The Vancouver Canucks 3-2 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers was more than an organizational sigh of relief. It’s given the fanbase a more positive outlook on the start of the year, with four points putting them right back in the thick of the Pacific Division standings.
Head coach Rick Tocchet’s side was nearly goalie’d for the second game in a row, thanks to a Sergei Bobrovsky masterclass. All it took to win was a Teddy Blueger wraparound that barely crossed the goal line, a Quinn Hughes slap shot that could’ve ripped through steel, and a J.T. Miller snipe in overtime that not even John Garrett in his prime could’ve saved.
The Canucks were in as close to a ‘must-win’ situation as possible this early into a season, facing a Panthers team missing both Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, and they passed the test with their most complete effort of the year. But a small group of players made their mark on this game in different ways: one a forward line, one a goalie, and one a call-up from Abbotsford.
Let’s take a look at how those Canucks put a stamp on their victory in South Florida.

Let Höglander-Pettersson-Garland cook

There’s still a lot of concern surrounding Elias Pettersson’s lack of goals to start the season, but on Thursday he showed flashes of his signature skill and chemistry forming with two new wingers.
This was Pettersson’s best game of the season by far, even if it didn’t translate into points. He was well engaged in the play with four shot blocks and three hits, and routinely used ‘the opponent’s fear’ as a second hockey stick.
But maybe the best thing to happen to EP40 this early in the year was being paired with the Energizer combo of Nils Höglander and Conor Garland. The new-look trio were a scoring threat shift after shift and flustered the Panthers defenders in their own end. One highlight on the night was Garland’s magnificent fake shot to draw in Panthers defenders before back passing to Höglander, whose shot beat Bobrovsky but not the post.
If the worry about keeping these three together is icing an undersized line of forwards, their overall tenacity more than makes up for it. Give this group some time to marinate, and the points will follow them.

Kevin Lankinen earns the net (for now)

If messing with a winning lineup is a no-go for many coaches, switching goalies after the first victory of the season isn’t likely either.
Kevin Lankinen matched Sergei Bobrovsky pound for pound on Thursday, working to cancel out the risk of being goalie’d by the two-time Vezina winner with his own 26-save night. His commanding presence in the net was on full display, challenging shooters aggressively out of the paint and reading the play around the crease with ease.
With Arturs Silovs’ mixed results to start the year, it feels like a foregone conclusion that Lankinen has earned the start on Saturday in Philadelphia and a more extended run of games. But it shouldn’t be long before we see Silovs in the net again; the Canucks have the rebuilding Blackhawks on deck to close out the road trip on Tuesday.

Erik Brännström makes good first impression in Canucks debut

It wasn’t a super eventful first game as a Vancouver Canuck for defenceman Erik Brännström. However, given the assignment for the 25-year-old, he put together an admirable enough showing against the Panthers.
In just under 12 minutes of ice time, Brännström gave the Canucks the puck-moving help that’s severely lacking behind Quinn Hughes in the defensive depth chart without being a net negative in his own end of the ice. And for all the concerns about his defensive play, Brännström was far from the team’s biggest concern in that department.
The Canucks’ veterans were having a particularly hard time preventing the Panthers from skating towards the net for prime scoring chances off the wing. It’s clear the blue line still needs some more established help (particularly shooting help from the right-hand side), but what Brännström has going for him now are offensive zone skills that none of the other bottom four defenders can match.
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