After the Vancouver Canucks suffered a particularly gut-wrenching Game 4 loss, head coach Rick Tocchet didn’t mince words when calling out his roster — including centre Elias Pettersson.
Speaking to reporters after losing the game on a final-minute snipe from Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard, Tocchet was frank when asked about Pettersson’s struggles this post-season.
“He needs to get going. I don’t know what else to say.”
Unlike some of the top-end of the Canucks roster, Pettersson has struggled to make an impact through the first round-and-a-half this post-season, with just one goal and four points in 10 games — tied for sixth on the team.
In Game 4, Pettersson registered no points and just two shots on net.
However, the 25-year-old Swede wasn’t the only subject of the coach’s ire.
“We need five or six guys to get going here. I mean, it’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs — with some guys, I don’t know if they thought it wasn’t the playoffs. We can’t play with 12 guys.
“It’s a will to get the puck. It’s not x’s and o’s — it’s a will. There’s times there, we have some guys … you know the puck, where it’s going to go, you just gotta get there before the other guy. I think we’re pausing. Some guys are playing pause hockey and you can’t win if you have five or six passengers.”
Just over a minute after the Canucks improbably tied the game 2-2, Bouchard sniped home the game-winning goal following a few miscues by Vancouver.
With the Round 2 series now tied 2-2, things now shift to Game 5 in Vancouver.
