After the victory, the Canadians go on vacation and are ready to regroup

VANCOUVER – One of the most canary things to happen to the Vancouver Canucks this season is the injury to Elias Pettersson on Monday after he ended a six-game offensive famine by scoring two goals in a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks achieved.

Pettersson’s two goals matched his previous 16 games and came after a week in which the noise surrounding the National Hockey League team became deafening enough to penetrate the Canuck locker room’s soundproofing.

After scoring goals 44 seconds apart late in the second period when the Canucks took control, he was unable to finish the game. Superstar captain Quinn Hughes, who suffered a blow in Saturday’s overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators and was a questionable starter, not only managed to play but added two more assists in 25:11 of ice time. Of course he did it.

But after all the drama and challenges – real and imagined – surrounding the Canucks in 34 games, all the injuries and loss of key players, the team made it to Christmas break on 10/17/7. It’s a shame their vacation only lasts three days before the Canucks practice before Saturday’s home game against the Seattle Kraken.

“We have three days off and everyone can calm down and come back hungry,” said defender Vincent Desharnais. “Whatever the media says, we just ignore it. We just stick together and I think that’s the best way to build confidence and strengthen our team. You know, we’re not even halfway through the season yet. We want to win, we want to play for each other. It was great to see some guys do great things tonight. It was good to get everyone involved.”

Vancouver got goals from three of its four forwards and all six defensemen played at least 16 minutes. Goaltender Thatcher Demko made 27 saves and looked good, although his line score was marred by a meaningless six-on-five goal from San Jose’s Luke Kunin with six seconds left.

Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers and winger Danton Heinen literally fought for their team.

“Yeah, it was nice,” center JT Miller said after logging 21:01, his most ice time since the emotional leader returned from a personal leave of absence for mental health reasons. “It’s a big game for us this time of year to go on vacation. You don’t want that taste. . . that you’re not bringing your best game today. It was nice that everyone contributed. This team (San Jose) is playing really well and I think we showed up to play tonight.”

At the reset, the Canucks are on pace for 99 points – 10 fewer than last year. But the adversity they faced in 34 games is at least four times greater than what they faced all of last season.

“It’s just so different than last year,” Miller said. “But I think it’s good for the group (to get through). Last year we talked about going game by game whether we win or lose, and that’s definitely true now. Things happen. You go with the flow.”

It feels like the current has been going against them since the start of the season.

“The boys handled the adversity well,” Myers said. “You know, a lot happened in these first 34 games. Guys go down, guys in and out of the lineup. Looking at the bigger picture, I think the space did a great job here. We just want to keep going every day to keep getting better. I always say it, but it’s true. We’re just focused on the next game, looking at things and looking for ways to get better in our system. It’s the same process.”

Pettersson only played one test shift in the third period before leaving the game.

“It broke,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “We have the break. I don’t think it’s that bad, so we’ll see what it’s like.”

Pettersson also did some damage to the Sharks late in the second period as Vancouver scored three goals in 70 seconds to build a 4-1 lead.

The game came to life a few minutes earlier. With the score tied at 1-1 in the middle of the midfield – and the Canucks holding 10 shots – Shark Ty Dellandrea shoulder-to-head beat an unsuspecting Teddy Blueger away from the puck in the Vancouver zone.

Heinen, who hadn’t fought in 7½ NHL seasons, immediately challenged Dellandrea.

Aside from his fight major, Dellandrea only got off with an interference minor for beating up Blueger, but that offset the instigator penalty Heinen took in addition to a late uppercut.

The scene enraged the crowd, who loudly cheered Heinen as he went to the penalty box for the longest penalty of his career.

At 16:42, Canadian Kiefer Sherwood grabbed the go-ahead shot out of nowhere, took a half-step toward the Sharks’ defense and fired a wrist shot from the right circle into the top short corner past San Jose goaltender Yaroslav Askarow.

Then, a shift later, Pettersson brought the crowd to its peak as the beleaguered center took advantage of a huge rebound from Askarov and scored his first goal (and point) in seven games to make it 3-1 at 17:08 .

Normally stoic, Pettersson allowed himself a quick fist bump before being mobbed by his teammates.

And when San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky drew a hooking penalty for Shark Mario Ferraro after an unsuccessful goalie interference attempt, Pettersson scored again at five-on-three, hitting his spot with a glove-side wrist shot at 17:52 .

And just like that, Pettersson’s lull was over or at least broken, the Canucks had a three-goal lead and everyone was happy.

The teammates were happy about Pettersson.

“He’s too good; At some point it will break out,” Hughes said. “And I’m glad he was able to do that tonight. I hope that like all of us he can enjoy the next few days, regroup and get going.”

“Two great shots,” Tocchet said. “Things like that loosen people up. Hopefully this will kick start (more goals) and he will have fun. I enjoyed the celebration afterwards. It was nice to see a guy like him scoring and being excited like that. I think the fans like to see that too.”

Brock Boeser scored on a pass from Hughes in the first period to tie the game at 14:10 after William Eklund made it 1-0 for San Jose with a two-man lead at 11:36. In his first NHL game in his hometown, North Vancouver’s Macklin Celebrini had two assists for the Sharks, giving the 18-year-old 25 points in 25 games as a rookie.

“I think the break comes at a fortunate time,” said Hughes, citing his health and that of Pettersson. “We have three days here to recover and regroup and we’ll see what happens after that.”

Tocchet said: “I told the guys after the game, ‘You know, the waves aren’t 12 feet high.’ They’re only three, four, or five feet tall, not twelve feet. Just relax, don’t listen to the outside noise and control what you control. . . in the locker room.”