Getty Elias Pettersson vows to be better after his coach called him out.
Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson knows he has to be better if his team is going to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Pettersson has just 1 goal in the series and has struggled to produce much offense. After Game 4, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet called him out and the Swede knows he has to be better.
“He sends a message to the group that we all need to be better, and obviously myself I know I can be better,” Pettersson said of the criticism, via NHL.com. “I’m trying out there, maybe not going the best way right now, but I’m trying. I want to win.”
Pettersson signed an eight-year, $92.8 million contract with the Canucks on March 2 that begins for the 2024-25 NHL season.
The Swede was supposed to be one of the top players for Vancouver, but in the playoffs, he has just 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points in 10 playoff games.
Entering a pivotal Game 5, Pettersson knows he has to be better and be the difference-maker the team needs him to be.
“At the end of the day I can only focus on what I can do and obviously I want to be better,” Pettersson said. “I want to be the difference-maker, and it hasn’t gone obviously the way I want it to be, but at the end of the day, I can’t dwell on it too much. We have a game (on May 16). I’m going to try to do my best and that’s where my head is at.”
Rick Tocchet Says Elias Pettersson Needs to Be Better
After the Canucks lost 3-2 in Game 4, Tocchet was frustrated with his team’s play and said he may be making several lineup changes for Game 5 on May 16.
“I’m disappointed. There are too many soft plays on that (third) goal, four or five plays. You have to dig in there,” Tocchet said after the Game 4 loss on May 14. “I thought we had four or five guys make mistakes on that goal. You can’t do that.
“We’ve been a resilient group all year, but we need five or six guys to get going. This is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There are some guys, I don’t know if they thought it was playoffs, and we can’t play with 12 guys. We’ll be talking about (potential changes) tomorrow (May 15). We have some guys that might be getting in the lineup for us,” Tocchet added.
Although Tocchet said several players struggled in Game 4, he also called out Pettersson saying the skilled forward needs to be better.
“He’s got to get going. I don’t know what else to say,” Tocchet said.
The Canucks return home for a pivotal Game 5 against the Oilers on May 16.
Canucks Eager to Return Home
Vancouver and Edmonton have alternated wins and losses in the series, but the Canucks will look to take control of the series on May 16.
Vancouver will be back at home in front of their home fans, which forward Pius Suter is excited about.
“I’m very excited,” Suter said, via NHL.com. “We’ve played in a couple of arenas now and it’s the loudest one we’ve been at. Yeah, I’m very excited.”
The Canucks have yet to lose two games in a row these playoffs as the team has bounced back with a win after each of their three losses so far in these playoffs.