Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson playing with more confidence

Representatives of the Sweden Ice Hockey Association, the body that selects members for that country’s national teams, recently scouted a game in Pittsburgh.

They were there to watch Pettersson.

Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks.

On Nov. 24, the Penguins hosted the Canucks, who are led by one of the game’s bright young stars in Pettersson.

Winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 2019, Pettersson figures to carry much of Sweden’s hopes for winning gold in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing in February.

As for Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson? It’s probably a stretch to assume a second-pairing defensive defenseman has legitimate hopes to be selected to the roster for one of the favorites in what is essentially a tournament of All-Stars.

But by most measures, he, so far this season, has made good on a pledge to take a step forward from a ho-hum 2020-21 campaign.

Through 21 games, Pettersson has six points (one goal, five assists) while averaging 16 minutes, 58 seconds of ice time. Those figures might be more robust had he not missed four games in November as a result of being placed into the NHL’s protocol for covid-19.

After plateauing a bit last season, Pettersson was critical of his play when speaking with media after the Penguins were eliminated from the playoffs in May.

“I didn’t really take that step that I wanted to this year from last year to this year,” Pettersson said in May. “So I think that’s something for sure that I have to do a better job of.”

Pettersson’s boss sure thinks he’s accomplished that.

“He’s playing better,” coach Mike Sullivan. “He’s playing with more confidence. His game is more assertive on both sides of the puck. His decision making is assertive. It’s decisive. There’s no hesitation. A lot of that, I think, stems from confidence. He got off to a good start. He had a good training camp. That early success, I think, really helped him. His game, in my mind, has definitely taken a giant step forward. The way Marcus is playing right now is the player that we expect to have in our lineup each and every night. He’s a very good NHL defenseman. His whole overall game is just better.”

While Pettersson’s basic offensive totals aren’t going threaten any kind of records, he feels he’s been more of a force offensively in other ways that aren’t necessarily reflected on the scoreboard.

“Keeping pucks alive,” Pettersson said Wednesday. “Not necessarily just pinching in but making good reads. When we play our best, we play in the offensive zone, and we play as a five-man unit. Our schemes and our patterns that we have in the offensive zone sets up things that we can get moving on the blue line and get in on the rush. … Just staying close to our forwards and support, I think that creates a lot of offense, even if it doesn’t create a lot of goals for us (defensemen) or points. Just keeping pucks alive, I think, is a huge part of our offensive game, and I think we’ve been doing a good job of that so far.”

Pettersson recorded a secondary assist during Monday’s 6-1 road win against the Seattle Kraken by settling a puck at the left point. Eventually, forward Danton Heinen scored the Penguins’ third goal on the sequence.

“We’ve done a good job of contributing from the back end, keeping pucks alive,” Pettersson said. “We want to play that way, as a five-man unit. So far, I have stepped it up a little, and I think I have more to give, too.”

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