The Vancouver Canucks continued their homestand on Tuesday night with a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues in Thatcher Demko's first game since April.
Vancouver put up a strong effort in the loss, but couldn't find a way to finish it off in overtime as Dylan Holloway picked up his tenth goal of the season for St. Louis.
After the game, Rick Tocchet met with the media, as he always does, but this time seemed pretty irritated with a question regarding Swedish forward Elias Pettersson.
Rick Tocchet irked by question from Farhan Lalji about Elias Pettersson
During his post-game media conference, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet was asked about Elias Pettersson and how he was able to elevate his game in the absence of J.T. Miller.
'Yeah, I mean that's what you expect him to do right? He's done a good job producing.' Tocchet said.He added, 'I don't know what else to say. You guys are obsessed with Petey huh? It's Petey, Petey, Petey every game.'
When Farhan Lalji mentions about Elias Pettersson's salary and the expectation that comes with making that much money, Rick Tocchet replied with:
'I know, but every game. You guys are good at it. You analyze the game. Why do I have to. When I asked questions at TNT, I never always 'Hey, this player...'. I love you guys but it just gets old.'
Dan Riccio of Canucks Central believes that questions will remain until Elias Pettersson hits his full stride, especially when he has just three goals at five-on-five.
'Yes, Pettersson is producing, but he has just 3 goals at 5v5 this season and hasn't been driving play like you'd expect from a player of his caliber. Until he hits full stride, it's going to remain a question.' Riccio said.
Pettersson has turned a corner in the last month and is nearly a point-per-game player, registering 26 (eight goals, 18 assists) in 27 games.
While Elias Pettersson might not be scoring at the rate you'd expect at five-on-five, he'll get there, but it might be a struggle to record his fourth-straight 30+ goal season.
