The Vancouver Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in a shootout at SAP Center on April 12, ending their four-game losing streak. Linus Karlsson scored the decisive goal in the sixth round of the shootout.
The game was important for both teams as San Jose continues to chase a playoff spot, now five points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with three games left to play.
Marco Rossi, Jake DeBrusk, and Teddy Blueger scored for Vancouver. Kevin Lankinen returned from injury and made 28 saves in his first start since April 1. “They came out real hard, and we were resilient,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “Throughout the game, guys didn’t quit. It was a fast-paced game, and we had a good penalty kill, and we were able to get a couple power-play goals.”
Igor Chernyshov led San Jose with two goals while Yaroslav Askarov stopped 38 shots. Macklin Celebrini assisted twice to reach 110 points this season (42 goals, 68 assists). “Just some of our details, I would say, is the biggest thing,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said about his team’s recent performance. “Details in our D zone, which was tonight. In previous games, there were some other issues.” Celebrini also praised Chernyshov’s scoring ability: “He knows how to get open. You see, his goal scoring is one of his best attributes,” he said.
Rossi tied an early Sharks lead with a rebound goal after Askarov misplayed a puck behind his net; Toffoli put San Jose back ahead before DeBrusk equalized again on a power play late in the second period. Chernyshov gave San Jose another lead midway through the third period before Blueger tied it up once more with less than three minutes remaining.
Elias Pettersson recorded an assist that moved him past Thomas Gradin for seventh-most road points in Canucks history. Celebrini registered his twenty-ninth multipoint game this season—surpassing Joe Thornton’s franchise mark—and notched his eighteenth multiassist game as a teenager; only Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby have more such games at that age.
