Elias Pettersson’s most recent performance has caught the attention of Team Sweden’s coaching staff.

Making his Olympic Games debut this month, the Vancouver Canucks forward scored his first international goal since the 2019 World Championships on Saturday. Pettersson then added a second marker, powering Sweden to a 5-3 win over Slovakia to wrap preliminary play.

Entering the tournament, there were questions about what version of Pettersson would show up for his country, with the Swedish centreman failing to find the scoresheet at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, and seeing his ice time plummet from top-line minutes to sub-10 by tournament’s end.

Showing off his goal-scoring talents on the global stage, he showed he can still find the back of the net for his country. His efforts earned kind words from his Swedish Head Coach Sam Hallam, who praised Pettersson’s performance, touting his overall strong two-way play when speaking with Peter Ekholm of NHL.com/sv:

“I loved his speed from the middle of the ice when he scored his first goal,” Hallam said, translated via Google Translate. “It was a nice pass from Forsberg, but from the start he played with good presence, he does the right things, tackles, and plays the right way tactically. It means a lot to him to add two goals to that today. All these players need goals like that to get a better feeling.”

Pettersson entered the Olympic break on an 11-game goal-scoring drought with the Canucks. Those scoring troubles followed him through the first two games of the Olympics, where he failed to register a point. After Saturday’s two-goal performance, Pettersson shared he was glad to finally get a couple through.

“It felt good,” he said. “I’ve had a few chances in the previous two games, I’m happy I got two today.”

Sweden finished preliminary play with two wins and a loss, falling 4-1 to Finland. Heading into the qualifying round of the knockout stage with a win over Slovakia, Pettersson said they’re proud of how they were able to bounce back after the loss to their Nordic rivals.

“We didn’t like the game against Finland,” he said. “Today we were better with and without the puck. We were reliable for each other. We have to continue to build forward.”

Pettersson and Team Sweden have secured the seventh seed and will face Latvia in Tuesday’s qualifying round.