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I Watched This Game: Canucks' Pettersson excels despite big loss to Rangers

Daniel Wagner
Daniel Wagner
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Oct 12 2026, 4:58 am
I Watched This Game: Canucks' Pettersson excels despite big loss to Rangers
Wendell Cruz/Imagn Images

There are many reasons why the Vancouver Canucks lost 6-2 to the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Kevin Lankinen allowed six or more goals for the third time in five starts. The Canucks gave up yet another power play goal. Trailing heading into the final 20 minutes, the team managed just four shots on goal in the third period.

There’s one player you can’t blame, however: Elias “D-Petey” Pettersson.

In a 6-2 loss, the young Swedish defenceman finished plus-two. Moreover, Pettersson thoroughly tilted the ice whenever he stepped over the boards.

Shot attempts were 28-to-9 for the Canucks when Pettersson was on the ice at 5-on-5. Shots on goal were 11-to-3; scoring chances were 13-to-5; high-danger scoring chances were 6-to-0.

“When it comes to Petey, he understands who he is and who he needs to be as a defenceman,” said head coach Manny Malhotra. “He did a good job of that tonight, just being physical and killing plays when he could.”

Pettersson did all this in 21:30 of ice time, which is just short of his career high, and while facing a steady diet of the Rangers’ top-six forwards.

To top it off, Pettersson scored the first shorthanded goal of his career. He had a major impact on both ends of the ice, with a team-leading four hits and seven shot attempts.

“It’s always nice to get on the scoresheet, but he knows that’s not part of his regular expected behaviours on the ice,” said Malhotra. “But he knows who he is and he plays the game the way he’s supposed to.”

Tom Willander can have a pinch of praise as well. He was the only other Canuck to finish plus-anything, and he was also plus-two. He and Pettersson were paired together for the first time this season, and the combination immediately made sense.

The only thing is that Willander didn’t tilt the ice quite as much as Pettersson. In his minutes away from Pettersson, Willander got shellacked with shot attempts 8-to-1 for the Rangers when he was with Guillaume Brisebois, and 5-to-0 when he was with Luke Schenn.

The other issue is that Willander and Pettersson playing together meant a third pairing of Brisebois and Schenn.

That duo didn’t do so hot. Brisebois and Schenn were on the ice together for three goals against at 5-on-5

But in a rebuild, you look for the positives from your youth, not your veterans. And the Canucks got those positives when I watched this game.

  • I said that Elias Pettersson led the Canucks in hits in this game, and he did, but he was actually tied for the team lead with another player: Elias Pettersson.
  • The Elder Elias, as he is known in Lovecraftian literature, has been pretty sharp on faceoffs this season. Against the Rangers, he got absolutely wrecked, going 6-for-20. J.T. Miller did most of the damage, as Pettersson went 2-f0r-11 against his former teammate.
  • The Rangers struck first just 27 seconds into the game. With his forwards caught up ice, Zeev Buium committed like Bart Simpson to a bit: overly. Alexis Lafrèniere tipped the puck past him to create a 2-on-1, and Lankinen coughed up a rebound into the slot for Tye Kartye to open the scoring.
  • “Obviously, when you start a game down one-nothing thirty seconds in, it’s not an ideal start,” said Malhotra. “[I liked] the resiliency we showed throughout the course of the period to get ourselves back into it.”
  • The Canucks responded with yet another goal from the top line. After “OG” Pettersson got one of his two faceoff wins against Miller, he tipped a Tom Willander shot on goal, then chased down the rebound. He battled Miller and Adam Fox to hold the puck in the corner until Jonathan Lekkerimäki could swoop in to steal the puck and feed Jake DeBrusk, who ripped the puck like a Pokémon pack and got a hit, beating Dylan Garand on the short side.

  • Lankinen looked weakest on the Rangers’ second goal. Will Cuylle stepped around Linus Karlsson at the blue line, then beat Lankinen from distance — specifically, a long distance. He was partially screened by Luke Schenn, but that’s a goal Lankinen has to have.
  • To his credit, Lankinen settled in after that goal, making a few big stops to keep the Canucks in the game through the second period, just long enough for it to entirely fall apart in the third period. It’s also hard to blame Lankinen too much given some of the chances the skaters in front of him were giving up. But man, he’s got a .786 save percentage to start the season. I know the Canucks are tanking, but, like the restaurant in Mission Impossible, that’s a little too much tank.
  • Elias the Younger, as the Vikings call him, responded on the penalty kill. Drew O’Connor poked the puck free to create a counterattack with Brendan Gallagher and Pettersson smartly jumped up in the rush to make it a 3-on-2. Gallagher set up Pettersson, and he unleashed a laser beam of a wristshot past Garand’s glove.

  • The assist gave Gallagher his first point as a Canuck; now every Canucks forward to play a game so far this season has at least one point. Scoring goals has not been a problem thus far; preventing them has been a bit more of an issue.
  • Like Buster Keaton, the Canucks couldn’t hang onto the tie. Max Sasson, playing wing for the first time this season, got caught out of position against the Rangers’ breakout, giving up a 3-on-2 behind him. A cross-ice pass from Miller set up Kartye for a wide-open shot, and he went bardown to make it 3-2.
  • The Canucks had no response in the third period, perhaps because they were playing their second game in two nights. The Rangers extended the lead on the power play after Miller collided with Lankinen outside the crease, leaving Lafrèniere with an open net.
  • There was a scary moment late in the game. As the youthful Pettersson battled with Miller along the boards, Miller’s skate came up and kicked Pettersson in the chest. A beat later, Pettersson frantically dropped his glove, grabbed his side, and skated to the bench, apparently fearing he had been cut. Thankfully, he appeared to be okay once he got checked out by a trainer.

  • I was really hoping that Brisebois would do well in his first NHL game in 638 days. He started out well in the first period, jumping up into the play for a couple of shots and throwing a couple of solid hits on the boards, but things went downhill from there, as the Canucks were badly outshot, outchanced, and outscored when he was on the ice.
  • The Rangers made it 5-2 with an Adam Fox slap pass to Gabe Perreault, who got inside position on Lekkerimäki. Then Lankinen spilled out a rebound, and Cuylle spun off Schenn to pop it home, making it 6-2.
  • It’s fine. Everything’s fine. They’re rebuilding, and it’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be fine?
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