Pettersson scores twice as Canucks win in Chicago on Pride night

Elias Pettersson scored twice, Phillip Di Giuseppe scored, Brock Boeser got an empty-netter, and the Vancouver Canucks beat Chicago 4-2 on Sunday night.

The Chicago organization celebrated Pride night, honouring the city's gay community, without the rainbow-coloured Pride night warm-up jerseys nor coloured stick tape used in previous seasons. On Thursday, the team announced they wouldn't wear them, citing an anti-gay Kremlin law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December that could imperil Russian athletes when they return home.

Pettersson scored his 34th and 35th goals of the season in the third period. His first, a deep-angle shot from the right side, broke the tie at 12:06. His second, on a power play, came from the slot in the middle of a pileup 63 seconds later. Andrei Kuzmenko assisted on both goals.

"Listen, I'm happy we won," Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. "I just didn't like our start. We came on at the end."

WATCH | Pettersson scores pair in win over Chicago:

Chicago defenceman Connor Murphy opened the scoring, beating Canucks goalie Collin Delia with a 55-foot wrist shot with 3:59 left in the first period. It was the sixth goal of the season for Murphy who last scored on Jan. 23.

"I think we just stuck with it regardless of the situation," said Delia. "We kept on going. I think that's just a testament to our group. That's the type of habits we're trying to build. Just the commitment we have to each other day in and day out, the little habits, the practice habits.

Di Giuseppe tied it 1-1 with 17 seconds left in the second period, his centring pass from the right slot caroming into the Chicago net off the left instep of Chicago defenceman Seth Jones. Goaltender Petr Mrazek could not react to