The Vancouver Canucks head into tonight’s meeting with the Tampa Bay Lightning still looking for a win in Florida, but their 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers did leave behind a few things worth noting. In a stretch where results haven’t gone their way, Elias Pettersson, Liam Öhgren, Max Sasson and Tom Willander all flashed signs that the Canucks may have a little more coming from their younger group than the scoreboard showed Thursday night.
For Pettersson, the encouraging part goes beyond the goal column. The 22-year-old defenceman scored his third goal of the season against Florida, giving him three in nine games, and he kept adding value in other ways too.
He’s up to 17 hits and 15 blocked shots, which shows he’s not just contributing offensively. Even more telling, he’s logged more than 20 minutes in two of his last three games, a sign the coaching staff is growing more comfortable using him in a larger role.
Öhgren’s night carried a different kind of lift. His goal against the Panthers snapped a five-game scoring drought, and he now sits at two goals and three assists through nine games.
Working in a middle-six role, he’s expected to be part of the solution for a Canucks team that needs more from that area of the lineup. One goal doesn’t change everything, but it can loosen things up for a young forward trying to find his rhythm.
There were also some useful numbers attached to Sasson and Willander. Sasson finished with a team-best 55 percent Corsi rating, a sign the Canucks were controlling more shot attempts than they were giving up while he was on the ice at even strength.
He only played 9:40 and saw mostly Florida’s bottom-six forwards, so the sample is limited. Still, he handled his shifts well enough to leave a positive mark.
Willander’s outing may have been the most eye-catching of the group. He led Vancouver in expected goals, and the Canucks posted a 7-3 edge in scoring chances and a 4-2 advantage in high-danger chances with him on the ice.
He also logged the third-most minutes among Canucks skaters, which makes the performance stand out even more than it would in a lighter workload. Like any young defenceman, he’s going to face tougher nights, but this was the kind of shift-by-shift showing that suggests he can handle meaningful minutes while helping tilt the ice.
The common thread is simple: the Canucks still need more consistency, and they’re not getting points for moral victories. But if they’re searching for signs that young players are starting to settle in, Thursday night offered a few of them.
Pettersson is taking on more and producing. Öhgren has something to build from.
Willander looks like he can hold his own in a real role. Sasson, in a smaller sample, did useful work too.
The challenge now is turning those one-off positives into something repeatable.
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