I guess, so I’m happy with that.”
Pettersson’s goal came after Andrei Kuzmenko tied it 2-2 with 29 seconds left in the third period. He jammed in his own rebound from the edge of the crease with Arturs Silovs pulled for the extra skater.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, and Silovs made 20 saves for Vancouver (23-30-5), which is 2-0-1 in its past three games.
“I think we deserved the outcome, yes I do,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “We did a nice job in a lot of areas. It feels nice to let only two goals in. To win hockey games, you’ve got to defend well, and we did that.”
Tyler Tucker scored his first NHL goal, and Binnington made 38 saves for St. Louis (26-28-4), which has lost four straight (0-3-1) since trading Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 17.
“A lot of our best players not doing the job,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “Our best players don’t play with any passion, no emotion and no inspiration at all. They don’t play inspired hockey. You cannot play in this league without emotion, grit and being inspired. They’re getting paid lots of money and they’re not doing the job. End of story. That’s it. That’s what it boils down to.”
Alexey Toropchenko scored short-handed at 15:29 of the first period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. Pavel Buchnevich intercepted a blind backhand pass from Quinn Hughes and got Pettersson to overcommit in the neutral zone before passing to Toropchenko, who converted on the breakaway.
The goal came shortly after Miller had a goal disallowed for Vancouver at 14:27 following a challenge for goaltender interference.
Tucker made it 2-0 at 6:45 of the second period with a wrist shot from the left point that beat a screened Silovs just inside the right post. The Canucks challenged the play for a missed game stoppage, but the call stood after a video review confirmed Ivan Barbashev did not contact the puck with a high stick.
“Obviously, it’s nice to be rewarded,” said Tucker, who was playing his 18th NHL game. “Two points would’ve been better.”
Miller cut it to 2-1 at 9:08 of the third period with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Pettersson on a 2-on-1 while short-handed.
“We’re willing to play a boring game sometimes and not risk changing our game to get results,” Miller said. “It was easy to do that tonight.
“All these games are important. We’ve got guys fighting for jobs, we’ve got guys trying to prove something to the new coach. There’s a lot to prove for every single guy in here. We got a lot of good play tonight from a lot of players.”
NOTES: Pettersson has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) during a four-game point streak. … Miller has six points (two goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak. … Canucks forward Anthony Beauvillier had the primary assist on Pettersson’s goal and has five points (two goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. … Buchnevich had an assist and was plus-1 in 26:23 of ice time after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Blues forward Brandon Saad was minus-1 in 17:00 of ice time after missing four games with an upper-body injury. … Canucks forward Aatu Raty played 7:37 in his Vancouver debut. He was acquired along with Beauvillier from the New York Islanders for forward Bo Horvat on Jan. 30. … Kuzmenko has seven points (five goals, two assists) during a five-game point streak. … St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug did not play due to a lower-body injury.
