Instant Reaction: Guys named Elias Pettersson come up big in Canucks’ comeback win vs. Flames

Welcome back to Instant Reaction, the series here at CanucksArmy where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Vancouver Canucks game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

It’s Saturday night, it’s the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames facing off! Let’s dive into the action.

Lineup

Rossi-EP40-Karlsson
Öhgren-Cotter-Boeser
Bains-Sasson-Lekkerimäki
O’Connor-Räty-Gallagher

Buium-Hronek
Oleksiak-Willander
Pettersson-Schenn

Meriläinen

First Period

In the Canucks’ preseason game against the Flames, the Flames’ bottom six players, particularly Adam Klapka and Martin Pospisil, didn’t shy away from crashing the Canucks’ goal crease and getting in the Canucks goaltender’s grill. A “what are you going to do about it?” attitude of sorts.

Luke Schenn, who never backs down from a challenge or needs much of a reason to fight, helped them find out when he dropped the gloves with Klapka early. Schenn had a size disadvantage in the fight, but landed some solid left hands on Klapka. Head on over to hockeyfights.com to vote on it!

The Canucks got their first power play of the game when Joel Farabee tripped up Zeev Buium. The Canucks’ power play, as it did on Thursday night, gave up a few chances the other way and was once again all-around frantic. Linus Karlsson hit the crossbar with a shot attempt, and that was the Canucks’ best chance of the man-advantage.

Back at 5v5, Leevi Meriläinen made his best save of the period when he slid across the crease to stop a cross-crease pass on a Flames 2-on-1 attempt. That will be in The Stanchies later, I almost guarantee it.

Kevin Bahl was called for tripping up Linus Karlsson after some forechecking pressure from Marco Rossi led to a turnover. The Canucks’ second power play attempt of the night went slightly better than the first one. Meaning, they didn’t get a shot, but they also didn’t give up any prime scoring chances against, which is better than they could say on their first power play.

The Canucks took a penalty of their own shortly after when Luke Schenn got beat by Yegor Sharangovich and interfered with the Flames forward. The Flames managed to win an offensive zone draw, and Matt Coronato let go of a wrist shot from the left point that beat Meriläinen over his right shoulder.

1-0 Flames.

Some takeaways from the first:
-Nice to see Zeev Buium learning from Luke Schenn (who we’re officially calling “Mr. Plow” as you read in The Stanchies) and standing up for his goaltender with a nice takedown on Brennan Othmann, who got a little too comfortable in the blue paint.
-Really liked the look of Marco Rossi on the wing in the opening 20 minutes.

Second Period

Remember how entertaining the Canucks’ first two games of the season were? A ton of goals on not many shots? Unfortunately, they don’t get to shoot on Tristan Jarry or Devon Levi every night. There wasn’t much action in this period, but a bit of a situation arose with six minutes left in the second.

After Aatu Räty let go of a wrist shot that Devin Cooley handled without much issue, Kevin Bahl threw a late hit on an unsuspecting Räty, who went flying headfirst into the endboards.

It was a dangerous play, and the Canucks went to the power play as Bahl was assessed two minutes for boarding. Of course, Luke Schenn quickly found himself in the middle of it, sticking up for his teammate. The Canucks didn’t score on the power play, and their best chance was an Elias Pettersson one-timer attempt that EP40 blasted just over the bar.

It was still 1-0 late in the second, but the Canucks were starting to play a bit more aggressively, with noticeably more speed in their game.

Back at 5v5, Elias Pettersson ripped a wrist shot that hit the crossbar and stayed out. Marco Rossi appeared to have a chance to bury the rebound on an open net, but the Flames converged quickly to disrupt the play. Right after, Leevi Meriläinen made a huge stop, his best of the night.

These will be can’t-miss GIFs in The Stanchies tomorrow morning.

Canucks still trailing by one after 40 minutes of play.

-On a few occasions, the Canucks were looking to make one too many passes in this period.
-DPetey has some real bite to his game, and it’s great to see. Some solid puck moving tonight too.
-Look up the word beauty in the dictionary, and you’ll see a picture of Luke Schenn.
-Where did Zayne Parekh find that camera, and did anyone claim it from Ray Ferraro?
-Liking Leevi Meriläinen’s game so far. That save with four minutes left in the second was massive.
-Elias Pettersson is really feeling himself early on this season. Strong period from him.

Third Period

The Canucks started the third with some great pep in their step. Paul Cotter added another point to his early-season point total when he set up Liam Öhgren, who directed the puck toward the net and behind Devin Cooley. It certainly didn’t look like the puck crossed the goal line before Cooley got his glove on it, but after a review, the play, originally called no goal, represented the Canucks’ first tally of the night.

1-1.

The Canucks kept up the pressure on the Flames, and got their fifth power play chance of the evening after Drew O’Connor drew a hooking penalty on a breakaway attempt.

The Canucks had just two shots to their credit across their previous four PP attempts. On this one, they struggled mightily to enter the zone. Shocker: they didn’t score on this one either.

The two sides played some 4-on-4 shortly after, and with just under 11 minutes left, Liam Öhgren found a streaking Elias Junior Pettersson, who made a nifty move to his backhand and beat Cooley on the glove side.

2-1 Canucks.

With just over six minutes left, Simon Nemec sold a tripping call and gave the Flames a power play, with Marco Rossi heading to the box.

The Canucks killed off the power play. Later in the period, a very engaged Elias Pettersson threw a massive but clean hit on Zayne Parekh. That jump-started the Canucks’ rush chance the other way. He won’t get the assist, but this O’Connor goal does not happen without the hit from Pettersson.

3-1 Canucks.

Aatu Räty won a faceoff with the Flames’ net empty, battled for the puck, and scored an empty-net goal to extend the lead to 4-1.

Some takeaways from the third:
-This game was a bit of a snoozefest earlier on, but the entertainment value really picked up in the latter half of the second period.
-Need better than that from the power play.
-Eight hits for Pettersson in back-to-back games. Not bad for a player whose give-a-bleep meter has been questioned plenty over the past couple of years.
-Nice first start as a Canuck for Leevi Meriläinen!

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!

Be sure to check out Rink Wide Vancouver LIVE for all your post game needs after the game!