VANCOUVER — If you were lucky enough not to blink in the split-second it took Elias Pettersson to shoot and score in his National Hockey League debut on Wednesday, you saw the future of the Vancouver Canucks emerge.
“I got a blackout, I was so happy,” Pettersson, the 19-year-old Swedish sensation, said later. “It didn’t feel it was real at first. It was an amazing feeling, a feeling I will never forget.”
It was a goal nobody on the West Coast will forget, as Pettersson angled his stick to pass on a two-on-one then cocked his wrists and from almost behind his back foot rocketed a shot into the short-side top corner to beat Calgary Flames goalie Mike Smith at 13:48 of the first period. It was Petterson’s first shot in the NHL.
“I was thinking that he was passing it the whole time,” Canuck coach Travis Green said. “And praying that he would shoot.”
Pettersson probably wasn’t the only one in Rogers Arena wondering if this was real. A sense of disbelief permeated the Canucks’ opening night as the rebuilding team, which scored only 10 times during a 1-6 pre-season and is a popular pick to finish last in the league this season, pumped in four third-period goals to beat the Flames 5-2.
At 24, Brendan Leipsic was the oldest of the five Canucks scorers. The most experienced was Jake Virtanen, 22, who has played 141 games in the NHL. The 19-year-old Pettersson was the youngest scorer. Nikolay Goldobin, 22, and Tyler Motte, 23, (into an empty net) also scored.
Among these players, only Virtanen was on the Canucks when last season began.
The Canucks not only earned what is supposed to be a rare victory, they generated something even more precious to a team with a lot of young players trying to prove they belong in the NHL: enthusiasm, confidence.
“It was really important,” Leipsic agreed. “I think the young guys can lean on each other a little bit, and we have some nice veterans who can kind of show us what it takes. I was in Vegas last year, and there was more (pessimism) surrounding that group at the start of the season than I’ve been around, ever. Everybody in here has doubters. Nobody really pays attention to it. We think we’re good hockey players.”
With a six-game road trip looming, starting Saturday in Calgary, it was imperative for the Canucks to start well.
Indicative of the negativity that surrounds the team, the third question during Green’s post-game press conference was about Pettersson’s lack of ice time. He logged 9:46.
Rarely flustered, Green said, “C’mon, guys,” before composing himself and explaining that the Canucks were shorthanded for 14 minutes, Vancouver had only one power play, and Pettersson is going to play lots.
“Especially after the pre-season … a lot of talk about not being able to score, a lot of young guys in the lineup, it was good to get a win,” Green said. “It’s nice to see the young guys get rewarded. Young guys want to feel good, especially at the start of the season. Guys that have been in the league for a little while understand it doesn’t have to happen in game one or two.
“I think with young guys, they press, for sure, to score. To see five young guys gets goals, it’s nice to see.”
With his parents and just about every long-suffering Canucks fan watching, Pettersson collected Loui Eriksson’s pass and skated in on a two-on-one with defenceman Derrick Pouliot. With Flames’ defenceman Michael Stone taking away the pass, Pettersson wisely chose to shoot.
Seeing the puck was in before anyone else did, he pumped both arms and skated into Pouliot in the corner. As the crowd roared again when Pettersson was shown on camera back on the Canucks’ bench, the teenager grinned like, well, a teenager.
He also teed up Goldobin’s goal that made it 2-0 1:52 into the third period.
Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom was outstanding, beaten only by Matthew Tkachuk’s batted puck and an own-goal by Vancouver winger Sven Baertschi, who tried to sweep away a loose puck but prodded it under Markstrom.
Pettersson said after the morning skate that he had been dreaming his whole life of playing in the NHL, “and now I’m here.”
“I know there is lots of excitement around me,” he told reporters. “I’m just trying to make the most of that and be the best player I can be each and every game.
“Guys have taken care of me a lot. I’ve come into this really easily. Everybody is so kind to me and taking care of me. To come over to Canada and settle in, it’s been really easily actually.”
Nothing is supposed to be easy in the NHL. Especially in Vancouver.
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