By james art 
What if the answer to the big conundrum of who to play with Elias Peterson was right in front of the Vancouver Canucks all along?
Finding a new wing or two for Elias Pettersson was the primary mission for general manager Patrick Alvin this offseason, and he appears to have made some key free agent signings. He added Jake DeBrusk to a long-term deal, plucked Daniel Sprong from the scrap heap for a cheap price, and added a couple of other wings in Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood with outside chances to play top-six minutes.
By the end of the team’s tenth game of the 2024–25 season, however, Peterson was playing two players who were already on the team last season: Connor Garland and Pius Suter.
That line was dominant in their few minutes together, which should come as no surprise. Suter continued to work his way into the top-6 last season, usually with JT Miller and Brock Boeser, and was a wizard on the puck with his detailed two-way game. Garland, meanwhile, has been the Canucks’ best forward this season, bringing consistent grit and creativity to every shift.
There’s some irony, then, that Rick Tocchett seems to have rediscovered Suter’s ability to use the Swiss Army Knife of going top-six as a winger on the same day the Canucks placed Nils Ammann on waivers.
Honestly, Suter, Pettersson and Garland were so good as a line that they really deserve a longer look next game. The problem is that the Canucks don’t have another center on hand for the fourth line after Åman was sent down to the AHL — or worse, asked for a waiver. The Canucks need Suter to center the fourth line.
Maybe it’s all moot anyway. Dakota Joshua will soon return to the Canucks lineup. He could even be reunited with Garland along with Peterson, and he’ll end up being the missing wing for Peterson all along.
It’s kind of funny that none of the Canucks’ new wings have clicked with Peterson so far. It’s so easy to fall in love with something shiny and new and lose sight of the tried and true.
In any case, Suter was excellent in this game, scoring two goals to earn a one-goal victory for the Canucks. It was a nice little reminder that he’s still there, ready to step into the top-6 when they need him.
Maybe it’s not great that they needed him so badly in a game against the San Jose Sharks, but hey, you run the Swiss Man signal when the situation calls for it, which is what happened when I watched this game.
- While I felt the Canucks didn’t do enough to get inside the offensive zone to create dangerous situations and gave up too many high-danger chances against them, Tocchet had a more positive opinion of the team’s overall play, even if it wasn’t I’m not completely satisfied.
- “I thought we did some good things,” Tocchet said. “Our forecast check was probably one of the best forecast checks of the year. We had a video of it yesterday because I don’t think we pre-screened it right. However, we still have to worry about too much rush of strange people. This is something we have to do [ourselves] responsible — that’s my only answer, we were losing F3 there and diving too much. Not as much as the previous game, but not to the level we want.”
- The Canucks had the ball in the first period, but most of their shots were outside, with only Suter getting to the net for a truly dangerous chance. The most disappointing missed opportunity came late in the first period when linebacker Jake Wallman was taken out of the game by a hard pass from Brock Boeser. JT Miller called the puck and was open, but he waited so long to shoot that he ended up just driving it into Walman’s shin pads as he scrambled into the shooting lane.
- Erik Brenstrom got his first chance to play in the backfield, which could prove key to him staying in the lineup with Derek Forbort returning. His rust on the right side proved costly, however. On the Sharks’ opening goal, Brännström played as a left-back, following a pass from the left, as if he had a right-back covering behind him. Instead, Forbort, the true left back, was already on the receiving end of the pass. Brännström could only watch in horror as Nico Sturm fired the rebound right from where it should have been.
- Kevin “The Bookman” Lankinen was once again fantastic and was the main reason the Canucks won this game. His most crucial save came with about five minutes left in the second period on a William Eklund breakaway. He slammed the five holes shut like it was a disappointing hardcover.
- That save led directly to a goal at the other end of the ice. Pettersson swung the puck up the boards to Arshdeep Bains, who dumped the puck out for Conor Garland to chase down. Like a dog after a tennis ball, Garland drifted away, forcing a turnover at mid-ice. Nils Hoeglander spun for a fake shot, then neatly slipped the puck to Suter behind him, who slipped it past Blackwood’s blocking blocker to make the score tied as water at its highest point on the beach.
- It was a strangely officiated match, with the referees turning a blind eye to any foul play in either direction. Perhaps the most glaring nonpayment was when Walman Sucker hit Garland, giving him a quick left hook to the mouth while the two were tangled up in the Canucks’ zone. Look Wollman, I know the NHL players voted Garland has one of the most punchable faces in the league, but that doesn’t mean you’re actually allowed to punch his face.
- Or, since the referees ignored it, maybe you are allowed to hit Garland’s face? Is it in the rulebook somewhere?
- When the Canucks finally got the power play going, they didn’t score, which is nothing new. The difference was that they looked like they wanted to score and maybe were capable of it, which is new. The first unit moved the puck crisply and, like Nils Åman’s parents, created some pretty good looks.
- The Canucks took advantage of two terrible Sharks turnovers to take the lead late in the third period. First, both defensemen left the ice with the puck in the neutral zone, allowing Miller to send Boeser on a breakaway. Unfortunately, Boeser did like Hannah Waddingham and rang the bell of shame, which is my new name for beams.
- Fortunately for the Canucks, the Sharks weren’t done changing. With the puck only in the neutral zone again, two more Sharks rushed to the bench. A quick regrouping saw Quinn Hughes and Philip Hronek lead the charge against just three Sharks. Hronek drove the middle lane while Hughes swung the puck to Jake DeBrusk behind him. DeBrusk did as Tillamook and earned his first goal as a Canuck.
- “Hell of a shot. That was dialed in,” Tocchet said. “That’s probably the only place he could have scored; it’s a scorer’s goal.”
- It’s two consecutive seasons that DeBrusk scored his first goal of the season on November 2nd. Like Jimbo, this is his special day.
- “Well, it’s Phil Hronek’s birthday!” DeBrusk said with a smile. “I saw that before the game, actually, that it was the same day, and I thought, ‘Well, let’s see if it’s going to be today.'” It’s nice that it worked out. Hopefully I can get a few more early next year so I know I have an automatic [goal] on the second.”
- That should have ended the game, but the Canucks couldn’t hold onto the lead in the final minutes. With an empty Sharks net, Miller’s line cleared with Boeser doing a solid job keeping the puck on the end boards. The only problem is that his teammates didn’t change and neither did he when the puck went the other way. By the time Mikael Granlund entered the left circle for a faceoff and sniped past a screened Lankinen, that line had been on the ice for more than a minute and looked gassed.
- Fortunately, Suter, Pettersson and Garland made a monster shift in the last minute. There weren’t any fancy plays from Peterson, but he kept the game alive in the offensive zone with some smart plays. Garland then took a ricochet in the corner and immediately swung the puck at Suter, who hit the puck hard enough to cook a chicken, sending it past Blackwood’s glove in an instant.
- Again, with less than 30 seconds remaining, the game had to end. But the Canucks had to make it interesting, leaving Fabian Zetterlund all alone up front as the seconds ticked down, only for Zetterlund to whiff on the cross. It’s a mess. Obviously, Tyler Myers shouldn’t have chased behind the net, but Danton Heinen (circled in the video below) is the most confusing. He had a clear path to Zetterlund, but peeled away to chase the puck.
- Look, what on earth was that? Why does every Canuck on the ice turn away from the man in the slot, the most dangerous player on the ice? Why would you chase the puck with two seconds left? what happens Anyway, the Canucks win.