“I want him to have fun”: HC Rick Tocchet on Elias Pettersson's participation at 4 Nations Face-Off

Elias Pettersson and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday, securing their third straight win before the NHL’s extended break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Following the win, Canucks coach Rick Tocchet showered high praise on Petersson’s game in the post-match interview.

When talking about Pettersson going to the 4 Nations Face-Off during the post-game press conference, Tocchet said he wants him to have fun:

“I want him to have fun. Like, I know it's a serious tournament. I mean, everybody wants to win. It's serious. I want him to go put his [best] represent his country, and go have fun with his countrymen. Let's just have fun. Try stuff. And, you know?”

While the tournament is important, Tocchet wants Pettersson to enjoy the experience, play with his teammates and come back feeling refreshed.

“I mean, yeah, everybody wants to win this tournament, but it was at 434, games, four games. I just wanted to go out there and have some fun, then come back hopefully. You know, that tournament, hanging with his buddies, and rejuvenates.”

“It has his pulled demeanor. And like today, I thought he just was, I don't know he had some fun. And I think he's got to understand that pressure is fun sometimes.”

The 4 Nations Face-Off is scheduled to begin on Wednesday and will run through Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025.

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Rick Tocchet heaps praise on Elias Pettersson’s play setting up Canucks’ opener

Vancouver opened the scoring on the night in the first period when Elias Pettersson found Filip Hronek with a cross-seam pass, and Hronek fired a shot past Toronto goaltender Ilya Samsonov to make it 1-0.

In the post-game interview, Rick Tocchet praised Elias Pettersson for his great pass to set up Hronek's goal, calling it a smart play that got the crowd excited.

“Petty did a great job of selling it too,” Tocchet said. “If, you know, I think he looked somewhere else the least kind of looked where he thought he was gonna pass. And that's obviously, you know, high level play. Made great goal and Phil to recognize that he was open. So that got the got things going. I thought that really got the crowd going. “

Tocchet also claimed that Pettersson was focused from the start, especially when he was matched up against Auston Matthews. Tocchet mentioned giving him a little push, telling him to take charge, which seemed to help.