Pettersson plays OT hero once again as Canucks win thriller over Sharks

Andrei Kuzmenko scored late in the third period to force overtime and Elias Pettersson buried the game-winner for a second straight game to lift the Vancouver Canucks to a 6-5 win against the San Jose Sharks.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Elias Pettersson scored on a breakaway at 4:25 of overtime, giving the Vancouver Canucks a 6-5 win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night. 

“(Spencer) Martin made two big stops, and then on the breakaway (Kuzmenko) gave me a good pass I just tried to go low blocker,” Pettersson said.

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Dakota Joshua scored twice for the Canucks, and Nils Hoglander, Ilya Mikheyev, and Andrei Kuzmenko added goals. Spencer Martin made 34 saves.

“He was fabulous. I see real growth. I loved him on the power play in front of the net. If they didn’t call that one back, which was, I think, a 50-50, he could’ve had a hat trick in the first six minutes of ice time. I was very pleased with his effort,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said.

Nick Bonino scored his 150th career goal 18 seconds into the game for San Jose. Timo Meier, Logan Couture, Jonah Gadjovich, and Kevin Lebanc also scored for the Sharks. Eetu Makiniemi made his NHL debut and had seven saves in relief of Kaapo Kahkonen, who started and made 15 saves before being pulled after the second period.

“A dream come true. What can I say? I’ve been waiting (to) be here since I was drafted,” Makiniemi said.

Lebanc scored his sixth goal of the season at 11:28 of the third period to give the Sharks a 5-4 lead. Kuzmenko scored his 13th of the season on the power play just over five minutes later to tie the game and set up overtime.

“I liked a lot about our game. I know we lost, but I liked our resiliency. I like that we got better and better as the game went on. We were down 3-1, and we battled back,” Sharks coach David Quinn said.

UP NEXT:

Canucks: Host the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

Sharks: Visit the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

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