Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson left the bench in the third period and did not return against the San Jose Sharks.
Canucks Head Coach Rick Tocchet gave an update on his star centreman after the game, saying Pettersson got “banged up” in the second period, but doesn’t believe the injury will be too bad considering the holiday break coming up, per the Athletic’s Harman Dayal.
Rick Tocchet said that Pettersson got banged up, tried for one more shift and didn’t feel right. Tocchet added that he doesn’t think the injury is too bad, especially with the holiday break coming up #Canucks
While the Canucks were able to hold down the fort after Pettersson left as they were able to walk away with a 4-3 victory, it was unfortunate for the player who finally got back on the scoresheet. The 6’2″ centreman scored the Canucks third and fourth goal in the span of 34 seconds.
His first goal came 26 seconds after Kiefer Sherwood gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead.
Pettersson carried the puck into the offensive zone before dishing it off to Jake DeBrusk. DeBrusk then rips a shot on net with a big rebound off of Yaroslav Askarov’s pad that goes straight to Pettersson, who makes no mistakes and fires it into the top right corner. Sharks’ head coach Ryan Warsofsky thought Conor Garland interfered with his netminder and challenged the play. The call on the ice stood, and the Canucks were sent to the power play.