‘We’ve had three games together and it’s been feeling good’: Elias Pettersson Building Chemistry with New Linemates

Elias Pettersson is finding confidence in himself and chemistry on his line with Jake DeBrusk and Kiefer Sherwood as the Vancouver Canucks hit the road for a season-long, six-game road trip.

The Canucks will roll through Ottawa, Boston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, and Minnesota. They will play six games in 11 days and if Pettersson continues to play at this level, his two-way game will give the team a shot in the arm as they look to add to their impressive 6-1-0 road record this season.

In terms of what has been working for Pettersson, who has scored four goals and added four assists in his last six games, he believes he is just feeling better overall and that it’s their play in the defensive zone that is giving them more time and scoring chances in the offensive zone.

Pettersson is leading the Canucks in control of expected goals at five-on-five over the past six games, sitting with a 65.6% xGF%. He’s been on the ice for six goals and three goals against in that time. He credits his skating as a reason for his recent success, saying that he feels like he is moving his feet and upping this speed in recent games.

With players like J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko out of the lineup, Pettersson is going to be viewed as a player to shoulder more of the load and be a leader on the ice. His focus is on keeping his pace up and being a player who brings a strong effort every night.

“I’m just trying to play my hardest. I know the guys are doing the same. I’m just trying to do my part, playing the right way, and continuing to get better as the season goes,” said Pettersson.

“We just need to keep building and grinding. We didn’t have the best homestand, but we’ve been able to look at things we can do better and keep doing the stuff we have been doing well. We’re just focused on the next one right now.”

Pettersson sees that the team is working hard but realizes that there are some system and structure-specific areas that need to be improved on. He sees that the game flows from the defensive zone out and the team must focus on the backend before they give their offensive skill a chance to shine.

“I definitely think our effort is there. I think we just have some minor details to improve on out there,” said Pettersson. “I think we can do better on defence and that will put us in a better position for breakouts. Good defence pretty much helps every other area of the ice. It’s just a lot of small details we want to improve on.”

The 26-year-old centre has been on a line with Jake DeBrusk and Kiefer Sherwood for three games now, and the trio is beginning to develop a plan that works well for each player to utilize their strengths.

“Kiefer brings so much energy and playing with him makes it easy because you always know he’s going to be first on pucks and then from there I read where the puck will go next. For Jake, it’s the same thing – he's good on the puck and allows us, the other two, to read from there. We’ve had three games together, and it’s been feeling good.”

The newly formed DeBrusk-Pettersson-Sherwood line has found a lot of success in their first three games. They’ve been on the ice for four goals scored while only being on for one against. In that time (37:49), they have generated 23 scoring chances and allowed 10.

Pettersson is seeing that the line is beginning to gel, and the trio is beginning to have better reads off each other as they play more minutes as a line.

“The chemistry is getting there,” said Pettersson. “My linemates are two new guys this season but they are fitting in. At the end of the day, I want to help all my teammates, and I like the chemistry that we are finding on this line right now.”

Sherwood has two goals and an assist since joining DeBrusk and Pettersson on a line. In those three games, he has also made 20 hits – including a 10-hit game against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

Pettersson had a chuckle when asking about Sherwood’s physical impact on the game but also noted the sneaky offensive skill that his winger possesses.

“We notice the hits; we notice the numbers. After every game, I’ll see that I have two or three hits and then I see him, and he has like eight or ten hits,” said Pettersson with a laugh. “It’s so funny but it’s great for him to be playing like that day in and day out. He’s also making plays out there, has a hard shot and has speed in his game. He brings it all right now.”

The more minutes the trio plays together, the more chemistry they will build as a line. The forecheck is where the trio feels most coordinated, but they want to continue to work on reads in the defensive zone and where they can find space in the neutral zone.

As the team is currently without Miller and Boeser, this line wants to step up and be one that the coach can rely on at both ends of the ice. So far, so good, but an important road trip over the upcoming two weeks will provide new challenges for the team to take on.