Gino Hard noticed J.T. Miller going after Elias Pettersson following the Rangers' opening goal against the Canucks on Friday night.
The two were teammates in Vancouver, and Hard's read is that nothing has softened since.
Hard wrote that Miller was giving it to Pettersson after the first goal, adding that there is still no love lost between the former Canucks teammates:
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Miller had a good night to go with the chirping. The Rangers center finished with two assists in 18:49 and a +1 rating in a 5-1 win, one of several New York forwards who got on the scoresheet.
Pettersson, the Canucks center, scored Vancouver's lone goal, and that was about the only good news on the other side. Leevi Merilainen faced 31 shots and allowed five.
The result keeps the Rangers rolling. They've won two straight and sit 12-8-1, third in the Metropolitan Division, with a 4-6-1 road record that Friday helped a little.
Vancouver is a different story. The Canucks are 3-17-1, last in the NHL, and have lost seven in a row.
Does the Miller and Pettersson tension matter for Vancouver?
Not in any way the post suggests. Nothing in it points to a larger blowup, and a bit of needle between two guys who used to share a locker room is part of the game.
The bigger issue for the Canucks is that they've been outscored 95 to 57 this season. Pettersson has 21 points in 21 games, which is solid production on a team giving up that many goals, and it's why his name keeps coming up in trade talk.
We looked at that at the time in our piece on Elias Pettersson's growing trade market, where Henrik Sedin said Vancouver won't sell just to collect picks.
A losing streak this long makes that stance hard to hold, and Friday night at home was another ugly one in front of the building. The Canucks are 1-9-0 at home.
Miller and the Rangers host Montreal on Monday. Pettersson and Vancouver are in Vegas on Sunday, looking to snap a seven-game skid.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
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