Not a bad way to go into Christmas. The Vancouver Canucks defeated the San Jose Sharks by a 4-3 margin at home. While the score was the right result, the process wasn’t exactly to plan.

Cody Ceci cut it to 4-2 at 4:21 of the third period with a slap shot from the top of the right circle that hit defenseman Derek Forbort in the leg and deflected through Demko. Luke Kunin scored on a rebound with Askarov pulled for an extra attacker for the 4-3 final at 19:54.

Elias Pettersson scored two goals 44 seconds apart in the second period to snap a seven-game scoring drought and the Vancouver Canucks held on to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3.

Monday's win was massive as Pettersson broke his six-game goalless and pointless streak. He scored twice in 44 seconds during the second period, with his second goal looking like a vintage Pettersson snipe. With four shots total, he looked like the Pettersson of old, which is massive for Vancouver moving forward.

The Vancouver Canucks gave the fans and themselves the perfect gift before Christmas: a 4-3 win against the San Jose Sharks. Head Coach Rick Tocchet felt it was a good game overall and that it was a win by committee.

As for the heatmap, the Canucks did a good job of protecting the net. While San Jose was able to generate scoring chances, Thatcher Demko only faced five high-danger shots, stopping all of them. In the end, Vancouver did a good job protecting the front of the net, especially in the third period.