Elias Pettersson scores 50th career goal in 2 goal game
It took him seven games to get from 49 to 50. It took him 124 NHL games to get to 50, but Pettersson did it. 53 games into his sophomore season and he’s halfway to the big 100. Already, it’s a huge accomplishment for the 21-year-old Swede, but because he holds himself to such high standards, he probably thinks he could have completed sooner as he was without a goal in his last six games. Nonetheless, a breath of fresh air for Petey as he continues to rack up the points in a very productive season.
It was a pretty little goal, Pettersson’s 22nd of his 2019-20 campaign and also the first of the game. 4:25 into the first period and Pettersson bulged the twine on a nifty shot past James Reimer. Pettersson failed to register a shot on goal against the Islanders, something he wasn’t going to let happen again. He pulled off his goal with a bit of a spinning move in front that took some quick but effective skill and the goal was assisted by Chris Tanev and his defensive partner, Hughes.
Petey, as his teammates like to call him, went on to have quite a positive game. He was relentless on the puck and showed growing chemistry with Boeser as he came back to the top of the lineup to join J.T. Miller and Pettersson to reforge the offensively gifted lotto line. Pettersson potted his second goal of the contest in the third period to tie the game. Petey’s goal was dialled in on a very sharp angle and was a fitting answer from Vancouver’s elite after Andrei Svechnikov scored a beauty goal just moments before Pettersson’s response.
Pettersson added a very smooth shootout goal, a cherry on top of a terrific performance, just not the two points he was hoping for. All the same, Pettersson would have to settle for his efforts in grabbing the team an overtime point.