Elias Pettersson scores twice as the Canucks catch the Sharks

Elias Pettersson scored two goals and Quinn Hughes added two assists as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the visiting San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Monday night.

Brock Boeser and Kiefer Sherwood also scored for the Canucks, who fell in three games (0-1-2) and won for the second time in six games (2-2-2).

Thatcher Demko made 26 career saves to improve the Sharks’ record to 12-0-0.

William Eklund, Cody Ceci and Luke Kunin played for San Jose, which has lost five straight (0-4-1). Vancouver native Macklin Celebrini had two assists in the loss.

Yaroslav Askarov stopped 21 shots in his first start against the Canucks.

Eklund opened the scoring with a two-man advantage, once pushing a feed blocker from Mikael Granlund past Demko at 11:36 of the first period.

Eklund, who took a heavy hit from Canucks defenseman Tyler Meyers just before the goal, finished the first period but did not return to the game after the first break.

Boeser evened the score at 1-1 by redirecting Hughes’ pass past Askarov at 14:10 of the first period. Boeser has scored three goals in his last two games.

The Canucks scored three goals in 70 seconds in the second period to take a 3-1 lead.

Vancouver took its first lead at 16:42 when Sherwood fired a shot past Askarov on the blocker side.

Pettersson scored the rebound off a shot from Jake DeBrusk at 17:08. The goal snapped a six-game losing streak for Pettersson.

Then, with a two-man lead, Pettersson fired a shot from the faceoff glove side past Askarov at 17:52. Hughes picked up the second assist, giving him five points (one goal, four assists) in his last two games.

Pettersson only played one shift in the third period.

Ceci’s point shot was deflected by Canucks defenseman Noah Juulsen and went past Demko at 4:21 of the third period, cutting Vancouver’s lead in half.

San Jose made it 1-0 with six seconds left in the third period when Kunin sank the rebound from Celebrini’s shot.

Vancouver improved to 2-0-0 against San Jose this season.

–Field level media