Centre Elias Pettersson scored a pair of power-play goals, lifting the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 win over the visiting Florida Panthers in NHL action Tuesday at Rogers Arena.
Marco Rossi had a goal and two helpers for the Canucks (21-38-8). Aatu Räty and Drew O’Connor added single goals and Brock Boeser chipped in with three assists. Kevin Lankinen got the win in goal, making 21 saves.
Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions (33-31-3). Sergei Bobrovsky took the netminding loss, stopping 17 of 22 shots.
The Canucks carried the play against the turnover-plagued Panthers in the first period, jumping to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Pettersson opened the scoring (snapping a 20 game goal-scoring drought) on the power play at 3:49, one-timing a cross-ice feed from Rossi and powering a shot through Bobrovsky from the right offensive circle.
Tkachuk pulled the Panthers even at 11:41, capitalizing on a bad bounce off a clearing attempt by Vancouver defenceman Elias Pettersson and beating Lankinen for his 19th goal of the year.
Pettersson, the centre version, restored Vancouver’s lead, again on the power play from a similar spot on the ice, at 13:40. The goal was Pettersson’s 15th of the year and 200th of his career.
PETEY'S 2ND GOAL OF THE NIGHT!
PETEY'S 200TH GOAL OF HIS CAREER! pic.twitter.com/dMIYTCSXLN— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 18, 2026
Rossi made it 3-1 at 17:46, taking a feed from Boeser and slipped it past Bobrovsky for his ninth goal of the year (and third point of the night). Rossi has goals in three straight outings.
Shots after one period favoured the Canucks, 10-7.
Bennett pulled the Panthers within 3-2 at 11:28 of the second period, converting a feed from Tkachuk for his 25th goal of the season.
Räty made it 4-2 at 14:27, making a deft move to beat Bobrovsky for his fourth of the year.
Shots on goal were even at 14-14 after 40 minutes.
O’Connor rounded out the scoring at 14:25 of the third period, taking a pass from Linus Karlsson and beating Bobrovsky for his 16th goal of the season.
The Canucks host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (7 p.m.).
NOTES: The Panthers were without injured players Sam Reinhart (undisclosed), Uvis Balinskis (lower body), Brad Marchand (lower body), Aleksander Barkov (knee) and Jonah Gadjovich (upper body). Vancouver played without P.O Joseph (upper body), Filip Chytil (facial fracture), Thatcher Demko (hip surgery) and Derek Forbort (undisclosed)… Florida’s Nolan Foote, the son of Canucks coach Adam Foote, made his Panthers debut after being called up from Charlotte of the American Hockey League… The Canucks finished 2-for-4 on the power play, while the Panthers were 0-for-2.