Golden Knights lose ground in wild card race with OT loss to Canucks

VANCOUVER --The Vegas Golden Knights lost ground in the Western Conference wild card race with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

Quinn Hughes scored on a rebound 51 seconds into overtime after Shea Theodore tied it 4-4 for Vegas with 42 seconds left in the third period on a one-timer from the bottom of the right face-off circle.
Theodore scored two goals, Alec Martinez had a goal and an assist, and Robin Lehner made 22 saves for the Golden Knights (40-29-5), whose only two losses in the past eight games are to the Canucks.
"Proud of the way the guys battled back," Martinez said. "Getting points this time of year is big, but that said, we're shooting for two, not one."

Forward Mark Stone returned after missing 26 games with a back injury for Vegas, which is three points behind the Dallas Stars for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for third in the Pacific Division.
"There's no quit in this team. There hasn't been all year and it was an important point," coach Peter DeBoer said. "We'll take the point. I think we're going to have to be better than that down the stretch in order to get where we want to go."
Elias Pettersson had a goal and two assists, and Thatcher Demko made 41 saves for the Canucks (36-28-10), who have won four in a row to move three points behind the Golden Knights. They remain six points behind the Stars for the second wild card and six back of the Kings in the Pacific.
"It's pretty clear what we've got to do. We've got to win," Pettersson said. "We feel pretty good now, we've won four in a row, but it doesn't mean [much] if we don't continue this way, playing good hockey. We're still behind, we've still got to win games."

Stone said it will take time to find his legs and his game after being out since Feb. 8.
"Not sure anything came back quick in that one," Stone said. "Can't say I felt very good. Lungs really weren't there. I just tried to do what I could to try and help the team."
It might take time for him to find chemistry on a power play that was 0-for-3 on Tuesday and is 0-for-18 in the past seven games.
"I hope not," Stone said. "We got eight games left, but I've never stepped foot on the ice in the same uniform as Jack Eichel, so I think we're still reading off each other, but it will come. We just got to be a little bit more committed to it."
Bo Horvat put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 1:04 of the first period with a one-timer on the power play off a one-touch pass by Alex Chiasson along the goal line.
Martinez scored his first goal of the season to tie it 1-1 at 16:59 when Mattias Janmark's point shot deflected in off him cutting to the net.
Vasily Podkolzin put the Canucks ahead 2-1 on a power play 1:27 into the second period, redirecting a slap pass from Pettersson at the top of the crease.
Vancouver was 2-for-3 on the power play.
"If we can get one or two power-play goals a game and keep shutting them out, that's the difference at this part of the season, one goal," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Special teams are going to make a huge difference."

Pettersson made it 3-1 at 3:16 with a wrist shot off the rush that bounced off the glove of Lehner and landed between his legs, where it was knocked just over the goal line by the skate of Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud.
Michael Amadio scored on a deflection to make it 3-2 at 4:26, but Vancouver went up 4-2 at 13:03 on a 2-on-1 that started with Pettersson stealing a puck in his own end and finished with a no-look pass to Brad Richardson for a tap-in.
"The closer I got to the goal, the bigger Lehner looked, so I was lucky to have found Richardson there," Pettersson said.
Vegas had the first 11 shots and outshot Vancouver 17-5 in the third period. Theodore made it 4-3 at 5:27 with a far-side wrist shot from the right face-off dot.
"It was a great lesson to be learned, quite frankly," Boudreau said. "When you're playing a good team you can't sit back, and usually that lesson costs you, and it didn't cost us tonight, so it was a very cheap lesson learned."
NOTES:Stone, the Golden Knights captain, was minus-1 with three shots on goal in 17:17. … Eichel had one assist to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, two assists) … Lehner made his fourth straight start after missing 12 games with injury. … Horvat had a goal and an assist, giving him eight points (five goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak. … Chiasson extended his point streak to four games (three goals, four assists). … Pettersson has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in the past eight games.