Canucks Player Grades: No luck despite Elias Pettersson dominance in 3-2 OT loss vs. Bruins

For much of this season, the Vancouver Canucks have been pretty unlucky at home.

That’s a hard thing to stomach, given they’ve only won four times at Rogers Arena. At a certain point, you have to ask, are you doing enough to make your own luck?

So how do you account for the Canucks scoring two goals Saturday night against the Boston Bruins using skates, not sticks?

That is clearly good luck.

When you stack it up next to an astounding two-way performance by Elias Pettersson’s line — his wingers were Jake DeBrusk and Linus Karlsson — you can start to see how just how unlucky this team has been at home.

Ultimately, when you lose the game in overtime after badly outshooting the opposition, when your first line was as good as it was … that’s bad luck.

The Petey line

How good was the Pettersson line? They were on ice for zero — yes zero — shot attempts against at five on five. They backchecked bloody hard.

Pettersson got one of the goals off a foot — in his case, it was actually off his foot, as opposed to Filip Hronek’s goal, which went in off Charlie McAvoy’s foot. He almost won the game in the third, slashing across the Boston zone, but couldn’t get the puck straight as Jeremy Swayman sprawled to make the save. The puck hit the side of the net instead.

It’s been two months since the Canucks got points in consecutive home games, so that’s something.

Finally, maybe, are the fans getting some joy? Are the bounces coming their way?

Tankists won’t be happy, though they’ll also note the home team still didn’t win.

Here are the player grades:

Forwards

Elias Pettersson: A

Goal went in off his foot. Nearly scored in third. Astounding defensively.

Jake DeBrusk: B

He’s skating a lot. Good work on the power play. Robbed by Swayman in the second.

Linus Karlsson: B

Making smart plays on the puck. Seems to have some chemistry with his centreman.

Max Sasson: C

Dumb penalty in the second. He’s not a great distributor but he works hard. Line got buried, though. He’s being asked to punch above his weight.

Evander Kane: C+

Skating lots but as ever his decisions with the puck are a grab bag.

Brock Boeser: C+

He’s getting the puck. He’s making smart plays. But he’s just not finding “that” scoring chance. Is some of it the centres he’s playing with?

David Kampf: C+

As ever, he’s out there. Line actually controlled play quite well.

Drew O’Connor: C+

One of his quieter nights. But no bad moments, either.

Kiefer Sherwood: C+

You never doubt the effort. Lots of energy. Playing well on the power play.

Aatu Raty: C

He was fine. Not much going.

Liam Ohgren: C

Same as Raty. They were fine. More lively last night vs. Kraken.

Nils Hoglander: B

He’s working hard, but not finding open shooting spots. Big hit on the forecheck. Got promoted to the Kane spot late in the game.

Defence

Marcus Pettersson: C

A rare bad shift. Two penalties! An own goal in the second! He’ll be better.

Tom Willander: C+

Strong play at the blue-line in the first to keep the puck in. Moving the puck well on the PP.

Elias Pettersson: C+

Quiet. Not up to much.

Tyler Myers: C+

A couple nice early breakouts. Saved a goal on a loose rebound by Lankinen. He was classic Chaos Giraffe. Better, steadier than he gets credit for.

Zeev Buium B

Carries the puck so well. Nice pass to Hronek on the goal. A strong, strong night playing with the Canucks’ best defenceman.

Filip Hronek: A

Firing the puck at the slot pays dividends. He was outstanding.

Goaltender

Kevin Lankinen: A

Boston played at a slow pace for much of the night, toying with the Canucks. But he was ready when called upon and was solid at every turn.