Patrick Johnston

The Vancouver Canucks went down early to the visiting New Jersey Devils and never found a counterpunch

When asked before Wednesday's game, head coach Rick Tocchet dialed into a more crucial element in Pettersson's game that will help open up Pettersson's shooting: his feet.

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : Canucks Coffee: Who Pettersson needs to be Canucks Coffee: Who Pettersson needs to be When asked before Wednesday's game, head coach Rick Tocchet dialed into a more crucial element in Pettersson's game that will help open up Pettersson's shooting: his feet. Author of the article: Article content There are a lot of things wrong with the Vancouver Canucks in Wednesday's 6-0 blowout loss to the New Jersey Devils. Advertisement 2 Article content Canucks Coffee: Who Pettersson needs to be Back to video Their power play stank. Their defence stank. Their five on five offence stank. Their goaltending wasn't great. There wasn't much that went right. But cutting across the grain, sort-of, was Elias Pettersson The much, and rightly, maligned Canucks super star has made little impact this season. One of the easiest critiques of him has been that he's simply not shooting enough. Well against the Devils, on a night where the Canucks as a whole were truly not shooting enough, Pettersson actually was. He had seven shot attempts. Only Quinn Hughes got the puck off his stick more. His shot velocity remains way down, so it's no surprise he's struggling to finish, but at least he's thinking about it? When asked before Wednesday's game, head coach Rick Tocchet dialed into a more crucial element in Pettersson's game that will help open up Pettersson's shooting: his feet. “I think the biggest thing is everybody wants: his one timer. It's not there because people are on to him. So you gotta move your feet. You start with that. And I think he has moved his feet in some games where he's had some opportunities. I thought the Chicago game, the power play scored two goals, because of him,” Tocchet said. “He went from the flank right to the net.” Both J.T. Miller 's goal and Brock Boeser 's goal against the Blackhawks were influenced by Pettersson's movement off the puck. Move more, more will happen. Easy argument from the coach there. How long till Lekkerimaki time? Advertisement 3 Article content Word from Abbotsford is Jonathan Lekkerimaki is doing all kinds of smart things already. It's hard to think he won't be in the NHL soon. His play in contact, we've been told, is excellent. He may not be big but that' doesn't stop him. Than finish he has is obviously the big selling point, but he has to know how to use it. But if he keeps scoring at this rate, it won't be long till he is a serious consideration for a call-up. Don't look now but … Adam Gaduette has four goals in eight games with the Ottawa Senators. Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Canucks Coffee: Who Pettersson needs to be Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake Featured Local Savings

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