3 major Vancouver Canucks takeaways: Pettersson on a heater, penalty kill failure, and more from 5-3 loss to Nashville Predators

By Mike Whitaker

Modified Nov 18, 2024 06:19 GMT

The Vancouver Canucks were back at it on Sunday night, looking for their second victory in 24 hours when they welcomed the struggling Nashville Predators to Rogers Arena in downtown Vancouver.

The Predators, who had only won five of their first 18 games, seemed ripe for the picking by the Canucks, who entered the game with a superior 9-4-4 record. But as the saying goes, that's why games are played on the ice rather than on paper.

A pair of power-play goals from first-year Predators forward and former Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos powered Nashville's offense en route a 5-3 victory, making their record slightly more respectable at 6-10-3.

Nashville found the back of the net in the opening period, thanks to Zachary L'Heureux's first goal of the season just over five minutes after the opening face-off. Vancouver responded with Aatu Raty's first goal, knotting the score at 1-1.

Elias Pettersson remained hot, lightning the lamp for his sixth goal of the year midway through the second period. Unfortunately, the floodgates opened on Vancouver soon afterward.

Stamkos scored twice with a Canucks player in the penalty box, while captain Roman Josi also tallied for the Predators, who took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission.

While Vancouver cut Nashville's lead to one goal, with Kiefer Sherwood's sixth strike with six minutes remaining in regulation, veteran Gustav Nyquist sealed victory with an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

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Three key takeaways from the Vancouver Canucks' loss to the Nashville Predators

#3 Elias Pettersson continues to heat up

Despite the slow start for Pettersson this season, he has begun to pick up the pace. He scored for the second straight game, giving him five goals in his last seven games.

While the loss to the struggling Predators is a disappointment, the Vancouver Canucks can feel good about the fact that their highly paid star forward is contributing more regularly.

#2 Vancouver's penalty killing let them down

Despite entering the game with the NHL's ninth-ranked penalty killing, the Vancouver Canucks failed to neutralize the Predators when they had the man advantage. Both Stamkos goals came with a Canucks player in the box, giving them a PK percentage of 0% for the night.

#1 Goaltender Kevin Lankinen had a frustrating night against his former club

Lankinen, who has mostly performed well for the Vancouver Canucks in his first season with the club, fell back down to earth with his second sub-par performance in three outings, surrendering four goals on 20 shots against.

It was also a missed opportunity for him to get some revenge on the Predators, who didn't re-sign him over the summer after he had spent the 2023-24 season with them.