How will the reeling Canucks reset themselves?

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For all the good you do, it’s the last thing you’re remembered for.

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Take Elias Pettersson, for instance. The Vancouver Canucks’ star has finally found his game again. On the just-finished six-game home stand, Pettersson was an offensive force.

During those six games, he scored four goals and added four assists, the kind of production you expect from your highest-paid player.

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But the Canucks still won only twice on the homestand, and Pettersson’s final act was one he’s not proud of — he lost a neutral-zone puck battle to the New York Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad, then moments later Zibanejad’s teammate Chris Kreider buried the puck in the back of the Canucks’ net, Pettersson flailing in vain on the backcheck. Kreider’s goal stood up as the game-winner, a bittersweet ending for the Canucks who had played an otherwise solid game.

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After the game, Pettersson admitted the moment was frustrating.

“I gotta make a better play there,” he said.

And so here are the Canucks, sitting fifth in the tight Pacific Division, looking for answers.

They have lost four of their last six. One of their stars has gone on leave. They’ve got other players battling through injury. They are still missing their No. 1 goalie.

Fans are anxious. The players may not be, but the environment is anxious.

Onward, say the players.

For them, it’s about doing what you always do — come to the rink, every day, with a fix-it, upbeat mindset.

“You just try and keep getting better. The process doesn’t change,” defenceman Tyler Myers said. “There’s going to be a lot of different things thrown at you throughout a year. It’s same process of how you approach the game, how you approach practices, and then just be there for each other.”

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The mentality absolutely has to come first. And they proved last year that they do have that.

But they have been lacking the physical. Head coach Rick Tocchet isn’t looking for his players to go through people, putting opponents through the glass, he just wants to see more oomph in their play.

Getting into the hands of opponents. Taking their sticks away.

Some of his new players have started to take on this mentality, but some, like Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen, still have to find that physical groove Tocchet is looking for.

The coach sees the current rut as a chance for his team to come together.

“Coaches, leadership, organization-wise, this is where you have to hold the fort. Everybody’s got to grab a pail and, you know, empty some water (from) the boat. That’s really what it comes down to,” he said Wednesday after a hard practice at the University of B.C.

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The Canucks fly to Ottawa on Thursday to begin a six-game eastern road trip.

Tocchet asks his team to play a high-energy style, where his players make smart decision after smart decision, piling pressure on the opposition. It’s still a work in progress with some players, especially the newer ones such as DeBrusk and Heinen.

He sees signs of improvement in their play, but there’s still a ways to go.

“Let’s face it, we need some guys, they do have to step it up. They got to make sure that if you’re not scoring, you got to make sure that you’re not giving stuff (away). That was my big thing last year. It’s OK not to score, but you can’t give up moments for the other team. You can’t lose your man,” he said.

MAKING PROGRESS — Tocchet was optimistic that Brock Boeser, out with a concussion suffered in a Nov. 7 game against the Los Angeles Kings, would be able to travel with the team on the coming road trip. Boeser has been skating on his own and has yet to join a full practice, but obviously is making progress in his recovery. … No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko is also getting closer. He’s been a full participant in practices for the past 10 days or so. He still needs to work on a few things, he said, and he said there is no firm timeline for a return, but it’s clear he’s on course to make a return in the next week or two.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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