Elias Pettersson coming alive, J.T. Miller benched: 3 Canucks takeaways
On paper, the Vancouver Canucks' 9-5-3 record is an objectively good start to the 2024-25 regular season. It's a 101-point pace, the type of season that punches you into the playoffs with conviction and would even net you home-ice advantage for the first round based on last year's Pacific Division race.
The process, however, hasn't been convincing. The Canucks have yet to sustain their A-game for any meaningful stretch of games, and a lot of their wins have come against bottom-feeder teams. Vancouver's schedule is going to get harder, and if its form doesn't catch up, the results will start turning against it.
That isn't the only lens through which to look at this season's start, though.
An optimist would argue Vancouver's 101-point pace is impressive considering everything that's gone against it: Thatcher Demko 's injury, Brock Boeser 's recent absence, Elias Pettersson 's early struggles, J.T. Miller 's lack of sustained dominance and the second pair's catastrophic performance, among other factors. Eventually, some of those players will return to a higher level, which means the team's play will improve at some point, right?
Sunday night, the tables were turned: The Canucks' process wasn't half-bad, but the result, a 5-3 loss to Nashville , was. Vancouver had a commanding 13-4 advantage for five-on-five high-danger chances, but the club's typically sturdy penalty kill got burned twice. The Canucks also caught a tough break when Kiefer Sherwood (who had an excellent game overall against his former team) fanned on a breakaway in the second period, only for Nashville to turn and score the other way on the counterattack. And although you certainly wouldn't blame goaltending, Kevin Lankinen surrendered four goals on just 20 shots, which is a reminder of how fine the margins are without Demko between the pipes.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday night's performance.
Brännström continues promising start — does he deserve more ice time?
The Canucks are consistently falling behind in the first period, especially on home ice. They had another sleepy start Sunday.
Vancouver's execution with the puck was off the mark in all three zones. The Canucks weren't cleanly connecting passes in transition; when they eventually got to the attacking zone, their forwards weren't on the same page reading off and supporting each other to build sustained pressure on the cycle.
Thankfully, Erik Brännström helped jolt the Canucks awake after the second TV timeout of the opening period. The shifty 25-year-old received the puck off an offensive-zone draw and fired a shot through traffic that redirected off Aatu Räty 's stick and beat Juuse Saros to tie the score. From there, his teammates continued the momentum. The Canucks didn't dominate, but they started stacking more threatening shifts, finishing the period with more shots and expected goals than Nashville despite trailing in both categories for most of the period.
Brännström has registered 4 points in his past four games. The production is sweet, but his mobility and puck skills, especially in transition, are what truly make him indispensable to the lineup. He's making a case to slowly earn more ice time, especially given the second pair's struggles (they had another tough night, getting caved in territorially and on the ice for the first goal against).
Of course, context matters. Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers are often tasked with defending top lines and taking on a heavy diet of defensive-zone starts, whereas Brännström has some of the easiest, most sheltered matchups in the NHL . Nobody's suggesting Brännström is top-four ready, but the leash probably doesn't need to be so tight on him anymore.
The coaching staff appears to be slowly coming around to that. Brännström averaged 16 minutes in his last three games before Sunday night, compared with just 13:53 during his first 10 games as a Canuck.
Let's see if that trend of increased ice time continues.
Pettersson coming alive again
Pettersson received the puck in a dangerous shooting position on the power play halfway through the second period. He took a moment to fully settle the puck instead of firing a shot right away, which gave the Preds defender enough time to take away the shooting lane.
For a split second, it looked like the type of indecisive sequence in a prime scoring location that would frustrate fans. But Pettersson kept marching on — he zipped a pass to Quinn Hughes and loaded up for a one-time clapper that he blasted home.
This is the type of vintage one-timer we've all been waiting for. The killer instinct. The heavy torque. The perfect placement.
With five goals in his past seven games, Pettersson is rapidly starting to heat up. The positive signs showed beyond just his goal, too.
Sherwood was a buzzsaw on Pettersson's wing, and together they were the Canucks' most dangerous offensive line. Pettersson had Vancouver's two best looks in the first period: one was a chance in all alone on Saros after a bad Nashville giveaway, and the second was another in-tight chance after Sherwood made a slick move off the end boards to bank it to himself and then slip a backhand pass to Pettersson in the slot.
Sherwood was finally rewarded with a one-time goal off the rush that momentarily brought the Canucks within one, too.
Miller rides the bench for third period
With less than a minute to go in the second period, Steven Stamkos scored his second power-play goal of the night. The goal wasn't entirely on Miller, but it certainly wasn't a great look for him, either. Miller was directing traffic, pointing out lanes and threats for his teammates to be wary of, but he was barely moving his feet and applying any pressure.
Miller was trotted out for just two shifts in the third period and didn't see the ice for the final 14:39. He finished with a season-low 11:41 of ice time.
(Photo of Elias Pettersson: Derek Cain / )
