Canucks prospect Pettersson is leading the World Juniors in scoring (VIDEOS)

Dec 31 2017, 5:49 am

Another game, another offensive outburst from Elias Pettersson.

The 19-year-old Canucks prospect is off to a fine start at the World Juniors in Buffalo, sharing the tournament lead in points and goals through the first three games.

Pettersson, a centre who’s playing right wing for Sweden in this tournament, shares the scoring lead with six points (4-2-6). He’s tied with American Casey Mittelstadt (taken three spots after Pettersson by the Sabres in the 2017 draft) and teammate Rasmus Dahlin, the consensus No. 1 prospect for the 2018 draft.

With four goals, he’s tied with Sweden’s Lias Andersson (taken two spots after him by the Rangers in the draft) and American Kieffer Bellows (a 2016 Islanders first round draft pick).

He’s in good company at the top of both categories, to be sure.

Sweden has rolled through the tournament so far, as the only team with a perfect record. After wins over Belarus (6-1) and the Czech Republic (3-1), they seemed to sleep walk their way through most of their game against Switzerland on Saturday. They still managed to walk away with a 7-2 win though, which is a testament to their skill.

Skill was on display from Pettersson too, as the fifth overall pick last June finished the game with two goals and one assist.

His first point was an assist on the power play, where he has been outstanding in this tournament.

He got a bit lucky with his first goal, scoring off an attempted pass.

But his second goal? It was all class.

Here’s another look at it:

And the reaction:

It’s a great sign that Pettersson can pile up points, even in a game where he wasn’t overly noticeable.

Here’s a look at Pettersson’s game against Belarus in the tournament opener:

And here’s his rocket of a wrist shot against the Czechs on Thursday:

Sweden will close out the preliminary round with a game against Russia on Sunday (5 pm on TSN), which should be their toughest test yet. It’ll be interesting to see if Pettersson can improve his production at even strength (he’s scored four of his six points on the power play), and if he can continue to excel against better competition – against Russia and into the knockout round.

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