The Vancouver Canucks held off a late push by the Buffalo Sabres to get the win at Rogers Arena.
Elias Pettersson scored two goals and added an assist on his new-look line with Conor Garland and Nils Höglander.
“Garland makes a lot of good plays, Högs keeps being the way he is, it was a good first game with our line,” Petterson said.
Head Coach Rick Tocchet was proud of the way his team played tonight after a solid practice yesterday. The Garland-Pettersson-Höglander line accounted for 4 points, mentioning Pettersson was engaged and had an important goal in the win and their line contributed a lot of energy to the game.
“Höggy and Garsy get some energy on that line. I think they were excited to play with each other, you could tell the way they were playing. I thought our forecheck was as good as I’ve seen in a couple weeks and I think those guys led the charge on the forecheck,” Tocchet said.
Quinn Hughes notched two assists and had a monster hit on Sabres’ forward Victor Olofsson that got cheers from the crowd and smiles up and down the bench, including from Hughes himself.
"It was just funny, you don't see that much from me, but it was a good feeling,” Hughes said.
“I'm definitely not a tough guy, I know my role, but I don't know if I even tried to hit him, just try to make sure he doesn't get by me. I think that was what I was doing.”
“It was a hell of a hit,” Tocchet said, adding “I think on the bench he was actually smiling he liked it that much.”
