Elias Pettersson and Canucks Twitter win big over Oilers

The Vancouver Canucks showed up on the ice and off it. While the young guns were laying the smack down on the Oilers, Canucks Twitter got an opportunity to dunk harder than they have before. All in the name of one universal truth.

You couldn’t script a better night. In a vacuum, the game was spectacular. Carried by the future, the Vancouver Canucks had no problems dispatching the Edmonton Oilers. It feels good to say that again.

But something different put this game over the top. In arguably the single best game of the season, we saw Canucks Twitter take centre stage. The 4-2 on the scoreboard does not tell the whole story. Two divisional combatants, whose fanbases have a fun history of discontent towards the other.

You don’t dip your toe when you encounter Canucks Twitter. You get pulled right in. And when you have a franchise like the Oilers, who have a passionate and quick-to-respond fanbase, the trolling pays back in spades.

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Today’s three takeaways will be a little different. A little more light-hearted. Less focus on the bigger picture and letting Canucks fans enjoy these five wins in the last six games. The best thing that brought fans together was triggering not just one fanbase, but several sections of Hockey Twitter all at once. Vancovuer embraced that hatred leading up to the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals and it feels right to see it return.

You should forever remember this. Except for Winnipeg (who did not have a team at the time), every single Canadian team turned their back on this franchise. They wanted us to lose out of spite. We may argue with each other about where the team is heading and how it is being managed, but rallying around Canucks Twitter may be the most gratifying feeling when the Stanley Cup is not an option. As the description in the intro stated, last night proved a universal truth. Elias Pettersson > Connor McDavid. Here are the three takeaways from last night’s game.

It’s the Brock Boeser Show

Pettersson was the focal point of the evening, but Brock Boeser has been a juggernaut since getting back to full health. Boeser had a three point night, including his 12th goal of the season. He’s scored 10 in his last 11 games. It’s safe to say that last year’s Boeser is back.

That puts The Flow up to 23 points in as many games. During the aforementioned 11-game stretch, Boeser has collected 17 points. His shot is back and looks perfect on Pettersson’s wing. It’s not hard why the two are part of the team’s Fantastic Four.

Those are the players teams would love to have and in a shallower draft, Boeser could have been selected much higher than 23rd overall. Boston had three chances to draft him and blew it. They weren’t the only team that missed in an incredibly deep 2015 Entry Draft.

Boeser’s home state passed up on the kid and all of their losses are our gain. On a night where we can infuriate the Edmonton fanbase by saying Pettersson is superior to McDavid, let’s up the ante. Boeser finished the night with one goal, two assists and three shots on goal. What did McDavid do? One assist and one shot. McDavid almost played 24 minutes compared to Boeser’s 19. So, since we here, Boeser > McDavid. Pfft. Best player in the league. Sure. Let those single game samples confirm what we know deep down.

A workhouse and a rebounding power play

The power play has been a regular point of criticism. It started off so well in October and has really scaled back production. Only scoring three times in their last 31 power play opportunities, the man advantage needed help.

Vancouver delivered on that tonight, going 3 for 5 on an Edmonton squad that was having a good run. The Oilers are supposed to be a playoff team and they can’t even beat the Canucks. How embarrassing.

Let’s add Bo Horvat to the “better than Connor McDavid” list. Huncho finished the night with a goal and an assist. That goal may be an empty netter, but I haven’t seen anybody else work harder than Horvat for that goal. The captain (just give him the “C” already) may not have the team lead anymore, but with 16 goals and 16 assists, Horvat is sustaining his fantastic production.

Elias Pettersson > Connor McDavid

Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to see is not for the faint of heart. Jason Botchford lovingly calls our fanbase a bunch of savages and we delivered. It all started with an innocent poll. Over 10 000 responded and Canucks fans knew the truth.

Well, it only took one magical game to prove supremacy. The 67% must feel pretty stupid right now. The troll game was on point and you can get a nice slice of what happened through Taj’s twitter account alone.

But if you missed out, grab your popcorn and hit up Canucks Twitter. I can’t add too many more tweets since I don’t want to crash your phones or the site, but trust me, this stuff was gold. Speaking of gold…

Drink it in, Oilers fans. What are we up to? Four players that are better than Connor McDavid. Elias Pettersson was fantastic. But you knew that already. Pettersson and McDavid may have finished the night with the same number of points, but Petey actually scored. As you know, goals are worth more than assists. Sometimes double. Just consult your hockey pool. As a quick aside, it’s a little harder to write this without emojis, but still fun. Just like the roasting of a lifetime handed out to Oilers fans.

Don’t think the coaches didn’t get involved either. From the shame of defeat or perhaps being blinded by the flash of red lights, Ken Hitchcock felt McDavid was being treated unfairly. That the refs were not calling enough penalties. Those excuses are weak. I don’t know about you Hitch, but I didn’t see any Canucks throwing pucks over the glass. Maybe you should have played McDavid 30 minutes. He might have had a second shot on goal.

Travis Green didn’t want to miss out on the fun either.

We got a “Real Good” people! Somewhere, Willie Desjardins is smiling. Well, his Kings are still sinking in the Pacific, so maybe a half-grin. This game may ultimately mean nothing at the end of the season, but I couldn’t care less.

The experience we got from this game, either at the arena or through the harrowing waves of Canucks Twitter really made it special. And it’s thanks to all of you, whether you read the stuff I put out or just like being part of this awesome fanbase. I know I come off as a curmudgeon at times, but moments like this are what we strive for. The team is more interesting to write about when he have fun stories like these. And I hope we continue to get those.

So, huge shout out to Canucks Twitter for making a good night great. Our Swedish Gretzky, the Prince of Dekes and every other fantastic title bestowed by the fans and of course the Church of Pettersson makes the journey fun. Any day we can knock the Oilers down a peg is a good one and I am thankful that tonight allowed us to add one more title to Pettersson’s legend: Better than McDavid.