The Vancouver Canucks will wrap up their six-game road trip on Saturday afternoon when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning at 1:00 p.m. PT.
Liam Öhgren and Elias Pettersson (D) scored for the Canucks on Thursday against the Florida Panthers. Öhgren potted his second goal of the season and is up to five points in nine games, while Pettersson scored his third of the year, putting him in a four-way tie with Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, and Luke Hughes for the second-most goals from a defenceman in the league.
Head Coach Manny Malhotra spoke about his team’s game against the strong Florida Panthers team on Thursday night. He said he likes that the team keeps growing and improving, and that his group played a much more complete game aside from the final 10 minutes.
Malhotra said his group weathered the storm the Panthers threw at them with their aggressive forecheck, and he credited them with supporting each other better and executing under pressure.
He also discussed defenceman Elias Pettersson’s game and what he has liked so far in the preliminary stages of the season.
“One of his major assets is understanding what he does well, and he sticks to that. The offensive piece is always a cherry on top, but he’s not overly looking for that. What we value in his game is his ability to close out plays. He plays a physical style, [and is] just advancing pucks for us,” said Malhotra.
“He doesn’t have to do anything extravagant. Just making sure we have some clean breakout touches. He’s done a good job of playing to his strengths.”
Quick Hits on the Competition
- The Lightning come into Saturday’s game with a 5-2-0 record and have won five of their last six games.
- They average three goals a game and give up 2.71 against per outing.
- Brandon Hagel has started the season strong. He has six goals and 10 points through seven games.
- Hagel is playing alongside Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov on the Lightning’s top line.
- John Carlson is a new addition to the Lightning’s defence corps. He leads Lightning defencemen with an average ice time of 20:10 through seven games.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy has started six of the Lightning’s seven games this season, but backup Dennis Hildeby was strong in his one start. The Lightning beat the Seattle Kraken Thursday night and don’t play again until Tuesday.
The Story: Filip Chytil’s Return
Filip Chytil played in his first game of the season on Thursday night. The 27-year-old played 18:30 and picked up an assist on Pettersson’s goal at four-on-four.
