Elias Pettersson lived through one of the most embarrassing moments of his career Tuesday night, and the Canucks star knew it right away.
Diving to block a shot against Carolina, he ended up out of position and threw his stick at Sebastian Aho in an attempt to knock the puck away.
That's an automatic penalty shot, awarded to Aho at 16:55. Pettersson's frustration was obvious the second he realized what he'd done.
Leevi Merilainen bailed him out, turning the Hurricanes star aside on the attempt.
Throwing your stick at a puck is like tossing your phone at a fly. It feels like a solution for half a second, and then reality hits.
It was a desperate play from a player on a team that's been chasing games all season.
And it stung more because his start has been solid. He came into the night with 10 points through 10 games, including three power-play goals.
The Canucks keep sliding as Carolina rolls 6-3
His name swirled in trade speculation all summer. He stayed, and for now he looks like part of the rebuild rather than the price of it.
Keeping him is the right call. Selling a 27-year-old producing at this pace in the middle of a skid would be selling at the worst possible time.
He does carry an $11,600,000 cap hit, which is exactly why the trade chatter won't fully go away.
The loss stretched Vancouver's skid to eight games.
Carolina improved to 8-2-1 and is now 6-1-0 on the road.
The Hurricanes have been one of the league's best teams, and they cashed in on enough other Vancouver mistakes to roll.
Merilainen came into the night with a .925 save percentage, one of the few reliable pieces behind a leaky group.
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Even the other Elias Pettersson, the defenseman, has three goals of his own, another bright spot in a rough October.
Manny Malhotra has a lot to clean up. Detroit visits Thursday, with Minnesota coming in Sunday.
Will this moment follow Pettersson around? One bad decision is a blooper, and the longer the losing lasts, the more it starts to look like a symbol.
Should the Canucks trade Elias Pettersson instead of building around him?
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