SALT LAKE CITY – First he wasn’t skating. Now he’s not shooting.

The hope that Elias Pettersson, liberated from season-long drama by the trade of J.T. Miller on Jan. 31, might be re-energized and re-launch his difficult season has dissipated in February.

The ongoing absence of injured defenceman Quinn Hughes, an offence-driving dynamo who leads the Vancouver Canucks in scoring by 24 points, has beamed a spotlight on the lack of production from other sources — especially Pettersson.

The Canucks enjoyed a post-trade bump before the National Hockey League halted for the 4 Nations Face-Off, riding the fresh air in their dressing room, speed and enthusiasm from four new players, and improved defensive play on a team rededicated to shutting down opponents.

Despite scoring just nine goals in four games, the Canucks went 3-0-1 the week after the blockbuster trade while playing some of their fastest and soundest hockey of the season.

But the two-week schedule break seems to have stalled them.

On Sunday, they lost 2-1 to Utah Hockey Club while getting outshot 32-15, one night after a third-period surge in Las Vegas wasn’t enough to prevent a 3-1 loss to the Golden Knights.

Pettersson, who was among NHL scoring leaders around this time last season before signing the richest contract in Canucks history, has two assists in six games in February. He hasn’t scored a goal in 11 NHL games. He also went pointless in three games for Sweden while battling illness and an undisclosed knock at the best-on-best tournament.

Pettersson made a nice pass to set up Jake DeBrusk at the top of the crease on the power play for the Canucks’ only goal on Sunday.

But with a chance to tie the game on a breakaway halfway through the third period, Pettersson shot high. He failed to register a shot on goal, missing the net twice while having a pair of shots blocked. In the six Canuck games since the Miller trade, Pettersson has managed to direct just four pucks on target.

“We’ve talked about he has to move his feet, and can’t double clutch (with the puck),” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet told Sportsnet Sunday night after his main press scrum had ended. “I think he’s waiting for something. I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence in his shot, but as soon as he has room, he’s got to take it and . . . just got to blast it. I’d rather him just rip a puck right now. He’s not moving his feet. I thought today, some shifts he was moving his feet and it looked like we had some glimpses. But six-on-five there at the end, it’s the same thing, waiting. If he just takes three or four strides . . . I don’t know if it’s a mental block right now, all year, but he’s got to move his feet.”

When we asked Pettersson whether confidence is a factor when struggling to score, the alternate captain said: “It’s more annoying dealing with the media.”

Well, there’s only seven years left on that contract.

“Obviously, when you have Quinn out, we need people to step up and we need to find ways to produce,” winger Brock Boeser said. “Personally, I feel like we’re trying just to make a lot of plays, like in the middle of the ice when it’s not there. I think we could maybe get our cycle game going a little bit more and off of that, then we can create our shots. And when we do get some looks, I feel like we don’t have great netfront (traffic) right now. I feel like the goalie is seeing a lot of shots.”

Winger Dakota Joshua said: “I think just too many of us are trying to make the extra pass instead of shooting the puck. Just the mindset of getting pucks to the net isn’t there as much as it should be.”

To be clear, the offensive outage for Vancouver extends far beyond Pettersson’s slump and Hughes’ injury. DeBrusk also was the only Canuck to score on Saturday.

Boeser has two goals and no assists in six games in February. Kiefer Sherwood and Pius Suter, part of the middle-of-the-lineup scoring committee that helped keep the Canucks in the playoff race, also have just two points apiece this month. And new second-line centre Filip Chytil has looked far less dangerous in the first two games after the schedule break than he did the four games before it.

But in stark contrast to Pettersson, all of these other players are still shooting. Boeser and Garland have 12 shots the last six games, Suter 11 and Sherwood 10. Chytil has 19 shots since joining the Canucks in the Miller trade.

“Well, the frustrating part, I think, is we had 21 blocked shots (and) I think it was 15 missed shots,” Tocchet said at the start of Sunday’s media availability. “That’s 30-something chances. We’re struggling to score goals, but you’ve got to move your feet, you’ve got to change your angles, you’ve got to hit the net. That’s a big number (of misses) for a team that’s not scoring. I’d rather guys just take a little bit off it and hit the net and get people (to the net). We’re double clutching, and I think that’s a lack of confidence. So we’ve got to take a couple days here and figure this out.”

The Canucks’ five-game trip against Western Conference teams, four of them in the Pacific Division, resumes Wednesday when Vancouver starts another set of back-to-backs against the Los Angeles Kings.

They’ll take Monday off to rest, which is good because there are illnesses going through the team, and then practise on Tuesday.

The worst part about Sunday’s performance is they repeated many of the mistakes they made Saturday, taking another three penalties in the first period and failing to play at pace and establish much in the offensive zone. The best part was easily goalie Arturs Silovs, who lost his interim-starter job in the first week of the season and by December was back in the minors, but made 31 saves against Utah.

Due to this week’s schedule and Thatcher Demko’s third injury of the season, Silovs got his first NHL start since Nov. 27 and had easily his best performance for the Canucks since last spring’s playoff run.

Silovs provided exactly what teams need from their backups: he gave the Canucks a chance to win while giving Kevin Lankinen a chance to rest.

“I mean, yeah, he kept us in it and made some big saves tonight,” Boeser said. “He played tremendous for us. I wish we could have gotten him a win.”