In a disastrous season no one anticipated, the Vancouver Canucks stunned everyone again on Wednesday by beating the Colorado Avalanche 8-6 in Denver as the National Hockey League’s worst and best teams went the opposite way.

Only an April Fool would have predicted this scoreline.

Heading towards their worst finish in franchise history, the Canucks built a four-goal lead on the Stanley Cup favourites, then blew it when the Avalanche scored three straight third-period goals to tie the game 6-6 with 6:02 remaining. The latter event was far less surprising than the first.

But just as everyone was saying, “Yeah, the Canucks, it figures,” shutdown defenceman Marcus Pettersson roared forward and blasted Vancouver back into the lead from Brock Boeser’s setup with 5:39 to go before Boeser capped his four-point night by shooting into an empty net for his seventh hat trick.

Pettersson’s game-winner, on a night when he had three points and was plus-four in 25:07 of ice time,  came just 23 seconds after Sam Malinski took advantage of Elias Pettersson Junior’s weak clearance to score from distance and pull the Avalanche even.

“From the beginning of the year to injuries, to going young and the rebuild, it's been wild,” Canucks coach Adam Foote told reporters in Denver. “But to play as hard as we do still, with the resiliency and leadership from (Filip) Hronek and guys like Boeser, Marcus, it's good to see. And the young guys are coming. They're coming, they're believing it, they're staying connected. You know, we're going to have our blips. We're just learning the hard way right now. But the resiliency, like you said, is what I'm proud of.........

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