VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Rookie Elias Pettersson scored two goals and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-2 Monday night, snapping a two-game losing streak.
Pettersson, whose second goal came on a breakaway in the third period, now has seven goals in seven games. He leads all NHL rookies in goals and points with 10.
Markus Granlund and Jake Virtanen also scored for the Canucks, who ended the Wild's five-game winning streak. Ben Hutton scored into an empty net with 39.1 seconds remaining.
Jordan Greenway scored his first NHL goal, and Ryan Sutter added a power-play score for the Wild.
Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 37 shots. Devan Dubnyk, making his third consecutive start, stopped 26 shots for Minnesota.
On his second goal, Pettersson blocked a shot at the blue line. Brock Boeser passed the loose puck to the streaking Pettersson, who beat Dubnyk high on the blocker side.
The 19-year-old from Sundsvall, Sweden, gave Vancouver a 3-1 lead with a hard one-timer at 6:51 of the second. That goal came just 1:36 after Virtanen scored on a power play to break a 1-1 tie.
Virtanen's goal came at 5:15 of the second. He took a long pass from defenseman Alex Biega and scored on a shot that sailed over the glove of a screened Dubnyk.
Suter made it 3-2 at 14:37 after Vancouver's Loui Eriksson was called for tripping. His shot from the point appeared to deflect into the net off defenseman Troy Stecher. Mikael Granlund earned an assist on the play for his 10th point (five goals, five assists) in eight games.
The Canucks opened the scoring at 7:17 of the first period. Bo Horvat sent a pass from behind the Wild net to an open Granlund, who scored his second goal of the season. It was the eighth time in the last nine games the Wild had given up the first goal.
It took the Wild just 35 seconds to make it 1-1 on a good effort by Greenway. Markstrom stopped Jared Spurgeon's first shot, then got a pad on a second shot by Greenway. The rookie, who was recalled Sunday from a two-game stint in the AHL, got that rebound again and put a wrist shot past a sprawled Markstrom.
NOTES: Canuck center Brandon Sutter left the game early in the second period favoring his right shoulder after falling awkwardly into the boards. . Horvat has four goals and two assists in his last seven games. . Canuck goaltender Anders Nilsson could miss up to three weeks after fracturing the finger on his blocker hand during Saturday morning's skate. Backup Richard Bachman has been recalled from the AHL Utica Comets. ... The Wild opened a seven-game, 14-day road trip, the longest in franchise history.
UP NEXT
Minnesota: At Edmonton on Tuesday.
Vancouver: Home against Chicago on Wednesday.
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