The New York Islanders hosted the Vancouver Canucks at UBS Arena in the season's second meeting between the two teams, only a week after acquiring former Canucks captain Bo Horvat.
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The Vancouver Canucks bid farewell to a player who frequently placed them on his back and led them as far as he could — and may be on the lookout for a guy who will now be expected to do the same. On Thursday night, Elias Pettersson scored twice in the third period to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 6-5 victory over the New York Islanders and Bo Horvat.
Horvat served as the Canucks’ captain for the previous 3.5 seasons. Pettersson might be the Canucks’ future captain, and they may need him to be. Making him captain would emphasize that he is the focal point of this squad. Literally.
Pettersson didn’t completely control the game; the Islanders scored twice while he was on the ice, but he was there when it counted, scoring a power play goal from the point midway through the third to level the game at 4, then ripping home a goal off the wing on a rush that appeared to be the game-winner until the Islanders scored a late goal with the goaltender pulled.
The fact that the second goal came on a rush was a suitable way to hand the Horvat baton to Pettersson; the previous captain had proven particularly skilled at scoring in this manner.
The Canucks also received goals from Anthony Beauvillier — who scored the game-winner in his homecoming game after being switched for Horvat last week — Brock Boeser, Nils man, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, while the Islanders scored goals from Horvat, Noah Dobson, Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, and Mat Barzal.
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On Thursday night, Anthony Beauvillier scored the eventual game-winner on the penalty play as the Vancouver Canucks rallied from two goals down to upset the Islanders 6-5 at UBS Arena. For the Canucks (21-27-4), Elias Pettersson scored two third-period goals and an assist, and Brock Boeser had a goal and two assists. Collin Delia had 24 saves.
Former Canucks captain Bo Horvat scored for the Islanders for the second time in a row. Also scoring were Mathew Barzal, Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, and Noah Dobson. Ilya Sorokin conceded six goals on 34 shots for the Islanders after recording two shutouts in his previous two outings (27-23-5).
Watch the match highlights below.
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