Canucks defeat Senators for 5th straight win, push point streak to 9

OTTAWA -- Elias Pettersson had a goal and two assists for the Vancouver Canucks in their fifth straight win, 5-2 against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Pettersson has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) during a seven-game point streak and leads the NHL with 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists).

“This is a lot of fun, a lot of fun,” Pettersson said. “I mean, we’re winning now. We’re playing good most of the time, but I mean like today, I don’t think we brought our best effort. I was not happy with my game, but we still found a way to win. I think that’s a strength we have now.”

Ilya Mikheyev scored twice, J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist and Filip Hronek extended his assist streak to eight games for the Canucks (10-2-1), who are 8-0-1 in their past nine. Casey DeSmith made 28 saves.

“I think we probably didn’t play our best game, but we found a way to get a win,” Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes said. “We had some guys step up in the second and third and Casey made some saves, so some things to take from it. But it’s another two points and we’re just going to keep moving on.”

Artem Zub scored in his return from injury for the Senators (5-7-0), who have lost five straight at home in regulation. Anton Forsberg allowed five goals on 16 shots.

“Nobody in here likes losing, and things haven’t been going our way,” Ottawa defenseman Jakob Chychrun said. “Nobody’s feeling sorry for us. We’ve got to dig deep here and keep working as a unit and get ourselves out of this hole.”

Brock Boeser gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead just 15 seconds into the first period. Forsberg looked to have made a highlight-reel glove save on Boeser’s wrist shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle, but video review determined the puck crossed the goal line while in Forsberg’s glove. Hronek extended his streak with the secondary assist.

“You’ve got to be ready to play when the game starts,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “We had a turnover on the first shift, and it ends up in the net. We had a turnover when it’s 3-2 and there’s lots of clock left, and it ends up in your net. Whether they’re bad bounces or whatever they are, you’ve got to take care of the puck.”

Mikheyev made it 2-0 at 3:00 when he took a pass from Pettersson for a partial break and scored five-hole.

Drake Batherson cut it to 2-1 at 18:15. He intercepted a clearing attempt from Vancouver defenseman Ian Cole, skated in alone and finished a deke on the forehand over DeSmith’s glove.

“It’s tough, obviously. I don’t know what the exact answer is,” Batherson said of the home slump. “Obviously, we’re working hard. I think it’s just a matter of getting bounces and just playing a full 60 minutes. But for the most part, we’ve been right there and clawing back in games.”

Zub’s point shot deflected in off Pettersson to tie it 2-2 at 10:58 of the second period. Zub missed the previous seven games with a concussion.

“Obviously, with the addition of Zub, you’re significantly better,” Smith said. “You can see the difference when he moves the puck, how much he has the puck.”

Miller’s wrist shot from the left face-off dot gave the Canucks a 3-2 lead at 18:08.

“It wasn’t our A-game, obviously,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “Give Ottawa a lot of credit; they’re a fast team. They rimmed a lot of pucks and we had a tough time on the rims, but [Miller’s] goal was big because they were coming. We had some good parts of the game near the last second half, but winning some games and not having our A-game, we’re going to take the positives on that right now.”

Mikheyev extended the lead to 4-2 at 9:23 of the third period when he redirected Pettersson’s point shot with his skate.

“That’s one of the hottest teams in the League and, I mean, I thought we outplayed them,” Chychrun said. “For sure, it [stinks], but we’ve just got to keep moving forward here.”
 
Pettersson one-timed a pass from Hughes on the power play at 13:28 for the 5-2 final.

“We’ve got to make sure we play a 60-minute game,” Tocchet said. “It’s only like [13] games in, but teams are going to be ready for us, so we’ve got to make sure we match that desperation. Ottawa was desperate tonight, and they played a desperate game.”

NOTES: Hronek’s assist streak is tied for the second longest in franchise history; Dennis Kearns had an 11-game run in 1976-77. … Vancouver forwards Phillip Di Giuseppe and Andrei Kuzmenko each had two assists. … The Canucks reached 10 wins in the fewest amount of games in their history (13). They won 10 of their first 14 games in 2005-06 and 2014-15. … Chychrun had seven shots on goal in 25:32 of ice time; Batherson had seven in 18:51.