VANCOUVER Luke Glendening Jersey , British Columbia (AP) — Chalk up another first for Elias Pettersson.The rookie sensation scored on his initial NHL penalty shot and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 Thursday night to snap a four-game losing streak.Pettersson made it look easy, snaking his way across the ice, making a couple of dekes, then slipping the puck past the toe of Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne to give Vancouver a 4-1 lead late in the second period.“I was trying to fake and go right to left,” said Pettersson, who also had an assist. “It worked out this time.”Bo Horvat said it’s the kind of play the Canucks have come to expect from the 20-year-old Swede.“It was a highly skilled move by a highly skilled player,” said Horvat, who had a goal and an assist. “You expect him to do those kinds of things and it’s nice to see that go in for him.”Pettersson was awarded the penalty shot with 1:11 left in the second period after being hauled down on a breakaway by Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm. Pettersson took his time getting to his feet.“I was mostly tired, actually,” he said. “I took some time to rest. I was ready to go when the ref blew the whistle.”Picked fifth overall in the 2017 draft, Pettersson leads all rookies with 14 goals and 25 points. He started the season with nine goals and six assists in his first nine games but had just one goal and three assists in his last eight.“Some games you can create a lot and have zero points,” he said. “Sometimes you create two chances and you have two points.“I’m only focusing on playing a good game, then the points will eventually come.”Jake Virtanen also had a goal and an assist for the Canucks Martin Frk Jersey , who have just two wins in their last 14 games (2-10-2).Alex Edler, on the power play, and Loui Eriksson also scored for Vancouver (12-16-3). Antoine Roussel had two assists. Nikolay Goldobin, a healthy scratch in Vancouver’s 3-2 loss Tuesday to Minnesota, assisted on Edler’s goal to give him a team-leading 13 helpers.Ryan Hartman, Colton Sissons and Matt Irwin scored for Nashville (19-9-1), which won its previous two games. Rinne, making his sixth straight start, had 21 saves before being replaced to start the third period by Juuse Saros. He stopped four shots.Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves.The line of Horvat, Virtanen and Roussel was particularly effective, combining for six points, two goals and plenty of chances.“I felt like with our speed we were catching them on 2-on-1s a lot,” Virtanen said.With just 26 seconds left in the first period http://www.officialredwings.com/authent … een-jersey , Horvat took a feed from Virtanen and rifled a shot under the crossbar.“Bo had a great finish,” Virtanen said. “It was a perfect shot.”Virtanen’s goal came early in the second on a 2-on-1 break started by Horvat. Roussel carried the puck into the Nashville end, then slid a pass past defenseman Ryan Ellis that Virtanen fired by Rinne.The Predators, who were playing without three of their top forwards and one of their best defensemen, looked sluggish early and trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes.“That was a little bit ugly,” Sissons said. “We came out extremely slow and (with) a lack of determination and they were quite the opposite.“We didn’t show up ready to play.”The Predators made things interesting with a couple of goals late in the third period.“I thought we pushed back in the second half of the game, but it was too late,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “The start wasn’t good, and it ended up costing the game.”The victory blew some confidence back into the Canucks’ sails as the team heads out on the road for games in St. Louis, Columbus and Nashville.“I can’t stress how huge that was for us,” said Horvat, who has nine points (three goals, six assists) in the last nine games. “We have to keep it going now.“We can’t win one Nick Jensen Jersey , then lose a couple. We have to keep our spirits high and keep the positive momentum going into the road and try and get some wins.”NOTES: Eriksson’s goal was his first point in 11 games. … In a span of 1:40 during the first period, Edler scored a goal, flattened Yannick Weber with a big hit and was called for a penalty. … The Canucks went 0 for 12 on the power play in their previous four games. … D Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch for the first time since an eight-game stretch in October. … The Predators played without forwards Kyle Turris, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson, and defenseman P.K. Subban — all due to injury.UP NEXTPredators: Play at Calgary on Saturday night.Canucks: Play at St. Louis on Sunday afternoon. The Washington Capitals got the pageantry of winning the Stanley Cup — the banner-raising, one last celebration with their fans — out of their system Wednesday when they opened the 2018-19 season, although a 7-0 win over the visiting Boston Bruins might have seemed like another chapter to the same party.“That’s a huge day for us,” Evgeny Kuznetzov, who had two goals, told NBCSN. “Our fans waited a long time to have a night like that.”Now comes perhaps a dose of reality. The Capitals play on the road on the second of back-to-back nights against a longtime rival that didn’t have to play Wednesday and is champing at the bit to greet them.Article continues below ...“The games are already pretty tense, and this game is going to be no different. It’s going to be a fun one to play in,” Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said after his team practiced Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena, site of the showdown with the Capitals Thursday night. “Even though it’s just a regular-season game Thomas Vanek Jersey , I think the stakes are high.”Dumoulin seems probable to play after recovering from an upper-body injury late in the preseason.The Penguins and Capitals have been division rivals for decades. Pittsburgh had made a habit of beating Washington in the playoffs en route to winning the Cup. Washington flipped the script in the second round last spring and ousted the two-time defending Cup champions along the way to their first title.That left the Capitals thirsty for more.“As soon as you win the Cup, you don’t want to lose that feeling,” Washington captain Alex Ovechkin told the Washington Post. “You want to win more than one. As soon as you taste it, it’s kind of like a really good restaurant. You go there once, and you want to come back more than once because it’s great.”The Capitals will be without winger Tom Wilson, who was issued a 20-game suspension by the NHL Wednesday for a hit he delivered in a preseason game.Wilson was suspended three games during the playoff series with Pittsburgh last spring for delivering a hit that left Zach Aston-Reese with a broken jaw and a concussion.Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby was critical of Wilson before the length of the latest suspension was known.“He still chooses to make those hits,” Crosby said. “I’m sure the league’s well aware of that. It’s not the first time we’re talking about a hit that he made. … For whatever reason, he still decides to do that.“I just don’t know how many opportunities you need, you know? So, obviously, the point hasn’t been made yet.”Perhaps anticipating Wilson’s absence, the Capitals Tuesday claimed winger Dmitrij Jaskin off waivers from St. Louis, and he could make his Washington debut against the Penguins. Defenseman Michal Kempny is out because of a concussion.The Wilson suspension aside Womens Adam Larsson Jersey , both teams returned for the 2018-19 season largely intact, although Pittsburgh has touted the fact that its players got a longer offseason to rest and recover after two short summers following Cup wins.“I think everyone’s really, really excited,” Dumoulin said of the opening of the season. “You feel the energy throughout the team. I think everyone’s excited to start playing for something again and come together as a team — especially after last year, ending it on a sour note.”While Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray will be fresh, Washington coach Todd Reirden had not decided whether to go with his No. 1 goalie, Braden Holtby, a second night in a row against the Penguins after he picked up his 33rd career shutout Wednesday.“I definitely have spent some time on this one, probably as soon as the schedule came out,” Reirden said of the decision.