Canucks winning streak ends at five in shootout loss to Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Vancouver Canucks lost for the first time in six games, 4-3 in the shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Sunday.

Andrei Svechnikov scored his 20th goal for the Hurricanes (30-19-3), who have won three of their past four games and hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. James Reimer made 32 saves.
Justin Williams scored the deciding goal in the shootout for the second time in four games since he made his season debut Jan. 19. He also scored in his first game, a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders.
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Hurricanes highlights]
"It's great to get him back," Svechnikov said. "You can just sit on the bench and feel confident because he's going to go out and score for us."
Elias Pettersson scored twice and had the lone goal in the tiebreaker for Vancouver (30-18-5), which leads the Edmonton Oilers by three points for first place in the Pacific Division. Thatcher Demko made 29 saves for the Canucks, who were coming off a 4-3 overtime win against the Islanders on Saturday.

"I'm sure we will look back and say we're happy to get a point, but everyone in here is competitive and we expect to get two every night," Demko said. "Hard-fought game from the guys. I'm really proud of handling the ebbs and flows of that one."
Pettersson tied the game 3-3 at 9:06 of the third period when he scored his second of the game with a sharp-angled wrist shot.

"I looked up and I saw that Reimer was on the other post," Pettersson said. "I was just going to shoot it right away, and it bounced in off him. A little luck, but I will take it."
Pettersson gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 4:05 of the first period when he scored with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle off the rebound of a Chris Tanev shot.
Nino Niederreiter tied it 1-1 at 1:11 of the second when he took a pass from Teuvo Teravainen before spinning in the slot and scoring on his backhand.

Sebastian Aho scored from the right hash marks to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at 5:06 after Jaccob Slavin's shot was knocked down by Carolina forward Warren Foegele.
Tyler Myers tied it 2-2 at 14:12. Reimer stopped Oscar Fantenberg's shot near the right post, but the rebound came to Myers in the low slot.
"I thought in the second period, we really got going," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Even though we didn't get ahead coming out of the period, it just felt like, there's our game. I think the guys felt that too and were able to carry over."
Svechnikov gave Carolina a 3-2 lead at 5:23 of the third when he drove through the neutral zone and held off defenseman Quinn Hughes before going backhand to forehand for top-shelf shot to the far post.
"He basically goes end to end. I don't know how many players can do that," Brind'Amour said. "He was pushed outside and just cut right in hard. It's obviously the finish that's special."
Teravainen scored in the second round of the shootout.

After Pettersson scored in the first round for Vancouver, Reimer got his right pad on J.T. Miller's shot in the second and made the save against Bo Horvat in the third to end the game.
"Horvat came in, and he's obviously a highly skilled player," Reimer said. "I just tried to wait him out and not give him too much net. Luckily enough, I was able to get a glove on it."
The Canucks are 14-3-1 in their past 18 games.
"I thought our team was outstanding tonight," Vancouver coach Travis Green said. "I thought it was a pretty intense game, probably fitting that it went into overtime and then a shootout."

They said it

"I think we have a lot of confidence right now. When you're winning, that confidence is there. We've [trailed] in this stretch that we're playing pretty well in, and it doesn't matter. We try not to change our game if we're winning or losing. Sometimes that's easier said than done, but tonight was a good example. Those are the types of games where you need to get a point." -- Canucks forward J.T. Miller
"It was a pretty solid 60-minute effort. It didn't feel like there were any lulls in there. Not a ton of opportunities either way really. It didn't feel like there was a lot happening at times, but I thought that we were really competitive." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour

Need to know

Pettersson scored his 50th and 51st NHL goals in his 124th game. Among players to debut with the Canucks, Pavel Bure (82 games) and Brock Boeser (110 games) reached 50 in fewer games. ... Miller had an assist on Pettersson's second goal to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, five assists). ... The Canucks were 0-for-4 on the power play with seven shots on goal. ... Hurricanes forward Lucas Wallmark left the game at 12:37 of the third period with an undisclosed injury after he was hit into the boards by Myers. No penalty was called. ... Carolina is 4-0 in the shootout this season. ... Teravainen has two goals and four assists during a three-game point streak.

What's next

Canucks: At the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NESN, SNP, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: At the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-CR, NHL.TV)