1) The Vancouver Canucks stood up to their bully on Thursday night at Rogers Arena. Facing a Vegas team that beat them soundly on Sunday and one that had taken eight of the first nine meetings between the teams since the Golden Knights joined the National Hockey League three years ago, the Canucks responded with a win they simply had to have. They didn't make it easy on themselves letting leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 slip away before Chris Tanev proved to be the unlikely overtime hero scoring 90 seconds into the extra session to give the Canucks a 5-4 win. And while no lead was safe, the Canucks never trailed in the hockey game either establishing early on that they were ready for the challenge by scoring twice in the first eight minutes of the hockey game. And even though Vegas turned up the heat and erased a two-goal deficit with a pair of goals 1:09 apart midway through the second period, the Canucks were able to catch their breath and actually held their own over the final eight minutes of the second despite getting outshot 19-12 in the period.

2) The Canucks had a response to every Vegas scoring play and also had a physical response throughout the hockey game -- and that hasn't always been the case with this group in recent years. In a game that certainly had an edge, the Canucks stood up for themselves, but did it smartly showing both valour and discipline in equal parts. Where the Canucks ran into penalty problems that ultimately did them in on Tuesday against Montreal, on Thursday they gave Vegas just one power play all night. They played cleanly between the whistles, but didn't back down when the likes of Ryan Reaves and Deryk Engelland tried to impose themselves physically. The Canucks fourth line -- their optimal fourth line of Jay Beagle between Tim Schaller and Tyler Motte -- were aggressive throughout the night and offered resistance when the Golden Knights tried to turn up the temperature of the hockey game. It was clear from the outset that the Canucks wanted to prove to themselves and their visitors that they were ready to battle. And they did a solid job of that sticking together and sticking up for one another until victory had been attained.

3) Chris Tanev was the unlikely scoring hero, but make no mistake Elias Pettersson was the best Canuck skater on the night. The sophomore Swede scored twice and also blistered the crossbar on a second period power play with the game tied 3-3. He also very nearly capped the hattrick with another good scoring chance on the first shift of overtime as he worked his way in on left wing and forced Marc-Andre Fleury to make a solid stop. Pettersson finished the night with four shots on eight attempts and approached his season-high in ice time skating 22:15 on Thursday. While he had been picking up points sporadically lately, he'd been looking for a breakout game and it arrived when the Canucks needed it the most. Last week, he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Carolina so he certainly made a difference that night, but it wasn't a big night on the stat sheet. Against Vegas, he registered his first multi-point outing in 10 games (since November 27th at Pittsburgh) and his first multi-goal game in 17 contests (since a November 12th win over Nashville). He was overdue for an offensive outburst and it arrived at the right time for the Canucks and the fan base.

4) It took them more than two months, but the Canucks seem to have finally figured out overtime. Their last three wins have all come in the extra session after the first eight trips of the season did not yield a victory. The Canucks beat Buffalo on a 4-on-3 power play (JT Miller) and defeated Carolina (Pettersson) before getting past the Golden Knights (Tanev). The Canucks were aggressive in the 90 seconds of extra time Thursday registering the only three shots of overtime. Pettersson had the first one followed by Bo Horvat who raced in on left wing and tested Fleury before staying with the play and threading a pass through to Tanev for the winner. Earlier in the season, Horvat and Miller started overtime usually with Alex Edler followed by Elias Pettersson with Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes. Those trios hadn't produced the desired results, so Travis Green made a subtle change and on Thursday started Pettersson and Miller with Hughes and followed with Horvat-Boeser and Tanev. There are issues in other places throughout the line-up, but the Canucks have enough top end skill that they should be a dangerous team in overtime -- and it seems that's proving to be the case. On the season, the Canucks have evened their record in games settled in OT at 3-3. Including shootouts, the Canucks are now 6-4 in games determined after regulation taking six of the 10 bonus points that have been up for grabs so far. Last year, they were 13-11 in games that went beyond 60 minutes.

5) Jacob Markstrom was perfect against Carolina last week pitching a 43-save shutout. A strong argument could be made, however, that Thursday was his best performance of the season. Stealing a page from the mid-1980's Grant Fuhr, it wasn't how many pucks got past Markstrom, it was the saves he made and when he made them. And against Vegas, he came up with some spectacular stops at critical points of the hockey game. He absolutely robbed Mark Stone with a minute to go in the first period preventing Vegas from heading to the locker room in a 2-2 tie after trailing 2-0. Moments after that five-alarm stop, Elias Pettersson scored his first of two on the night extending the Canuck lead to 3-1. Had Stone scored in that moment, all the good the Canucks had done early in the game would have been erased and who knows how a fragile team would have responded from there. Markstrom made another terrific reactionary stop off Max Pacioretty early in the third with the game tied 3-3 and the outcome hanging in the balance. A point shot went wide of the net and bounced quickly to the side of the goal where Pacioretty was parked. But Markstrom got across the crease quickly and was able to snag the bang-bang scoring attempt with his glove to keep the game deadlocked. And then at 4-4 with the Knights on their only power play of the hockey game and under two minutes remaining in the third, Markstrom had his crowning moment with a glorious desperation stop off Paul Stastny on the doorstep and the winner seemingly on his stick blade. Sure, Markstom gave up four on the night. But that wasn't the story. This was a night when Markstrom made the saves he needed to at key times throughout the hockey game to keep his team afloat and ultimately give it the chance to win.