And at 94th shot attempt, Carolina Hurricanes missed the fourth goal Kevin Lankinen.
Vancouver Canucks The goalie, forced back into action by Thatcher Demko's latest injury, made 34 saves to earn his desperate team a point in Friday's 4-3 overtime loss at North Carolina.
Defenseman Quinn Hughes became the eighth Canuck on the roster when he was unable to play a game due to a shoulder or arm injury against the Winnipeg Jets, and Philip Hronek No. 9 was unlucky late in the third period when he took an unpunished elbow to the head from Andrei Svechnikov's hurricane.
Canucks coach Adam Foote told reporters after the game in Raleigh that Hronek suffered a concussion, which could mean he will be available for Sunday's road game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hughes, who skated Friday morning, is expected to return to the lineup in Tampa.
The Canucks are desperate to stay in the National Hockey League playoff race amid an injury crisis that appeared to be slowly improving until Demko went down with a groin injury on Tuesday.
The Canucks, at 8-9-2, will likely need another impressive performance from Lankinen in Game 20.
They'll also need an opportunistic goal like they did in Carolina, where fourth-line center Max Sasson buried an early breakaway, top center Elias Pettersson scored off a terrible pass from Sean Walker and Conor Garland scored off a cross-ice pass from Brock Boeser as Vancouver's power play went 1-for-2.
Despite outscoring the Hurricanes 94-30 and scoring chances 21-2 at five-on-five, Lankinen kept the Canucks in the game. Svechnikov scored twice in 54 seconds early in the first period, but Vancouver led 3–2 until the screen broke in front of Lankinen and Taylor Hall was able to score into an open net at 6:26 of the third period.
After the Canucks controlled the puck for most of overtime despite the absence of quarterbacks Hughes and Hronek, Sebastian Aho beat the Hurricanes at 4:29.
On another night when Pettersson played like an elite center — and scored like one — it was his uncharacteristic defensive mistake in overtime that gave Aho a clear path to the net for his 17th goal.th OT winner in his career.
Pettersson had a goal and an assist, three blocked shots and two shots and took the faceoff to make it 14-8 in 20:04 of ice time. But he was caught on the wrong side of Aho near the blue line, waiting to play outside the Canucks' zone, as the Hurricane spun back toward the Vancouver net and fired a shot into the top left corner past Lankinen.
Canucks general manager Patrick Allwine continues his search for a center and is reportedly eyeing another low-cost acquisition in David Kampf, a veteran fourth line and penalty killer who agreed to a release from his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs and suddenly became a free agent. But Vancouver's original Pettersson has never been more valuable to his team.
With eight players missing due to injury, teams are especially susceptible to opposing players deliberately trying to hurt them. So the Canucks, who had previously been upset by the mysterious work of associate referee Carter Sandlak, would have been outraged when they saw play-by-play footage of Svechnikov aiming, lifting and elbowing Hronek to the side of the head near the end of the third period.
Earlier in the same period, Svechnikov appeared to have kicked Jake DeBrusk in open ice and thus may have had the courage to continue trying to injure the Canucks. He was not penalized for an apparent elbow after Gronek released the puck into the corner, even though Sandlak was standing about 10 feet away. Sandlak, along with referee Pierre Lambert, watched the puck.
Svechnikov was so dangerous that he even injured his teammate Seth Jarvis with a careless high-stick hit early in the first period. Sandlak and Lambert also missed this point and made a wild (and inaccurate) guess that Jarvis' eye was damaged 50 times during the game by a push from behind. Marcus Petterssonwho was stunned to be penalized for a cross-check but spent just five seconds in the penalty area before Svechnikov scored.
At the very least, the NHL will fine or disqualify Svechnikov for the dangerous blow to the head. It will, won't it?
When shot attempts are 94-30, you know there's going to be some grotesquely lopsided weird statistic.
With Lukas Reichel nearly invisible at center, Canuck forwards Kiefer Sherwood (3-30) and Boeser (3-28) went down on five shot attempts, as did defense pairing Hronek (5-43) and Elias Pettersson Jr. (7-46). Vancouver newcomers Tom Willander (7-11) and Linus Karlsson (7-10), although not as vulnerable, survived.
Canuck, defenseman Tyler Myers he had some terrible shifts, including a defensive zone change that led directly to Svechnikov's first goal at 4:20 of the first period, but he made five of Vancouver's 29 blocked shots and finished minus one in 22:04 of ice time. Defenseman Marcus Pettersson posted a TOI of 30:23 and was one of four Canucks to finish plus-one. Evander Kane made four of Vancouver's 17 shots. Every Hurricane skater except William Carrier registered at least one shot.
Adam Foote: “This is the closest playoff game we've ever had, and you learn a lot from games like these. They put pressure. You have to move the puck or you'll get burned. They work non-stop. It's a good game that anyone can get through.”
“(Lankinen) played so well. He fought and was relentless. He's a true professional. The game could have gone either way.”
