‘I’m trying’: Canucks’ Pettersson acknowledges struggles after Tocchet’s callout

Good news: the Vancouver Canucks passenger list is shorter than coach Rick Tocchet first reported.

The morning after saying the National Hockey League team had five-to-seven “passengers” in its 3-2 playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Tocchet acknowledged Wednesday that he “might be off by a couple.”

So, there may be as few as three freeloaders. Or as many as nine, but that can’t possibly be true or this team that wasn’t expected to even make the Stanley Cup Playoffs wouldn’t have Connor McDavid and the Oilers squirming amid a 2-2 series tie in the second round of the tournament.

Game 5 is Thursday at Rogers Arena.

Most of Wednesday was occupied on the West Coast by guessing which players were on the passenger list that Tocchet mentioned in his raw and honest post-game press conference in Edmonton, where the resilient Canucks overcame a two-goal, third-period deficit only to blow it with a series of mistakes in the final minute that allowed Oiler Evan Bouchard to score with 38.1 seconds remaining.

“We need five or six guys to get going here,” Tocchet told surprised reporters after Game 4. “I mean, it’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Some guys, I don’t know if they thought it was the playoffs. We can’t play with 12 guys. We’ve got to figure it out quick.”

Although he didn’t name names, Tocchet confirmed in Edmonton — it was hardly a revelation — that $92.8-million star Elias Pettersson is one of the Canucks that must get going if Vancouver is to extend its magical season beyond this series.

It was encouraging on Wednesday that Pettersson, who typically relishes media interaction like most folks enjoy tax audits, was one of two Vancouver players who sat before reporters on an off-day for the Canucks. Quiet but amiable Pius Suter was the other.

This was more good news for the Canucks because the first step in fixing a problem is to admit you have a problem. And Pettersson, who has one goal and four points in 10 playoff games, knows he has a problem.

“It was hard getting to sleep last night,” Pettersson conceded. 

He added: “I want to play my best hockey every game. I mean, just going through a little adversity. I’m trying to play well (but) it’s not going my way. And then, at the end of the day, what can I do? Just try to play the next game better. I can’t dwell on bad games or not my best performance (in) previous games.”

With Tocchet sticking with his in-form top two forward lines, Pettersson has been centering the third line, and his wingers on Tuesday were Sam Lafferty and Ilya Mikheyev. Mikheyev has one goal in 60 games, and Lafferty has three goals (and five points) in 46 games. Lafferty and Mikheyev are definitely on the passenger manifest.

Although Pettersson, 25, is also struggling on the power play and has done nothing during sporadic shifts with J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, a five-on-five goal from Pettersson now and then would be more likely with better wingers.

“Yeah, maybe,” he said. “Maybe it could help, but also, at the end of the day, I can only focus on what I can do. And, obviously, I want to be better. I want to be the difference-maker. It hasn’t gone, obviously, the way I want it to be. But at the end of the day, I can’t dwell on it too much. We have a game tomorrow, I’m going to try to do my best, and that’s where my head’s at.”

Where was his head after Tocchet’s stinging criticism?

“I think he sends a message to the group that we all need to be better,” Pettersson said. “And mostly myself, I know I can be better. I’m trying out there. Maybe (it is) not going the best way right now, but I’m trying. I want to win.”

Tocchet’s message was extraordinary, at least for its timing. 

Although the Canucks have already surpassed what anybody forecast them to achieve this season, Tocchet, who won Stanley Cups as an unyielding player and assistant coach, understands the opportunity the Canucks have right now, in these playoffs. This week.

Half his players had never logged an NHL playoff game in front of fans before this spring, and Tocchet is trying to get them to understand what is at stake.

“This team, when I got here (16 months ago), I remember talking that they were tired of losing,” Tocchet explained to reporters on Wednesday. “They were tired of the years and years (of losing). And it’s right there. So, I’m trying to make them understand it’s there — taste it. Like, you’ve got to do whatever you’ve got to do to get there. We’ve really come together as a group knowing that this team has always bounced back. All year. We show up.

“They’re a close-knit … team, and they want to know. They want to know if they’re playing good or playing bad. And it’s an honest group. I mean, J.T. Miller texted me today, you know, ‘Sorry.’ This guy’s been unreal for me. One play or two plays (in Game 4) doesn’t define (him). He’s been a monster for us. He’ll be a monster for us next game. That’s the way we work around here. We’re going to be ready to play Game 5. We’ve got great fans. It’s going to be a fun game to play and we’ve got to embrace it. I guess my message: It’s there. Don’t regret in the summer, ‘I wish I had played a little bit harder or would have blocked that shot’ or whatever the deal is. It’s there for us.”

It’s only the timing of Tocchet’s public challenge to his team — during the Canucks’ most important playoff run in 13 years, in the emotional aftermath of another impressive comeback that fell just short of another miracle win — that is surprising.

He hadn’t previously uttered the “passenger” list, but has said numerous times this season that certain players or groups of players needed to elevate their game.

“If I’m going to say a guy’s playing great, which I say a lot … if you’re having a couple of tough nights and I feel that you need to get going, that’s the way it is,” he said. “I know the narrative that some guys, well, you tune out. I disagree with that. But I’m not going to change. And I don’t think saying three or four guys had a tough night is a bad thing.

“Why sugar-coat it? Oh, everything’s fine? It’s fine that it’s 2-2. And I think we’ve played well in this playoffs (but) we’ve had our moments where we haven’t. And a part of that is this team needs 21 guys going. It can’t be 12. We all know that. That’s just the bottom line.”

ICE CHIPS: Tocchet reiterated he will make lineup changes for Game 5, and name-dropped Vasily Podkolzin and Arshdeep Bains as forwards who might play. Certainly, defenceman Carson Soucy will return after his one-game suspension for cross-checking McDavid in the face at the end of Game 3.

Tocchet wouldn’t even dismiss the unrealistic suggestion that top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki, the 19-year-old winger who scored one goal in six American Hockey League games after coming over from Sweden this spring, could be thrown into the Stanley Cup cauldron on Thursday. 

“I told you guys when I took the job, ‘I’m swinging the bat,’” Tocchet said. “Like, I’m not scared. You can’t play safe if you want to win. You’ve got to go for it.”