The Vancouver Canucks earned their seventh home win of the year with a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday at Rogers Arena, scoring twice in the third period and Jake DeBrusk’s penalty kick goal.
Brock Boeser, Marco Rossi and Filip Hronek scored in regulation for Vancouver (20-37-8). Tyson Jost scored twice for Nashville and Nanaimo’s rookie Matthew Wood scored in his first NHL game for the Predators (29-27-9) at Rogers Arena.
Juuse Saros made 23 saves for the Predators. Nikita Tolopilo stopped 16 shots for Vancouver.
The Canucks got off to a good start, opening the scoring at 8:40. At this point, a double tip of a Filip Hronek point shot beat first Marco Rossi and then Boeser over Saros. But the team went into the locker room tied 1-1 after Justin Barron grabbed a pass by Tolopilo and Jost netted his fifth rebound of the year.
In the second, Jost gave the visitors their first lead of the night, slotting the puck past Tolopilo after Roman Josi’s blast from the blue line went wide of the net. Wood scored his 14th point of the year when his centering pass deflected into the net off the skate of Canucks forward Liam Ohgren.
In the third, Rossi gave the Canucks some life with 4:05 left in the game, burying a rebound past Saros to turn up the volume at Rogers Arena. While Tolopilo was on the bench, Hronek sent the game into overtime with 1:01 remaining.
After a scoreless overtime, DeBrusk scored the only goal of the shootout, stopping all three shooters Tolopilo faced.
Canucks: Boeser’s goal was his 16th this year and his fourth in five games… Evander Kane returned to the lineup after missing one game while dealing with upper body discomfort.
Predators: With 17 games remaining, the Predators are competing for a wild card spot with three other Western Conference teams. Saros becomes just the second NHL goalie to reach 50 starts this season. Jost had his first multi-goal game since joining the Predators this season and has three goals in his last two games. Wood has four goals in his last four games and is on a four-game scoring streak.
Rossi’s third-period goal turned up the volume in Rogers Arena and forced overtime with Hronek sitting Tolopilo on the bench.
The Canucks have lost five straight at home (0-3-2) but still rank last in the NHL with a home ice record of 7-20-5.
Predators: Visit Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Canucks: Host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
