Life moves fast, especially at the Olympics.
The men’s ice hockey teams don’t have much time to gel, find chemistry, or work through the kinks.
That’s part of the reason why Elias Pettersson’s performance for Sweden was so inspiring on Saturday.
The Canucks centre had been marginalized through his team’s first two games. It was a spot that was eerily familiar for Pettersson after being a spare part for Team Sweden at last year’s 4 Nations.
On Saturday against Slovakia, Pettersson finally seemed to earn the trust of Sweden’s head coach, Sam Hallam.
It was a critical game for Sweden as they battled against Group B leading Slovakia. Midway through the second period, the heavily favoured Swedes were entrenched in a 2-2 deadlock.
That was the point at which Pettersson came alive.
Filip Forsberg, another marginalized player on Sweden’s roster, went streaking down the middle of the ice during a three-on-two rush. Forsberg fed the puck to Pettersson on the left wing, who slyly slid his shot five-hole for his first Olympic goal.
Not to be outdone there, Pettersson stepped up in the third period, too.
In a game that Sweden needed to win by three goals to steal top spot in their group away from Slovakia, Pettersson got them closer.
On a great individual play by Lucas Raymond, Pettersson snuck behind Slovakia’s defence on the right side of the net, and made no mistake one-timing a centering pass into the back of the net.
And just like that, Pettersson now leads all Swedish players in goals scored at the Olympics.
Yes, his ice time didn’t spike significantly in this game, but Pettersson clearly made the most of his minutes in this game.
Although head coach Hallam had his lines in a blender through, Pettersson spent some time playing with stars like Raymond, Forsberg, and William Nylander. He was also back at his natural centre ice position, taking 12 face-offs for Sweden (he won only four of them).
Pettersson also drew a penalty on his first shift in the third period, something he’s been incredibly adept at doing throughout his NHL career.
And, after getting zero special teams time early in the tournament, Pettersson was out there on the power play in the third period, as Sweden pushed for the Group B win.
Sweden scored to make the game 5-2 without Pettersson on the ice. Winning by three goals would have put them in the driver’s seat for Group B.
However, an undisciplined penalty by Raymond, coupled with some leaky goaltending from ex-Canucks netminder Jacob Markstrom, allowed Slovakia to score with less than a minute remaining. That goal led to them celebrating after the final buzzer despite the fact that they lost 5-3.
Gotta love the Olympics.
Sweden couldn’t completely finish the job, but they got agonizingly close, in large part thanks to Pettersson.