- Elias Pettersson has thrown eight hits in each of Vancouver’s last two games
- One of them flattened Zayne Parekh and sparked a Canucks goal against Calgary
- Read below to watch the hit video and hear what his teammates said
Elias Pettersson is hitting everything that moves in Vancouver.
The Canucks center was credited with eight hits in Saturday’s 4-1 comeback win over the Calgary Flames. He threw the exact same number on Thursday in that wild 9-7 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, leading all skaters in hits both nights.
That’s 16 hits in two games from a guy who didn’t log a single one in the season opener in Edmonton. Here’s a look at some of them:
The biggest one came late in the third period. With Vancouver up 2-1, Pettersson stepped into Flames defenseman Zayne Parekh in the neutral zone and put him on the ice.
Drew O’Connor and Linus Karlsson took off on a 2-on-1 the other way while the Flames were busy going after Pettersson. O’Connor ripped a wrist shot over Devin Cooley’s glove at 16:33 to make it 3-1.
Watch the hit and the goal that followed:
Pettersson didn’t pick up a point on that goal, but he did grab an assist on Aatu Räty’s empty-netter a minute later. Liam Öhgren, who had a goal and an assist in his 100th NHL game, was asked about the Parekh hit after the win.
“He’s been great for us so far, and that hit got us all going,” Öhgren said. “It’s a clean hit, beautiful, and then we got a goal after, so it was great.”
Head coach Manny Malhotra liked what he saw from the whole group once the physical side of the game picked up. Vancouver trailed 1-0 heading into the third before scoring four straight.
“The response by the guys in the second and third, especially from a physicality standpoint, from turning up a forecheck and being more direct with our game, I was really happy with the response,” Malhotra said.
This is a big change for the 27-year-old. His compete level has taken plenty of heat over the past two seasons, when he managed just 15 goals in each of 2024-25 and 2025-26 after a 39-goal, 102-point year in 2022-23.
Offensively, he’s producing too. Pettersson has two goals and four points through three games, including a goal and two assists against the Oilers on Thursday.
Funny enough, the go-ahead goal on Saturday came from the other Elias Pettersson. The Canucks defenseman jumped into the play and beat Cooley with a backhand at 9:04 of the third.
Vancouver is now 2-1-0. If the No. 40 version keeps playing like this, the Canucks will take it.
