Elias Pettersson netted a hat trick and Quinn Hughes collected three assists to lead the host Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Sam Lafferty and J.T. Miller also scored for the Canucks, while goaltender Thatcher Demko made 27 saves. Vancouver is on a 4-0-1 run.
Colton Sissons and Dante Fabbro scored for the Predators, who started a five-game road trip. Goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped 22 shots, and Ryan O’Reilly collected an assist in his 1,000th regular-season game.
Demko stopped Liam Foudy’s penalty-shot opportunity 82 seconds into the game.
Lafferty’s second goal of the season opened the scoring at 13:45 of the first period. Lafferty was in front of the net when Hughes’ point shot was stopped, but the puck ricocheted off his head and into the net.
With his assist on the goal, Hughes reached the 250-point mark in just his 292nd game.
The Predators responded by taking the lead with a pair of goals 30 seconds apart. Sissons put the visitors on the board when he was on the spot for a loose puck to net his fifth of the season at 16:10.
Fabbro gave Nashville a 2-1 edge with a textbook deflection from the doorstep. It was his first score of the season.
Pettersson replied with a pair of second-period goals. He evened the score 53 seconds into the middle frame by ripping a shot from the high slot.
He then put the Canucks ahead for good with a power-play goal at 16:38. With the screen set, Pettersson found the mark from the right face-off dot to record his sixth multi-point game this season.
Miller doubled the lead with his fifth goal of the season at 4:11 of the third period; he was on the spot for a loose puck after another Hughes shot was blocked.
Pettersson’s empty-net goal, his fifth marker of the campaign, with 2:58 remaining rounded out the scoring.
–Field Level Media
