{"id":544482,"date":"2026-03-18T12:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/544482\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:34:08","slug":"elias-petterssons-work-shines-in-vancouver-canucks-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/544482\/","title":{"rendered":"Elias Pettersson’s work shines in Vancouver Canucks’ win"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2014 Elias Pettersson<\/a> has been working on his game. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a difficult season for the star centre and his Vancouver Canucks<\/a>, one marred by a slew of unexpected setbacks and sharp criticism for the team\u2019s highest-paid player. <\/p>\n

Amid the noise and disappointment, Pettersson has been trying to simplify \u2014 and shoot more. <\/p>\n

The mindset paid off on Tuesday with a pair of first-period power-play goals that helped the Canucks to a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think goals could have come earlier, but it is what it is,\u201d Pettersson said after the win. \u201cHappy with the two goals tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first came less than four minutes into the game when the Swedish forward unleashed a one-timer from inside the faceoff circle, sending a shot soaring in past Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It was his first goal in 21 games, with his last coming back on Jan. 13. <\/p>\n

Despite the drought, Pettersson has been working on his game, said Canucks head coach Adam Foote<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s about necessarily his skill set or things like that. I think he\u2019s just working on his work ethic,\u201d he said. \u201dHe comes out early, he goes the bike after games, he\u2019s changed his whole mindset. He\u2019s been doing it for four to six weeks now. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see him not get too frustrated. \u2026 He\u2019s taken another step, and he\u2019s owned some of what\u2019s gone on. And a lot of it, too, there\u2019s been a lot going on this year. And so it\u2019s just nice to see him mature that way. Hopefully he can keep doing it that way and you\u2019ll see it a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pettersson, 27, now has 15 goals and 25 assists on the season. He leads Vancouver in points but is well off the career-best 102-point campaign he posted in 2022-23.<\/p>\n

The shot he showcased on Tuesday is exactly what the Canucks (21-38-8) need, said Brock Boeser<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA confident Petey. We need him to do that, we need him to let that bomb go,\u201d said the winger, who registered three assists on the night. \u201cAnd even in the third period, even if it hurts a guy, that\u2019s fine. It creates stuff off of that. So I love to see it, and you gotta keep bombing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boeser set up Vancouver\u2019s second strike Tuesday, slipping Pettersson a behind-the-back pass that he collected before ripping off a shot that pinged in off a pair of Florida defencemen. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nice to get a bounce to go the right way, but I\u2019m just trying to play the right way,\u201d Pettersson said of the play. \u201cI know I still have a lot to do to be where I want to be, but definitely nice to see two go in tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal, which gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead, sparked chants of \u201cLet\u2019s go Petey!\u201d from the crowd at Rogers Arena. <\/p>\n

It also marked the 200th regular-season goal of Pettersson\u2019s NHL career. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat means a lot,\u201d he said. \u201dCool milestones to hit, and hopefully I get to reach more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vancouver remains at the bottom of the NHL standings with 14 games left this season. <\/p>\n

The playoffs may be out of reach, but there\u2019s still lots for everyone in the locker room to play for, Pettersson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust take these games, work on things that you might not be comfortable with, just try to grow every single game to become a better player,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

JONES-ING TO RETURN<\/p>\n

Defenceman Seth Jones<\/a> returned to Florida\u2019s lineup after missing 26 games with an upper-body injury. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cI was watching for way too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old American logged 20:16 in ice time with one shot and one hit. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt decent,\u201d Jones said. \u201dMy lungs and legs were a little dead there in the first period but overall I made some decent plays, just trying to focus on the defensive side of the puck, gaps, making good breakout passes. I feel pretty good. Good enough to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

MR. 800<\/p>\n

Bobrovsky played his 800th regular-season NHL game on Tuesday, a milestone the 37-year-old goalie said he never imagined growing up in Russia. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still can\u2019t believe,\u201d he said after the game. <\/p>\n

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday that the way the veteran netminder prepares shows how much he loves hockey \u2014 a fact Bobrovsky enthusiastically confirmed. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my life, you know, I love everything,\u201d said the two-time Stanley Cup champion. \u201dI love the preparation. I love the games, the emotions that I have in the games. It\u2019s sometimes you get emotions like tonight, it\u2019s tough but then you wake up in the morning and try to work hard, get out of this, focus on next shot, and then you build the good wave. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ups and downs, but it\u2019s fun. It\u2019s still inside of me, a little kid that loves the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2014 Elias Pettersson has been working on his game. It\u2019s been a difficult season for the star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,82,55],"class_list":["post-544482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}