Vancouver Canucks centre Elias Pettersson named NHL’s second star of the week

Elias Pettersson is starting his season the way many thought he would: On an absolute heater.

The Vancouver Canucks centre and pending restricted free agent took home the National Hockey League’s second star of the week honours after tallying six points in his first two games of the season.

Pettersson was one of three Canucks to register four points during the club’s home opener 8-1 stompfest of the Edmonton Oilers. Brock Boeser scored four goals and JT Miller recorded a goal to go along with three assists. If the NHL put out a “five stars of the week”, Boeser would almost certainly be included in that list. Boeser is currently tied for second with a number of players around the league in overall points, and his four goals have him tied with Brady Tkachuk and Teuvo Terravainen for second in the league in goals.

The man in first place of the goalscoring race is also the player who picked up first star of the week honours: Auston Matthews.

The Toronto Maple Leafs sniper kicked off his season with back-to-back hat tricks, becoming just the second player since the NHL’s inaugural campaign in 1917-18 to record a hat trick in each of his first two games in a season.

In the Canucks’ second victory of the year — also against Edmonton, but this time on the road — Pettersson picked up two assists while being a two-way force and playing with just about everybody in every situation. Through two games, Pettersson has been a juggernaut for this Canucks team, and is off to a great start in his effort to top last year’s 102-point campaign as he heads into contract negotiations with the Canucks this offseason.

Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin picked up third star of the week honours following his two goals and four assists through the Penguins’ first three games of the season.

Pettersson and the Canucks are on the road for their next four games, the first of which takes place tomorrow against the Philadelphia Flyers. Note: Puck drop has been moved to an hour earlier, meaning this one gets started at 3 PM Pacific Time.