Does it get any better than this?

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1047680762793713664

Look, it’s very possible that the absolute pinnacle of the Vancouver Canucks’ 2018-19 season came with 6:12 left in the first period of the first game of the season.

And if that’s true, we’re alright with it.

Like Brock Boeser last season, it’s clear that Elias Pettersson games will veer into must-watch territory this season. He’s special, there’s no denying it, and tonight, in his first game as an NHL rookie, he made a series of plays that showed why he’s garnered so much hype in the past year.

There was the snipe, obviously, but there were also numerous other offensive and defensive moments that gave an insight into what the Canucks might have with the young Swede.

https://twitter.com/ryanbiech/status/1047699950019141632

And all that was in less than 10 minutes of ice time. Even though the Canucks spent a lot of time in the penalty box in this one, you can bet that coach Travis Green will alter his usage of the rookie.

Three that impressed

1. Elias Pettersson

Duh. He even gave a speech after the game in which he implored the team to take less penalties. Awesome.

2. Jacob Markstrom

Shit, we haven’t really even talked about the game yet. The first two periods were fairly even, but the Flames absolutely dominated the third, even though the Canucks scored four goals in the final frame.

It was Markstrom who held the team in the game, stopping 33 shots overall, even as the Canucks gave up multiple power plays and were getting hemmed in their own zone repeatedly. It was good to see the netminder stand tall against the pressure.

3. Jake Virtanen

He was a bit invisible for large swaths of the game, but we have to give some credit to Virtanen, who had a few good chances and made good on a nice break that effectively iced the game for the Canucks.

https://twitter.com/ryanbiech/status/1047702145078685696

We’ll also give a shoutout here to Tyler Motte, who was second among Canucks forwards in ice time, logging 21 minutes of hard time, including multiple stints on a revamped Canucks penalty kill that looked pretty good agains the Flames top stars.

The player that many figured wouldn’t even make the Canucks could figure as one of the team’s most important players going forward.

Three that didn’t

1.    The
2.    Top
3.    Line

This might be a little unfair, but hey, it’s easier than just listing each member of the top line individually.

Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Sven Baertschi each played around 13-14 minutes and all registered a minus-2 rating. Aside from a sweet back-and-forth between Horvat and Boeser they were mostly quiet offensively as well. And there were several times when the trio were trapped in their own zone for entire shifts.

Not a great night for the top line, but the fact that the Canucks got five goals without any from the Killer Bs is borderline remarkable.

Quotables

“C’mon guys, Jesus.”

- Travis Green, reacting to a question about Pettersson’s ice time

“I blacked out, I was so happy. I didn’t think it was real. That’s a feeling I’ll never forget.”

- Pettersson on scoring his first NHL goal

“I think it’s just a little swelled up – no worse for wear. Right at the end he popped me. It happens. Big guy. Long reach.”

- Travis Hamonic on whether his jaw was broken after fighting Erik Gudbranson