Elias Pettersson hasn't scored a goal at 5-on-5 since March 5, 2024. It's the only 5-on-5 goal he's scored since he signed his eight-year, $11.6 million contract extension.
Including the playoffs, that's 34 games without a 5-on-5 goal. That's simply not good enough, something Pettersson would be the first to acknowledge. Getting Pettersson's game in gear will go a long way to helping the Canucks get back on track after three-straight losses to kick off the 2024-25 season.
"It's early still but that's not an excuse," said Pettersson after Wednesday's practice. "We've got to change it now. We're not happy with the start."
Pettersson and the Canucks will be taking on the defending Stanley Cup champions, albeit a defending champion missing the two players who led the team in scoring in the playoffs: captain Aleksander Barkov and star winger Matthew Tkachuk.
The Florida Panthers are 3-2-0 to start the season, with Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennet, and Anton Lundell stepping up to lead the team in scoring in the absence of Barkov and Tkachuk. Reinhart, in particular, is picking up right where he left off after scoring 57 goals last season. He already has 4 goals through 5 games.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
With no morning skate on Thursday and no Canucks media on the road for the team's practice on Wednesday, projecting the Canucks lines is a speculative endeavour.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet could keep similar lines to their previous game, hoping the team rebounds from a bad loss, or he could shake things up. My bet is on a shakeup, with Tocchet potentially going with the new lines he used in the third period against the Lightning.
Here are the projected lines, which will be updated when the Canucks take the ice for their warm-up skate (UPDATE: The lines were even more changed than anticipated):
Looking for a spark on Tuesday, Tocchet moved Jake DeBrusk to the top line with J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, then bumped Nils Höglander and Conor Garland up to the second line with Elias Pettersson.
In warm-ups on Thursday, Höglander and Garland remained with Pettersson but Arshdeep Bains went back with Miller and Boeser. That left DeBrusk to play on a new-look third line with Teddy Blueger and Kiefer Sherwood. It's entirely possible that won't last, as DeBrusk could find himself up with Miller and Boeser if the team starts poorly.
Also bumped down the lineup is Danton Heinen, going all the way to the fourth line with Pius Suter and Nils Åman.
Åman came into the lineup for Aatu Räty, who has been sent down to the AHL. That means Daniel Sprong will be a healthy scratch for a second game.
On defence, Derek Forbort has taken a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. Erik Brännström is expected to make his Canucks debut after . Tocchet was unsure if Brännström would get into the game earlier in the day but seemed excited to see what he could bring to the lineup.
"I'm not sure about Brännstrom, if he's going in yet," said Tocchet. "He came in late last night, so we'll see after warm-up...He can get the puck up. He's a one-pass breakout guy, plus he walks the blue line very well. When you get a guy that can walk the blue line and make that one pass out to play fast, I think that's something we're looking for."
Brännström will play with a veteran in Tyler Myers on what is ostensibly the second pairing, though it remains to be seen how much ice time Brännstrôm will get.
Vincent Desharnais gets back into the lineup on a third pairing with Carson Soucy, with whom he played much of training camp.
Kevin Lankinen will be the Canucks' starting goaltender as the team continues to alternate starts between their two stoppers.
Florida Panthers projected lines
The Panthers may be missing two of their best players but they're still a dangerous team with lots of offensive firepower.
They've also been getting plenty of physicality from former Canucks prospect Jonah Gadjovich, who leads the NHL in hits with 25 through five games despite averaging just 8:29 in ice time per game.
Here are the projected lines :
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Evan Rodrigues
A.J. Greer — Jesper Boqvist — Mackie Samoskevich
Jonah Gadjovich — Patrick Giles — Uvis Balinskis
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Dmitry Kulikov
Adam Boqvist — Nate Schmidt
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
The Canucks' best bet with the Panthers down a couple of top forwards will be trying to test the Panthers' depth by getting good match-ups against the third and fourth lines. Boqvist and Giles have been thoroughly out-shot at 5-on-5 so far this season and have given up a lot of chances, so there will be opportunities for the Canucks if they can find the right match-ups.
Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to get the start despite a 35-save performance by Spencer Knight in the Panthers' last game, a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Bobrovsky has an .894 save percentage in three starts so far this season.
