The Rogers Arena lights dim. A video of highlights flashes on the board. The Canucks skate out and wave to thunderous applause, before all eyes are fixed on one rafter in the roof.
A spotlight beams as a banner unfurls. It reads, ‘DIDN’T LET ALEX OVECHKIN SCORE IN 2024-25’. Because you’ve got to take the wins where you can get them.
It’s been a long, long week to be the Vancouver Canucks. What started with an uninspiring blown lead against the Buffalo Sabres snowballed into a brief period of time on Saturday where Elias Pettersson almost(?) became a Carolina Hurricane. So what better time for a man chasing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record and his division leading Washington Capitals to pay a visit?
Apparently there wasn’t, because the Canucks found a way to win at an extremely crucial time. A 2-1 result isn’t the most dominant box score, and the shots on goal will tell a similar story to every other game this season. Two points matters, but not as much as the moral victory of winning thanks to a pair of goals from the Canucks’ MVP, timely saves from Kevin Lankinen, and some successfully smooth work by the line blender.
If Saturdays are quickly becoming your favourite day of the week, you’re not alone. Now let’s ‘Cap this game.
Best Goalie Controversy
While everyone else has been focused on choosing between Pettersson and Miller, there’s an even bigger decision looming for the Canucks future: Demko or Lankinen?
Nobody hates a goalie controversy more than other goalies. A goalie tandem is meant to be just that; both are needed in an 82-game schedule and beyond. But on the Canucks, the roles of 1A and 1B are switching.
To say Thatcher Demko has looked shaky of late would be an understatement, meanwhile aside from a few tough outings, Kevin Lankinen has been the most reliable Canuck not named Quinn Hughes. As difficult a decision as it is, the calls for the Canucks to ride the hot hand and leave their injury ravaged franchise goalie on the bench are quickly multipling.
One area where the difference is the most pronounced is reaction time. Lankinen simply looks much faster than Demko at the moment, and a pair of saves in the first period off a signature Capitals play provide a prime example.
Kevin Bieksa referred to it as “The Ovechkin” during the first intermission. How it works is the winger (in this case, the play’s namesake) lines up for the draw southwest from the faceoff man. The centre wins the draw clean to the winger, who quickly steps into the circle and fires through traffic at the unsuspecting goalie.
Your reaction speed has to be near instant to pick the puck up in time. Fortunately Lankinen is a full time zone ahead of Ovi, steering the puck harmlessly into the netting.
Later in the period, Kevin shuts down the same play again with one of his best saves of the game. Ovechkin and the Caps do everything correctly off the draw, but Lankinen is already in position to knock it down for his defender by the time Ovi lets the shot go.
Neither of these are the highlight reel saves that will define Lankinen’s performance in this game, but they are the types of stops that Demko is just not as equipped to get in front of right now.
Best Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse
Okay, how did this puck stay out?
For all the terrible bounces the Canucks have gotten all season long, it’s unbelievable that Lars Eller wasn’t able to tuck this puck into the back of the net. The Capitals’ third line catches the Canucks for a three-on-two, and for a moment it looks like another case where an opposing forward splits the d and gets rewarded with a tap-in goal.
But somehow Eller ends up putting the puck right off the post on his first attempt and whiffs on his second, before Lankinen’s stick beats him to the third chance and pushes the rolling puck to Quinn Hughes behind the net.
I’ve rewatched this clip a few hundred times already, waiting for a version where the puck bounces in. After all, that’s what we’ve been conditioned to expect this year. The only more unexpected outcome would be for the Canucks to end up scoring before the next whistle instead.
Best Saviour
The longer this season goes, the more obvious it is that Quinn Hughes is the entire Vancouver Canucks future.
Brownie points are in order for Nils Höglander, who fended off Trevor van Riemsdyk around the perimeter before having the guts to make a risky cross-ice pass to a waiting Hughes. With how short the leash is on Short King Nils it took some swagger on his part to chance it. But it’s Huggy Bear who walks right through the middle of the ice and flips a lethal backhander against the grain that Lindgren never saw coming.
In some ways, Hughes is an infuriating player to cover because there’s only so many words the English language allows to describe the greatest defender you’ve ever seen. He’s just that good.
Best Catherine O’Hara impression
For a newer age netminder, Lankinen has a lot of classic butterfly goalie in him. He’s definitely spent an afternoon or two entering “Dominik Hasek save compilation” into the YouTube search bar just for moments like this.
Lankinen’s aggressive positioning nearly burns him here, as Martin Fehervary’s shot off the boards rolls underneath him as he scrambles to reposition himself. The sudden bounce sweeps Lankinen off his feet, but Danton Heinen comes in with a life saving stick lift on Tom Wilson, causing Wilson’s shot attempt to react more like a bouncy ball falling out of a gumball machine.
For Lankinen to get this level of lucky twice in the first period, you knew something good was brewing.
Best Confidence Boost
The Canucks have been a lot of things this year, but confident hasn’t been one of them. Playing it safe has been a staple of Rick Tocchet’s game plan, and creativity has seemingly been in short supply.
So imagine everyone’s surprise when Brock Boeser opened the second period with an old favourite: the long bank pass to J.T. Miller for a breakaway the Capitals weren’t ready for.
Miller being able to perfectly time the zone entry and outwait Lindgren only to end up hitting the post was a bit of a letdown, but in a way, it didn’t matter. That type of dynamic, quick-thinking play has been missing from the Canucks’ playbook all season and the kind of move that goes out the window when the confidence isn’t there. Seeing Boeser and Miller attempt it at all, even in a more favourable power play situation, was the kind of fresh air Planet Druidia sells in a can.
The sneaky little play also made some key collateral damage putting the Caps defenders on their heels to kick off the middle frame. And it paid off quick.
Best MVP
The Capitals are just trying to weather the early storm in the opening minutes of the second after the bank pass put the fear of god into them. And that’s how Washington makes a critical error, with all five skaters below the hash marks while the Canucks’ god stands open at the blue line. And when Quinn Hughes starts to walk the line with the puck, you’ve already signed your team’s death warrant.
It’s legitimately crazy that this is the same Quinn Hughes who used to routinely look off shot attempts in favour of setting up teammates two years ago. Now he’s one goal away from passing Ed Jovanovski for sole possession of sixth place in club history for ginos.
Where this Canucks team would be without Hughes is a fate to dismal to even think about. Which is why you need to PROTECT HIM AT ALL COSTS, GUYS. No more letting Corey Perry manhandle him in scrums from here on out, you got it?!
Best Ill Will Hunting
For all the strides the Canucks made in the first 40 minutes, signs of danger started creeping in before the second period ended. And the biggest was a needless penalty by J.T. Miller, taking a detour on his way back to the bench to run a pick on Nic Dowd farrrr away from the puck.
What Miller’s thought process was on that play is anybody’s guess. The Capitals didn’t get a single shot on net during the ensuing power play, but giving a PP unit with one of the greatest goal scorers of all time on it isn’t the kind of decision making you want to see from a player your front office nearly picked over Elias Pettersson a day ago. Unless you have a spare, of course.
Best I’m seeing double here!!
Tonight, Elias Pettersson made his NHL debut for the second time, a sentence that would make most people think you’ve officially spent too much time watching brainrot on TikTok. But it’s nonetheless true, as DePetey finally got his call to the big league to play alongside the OG Pettersson at centre.
DePetey’s first game only lasted a little over ten minutes of ice time, and he did pretty well aside from a few giveways and one lenghty shift in the second period. He brought his signature aggressive checking in the defensive end with him from Abbotsford and heck, his first play of the night was… are you ready for this? …a breakout pass attempt!
A defensemen who wants to make breakout passes, what a novel idea. They said it such a thing would never fly on a second or third pairing, and yet here it is.
But he saved his best defensive work for the third period, outmuscling Taylor Raddysh for a loose puck behind the net and leaving enough space for his defensive partner Vinny Desharnais to pick it up.
First impressions tell me DePetey is worth keeping for an extended look, although I’d like to see how he fares with a more established RHD like Hronek or a soon to be free Tyler Myers against the Blues on Monday.
Best Speedrunners
The Canucks aren’t a fast team by any metric, but in each of the last two games I’ve covered they’ve found a way to run the clock down while simulataneously bringing the action to a screeching halt.
With ‘park the bus mode’ fully activated the Canucks dragged the Caps into the mud, letting over eleven minutes bleed off the scoreboard before the refs could blow the whistle more than once. The best chance each team had during this stretch came early, starting with this Ovechkin  blast from distance that just had a little too much mustard for Tom Wilson to get a stick on.
Not long after, Conor Garland caught the Capitals unawares mid-line change, prompting a quick zone entry and side step that barely missed the net. Garland’s night didn’t result in any points, but he was one of the Canucks most effective forwards with key clears in the defensive end and well-timed rush attempts like this one.
In true Canucks fashion, what started as an even shooting battle quickly morphed into yet another night of less than 30 shots on goal. Perhaps 12 shots across the final two periods (and only four in the third to the Capitals’ ten) still isn’t the move!
Best Jinx
We were so close to another one of Lankinen’s patented Saturday Night donuts. But Jeff just had to let his mind wander in the press box.
The ultimate embarassment of allowing Pierre-Luc Dubois to score three goals on you in one season will be overshadowed by the winning result. But it was a broken play that Lankinen lost track off just long enough for PLD to whack into a yawning cage.
Personally I blame Quads’ trash talk during the first meeting this month for all of this too.
Best ‘Gonna Keep on Dancin’ at the Left Goalie Club’
Speaking of yawning cages!
As the clock was winding down and with Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren on his way to the bench for an extra attacker,  a quick turnover resulted in Phil Di Guiseppe suddenly finding himself in a prime location to put the game on ice.
Little did PDG know that Lindgren has that same ice in his veins, clocking the sudden turn and made a Superman leap back, snagging the puck with his right-handed catching mitt.
This gorgeous save will end up as a mere footnote in a Canucks victory, but there’s only two kinds of netminders cool enough to pull off such a move: one is being Ryan Miller, and the others are left-handed goalies.
Between Lindgren and fellow lefty Logan Thompson, the Capitals have the rare distinction of icing the first southpaw goalie tandem since the Oilers briefly used Jeff Deslauriers and Mathieu Garon in 2008-09. Unlike baseball where catchers are always right handed to match the baserunning order, the lack of right-catching goalies in the NHL is unusual in a league dominated by lefty shooters. A lot of that discrepency has to do with only 10% percent of the world’s population being left-handed, as people generally learn to catch balls or pucks with their non-dominant hand.
I myself am part of that exclusive left-handed goalie club, and I can tell you with experience that as with a lot of other arbitrary metrics goalies are measured by, the different coaching required for “backwards” tendys often makes them an easy outlier to cross off a draft list.
But with the season that Thompson and Lindgren are having, that tide might start to turn a little bit. For all we know, left-handed goalies are the next big market inefficiency that’s going to take the league by storm in the next decade. So next time you see a kid rising through the junior ranks gloving pucks with his right hand, keep a close eye. They might be part of a revolution.
Best The More You Know
Best Cameo
I was a last minute starter for this game tonight, and although Wyatt might’ve had to sit this one out due to an undisclosed illness, he did provide some postgame thoughts worth sharing. Take it away, Stanchy:
Here’s the thing about the Canucks this season. This win versus the Capitals? Even with Quinn Hughes doing the heavy lifting, it felt like the team was engaged in that game. Half the team wasn’t checked out. Fans can get behind that.
The thing is, the Canucks have shown no ability to build off of a win like this, so we have to wait and see, yet again, to know if this team can manage to get anywhere near back on track. And that’s what is wild about all of this. To go from last year to this.
I have to think management assumed at one point, despite whatever off ice issues might have been effecting the team, that eventually their pride would kick in, and it would override their shame spiral. That the team would eventually hit that “eff you” energy of hearing people not believing in them, so they would bear down and prove everyone wrong. United by a common enemy of disbelief. Except they never did.
Fast forward to today, and it’s a day after reports came out of other teams kicking the tires on Miller and EP40 and noping out of the deal. In another universe, Elias is on Carolina and JT Miller is on the Rangers. A rebuild is in full swing. It still might happen, but right now, they’re stuck here, simmering in their own mess. It’s hard to believe that this was a team that had the Oilers on the ropes in a seven game series.
Lack of leadership? Lack of caring? Bad luck? Poor timing? Injuries? Roster management? Coaching strats? Whatever reason you want to ascribe to the Canucks dismal performance this season, all we know is this team is still very much in a downward spiral.
And that’s where last year keeps creeping into your head. How does this happen? How could it get THIS bad? Everyone is generally aware a lot of things went the Canucks way last season, but the pendulum swinging this far the other way? It feels like insanity. They shouldn’t be THIS bad.
So when they win a game like they did tonight? Part of you can’t help but feel like “surely this was a sign the team has woken up, surely the team will realize they can work their way out of this?” But that happened after the Toronto game, and nothing changed, either.
So while you can’t help but wonder, “Surely the players don’t want it all torn down, surely they will come together and play better now”, with the trade rumors swirling, unless management can’t get the returns they want, it feels like this core’s time is done.
Never say never in sports, and man what a story it would be if the Canucks went from “almost traded two of their top players” into “kept the band together and got into the playoffs”, but it just remains one of the weirdest downfalls of a Canucks season in team history.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
Best Jersey Botch
I guess Drancer is still in vacation mode.
And if you thought one member of the 2003-04 Canucks was fun, how about two??
Two Koho jerseys from the pre-Ovechkin era is an incredible find in the same night, and a gradient orca Brad May jersey has gotta be one of the rarest out there. He may have done two tours of duty for the Canucks, but that sweater was only in the rotation during his second go-around.
Best Food for Thought
The last 48 hours could’ve gone a lot differently.
If not for the Colorado Avalanche dangling Mikko Rantanen in front of the Hurricanes, today could’ve had just one Elias Pettersson in the lineup and one Marty Necas making his Canucks debut. How close that deal between the Canucks and Canes came to fruition we’ll never know, or if Eric Tulsky was just using them to pressure the Avs.
But thank goodness it didn’t happen, because you don’t deserve for this era to end that way.
Now there’s a new rumour that the Sabres are trying to make a deal for Petey, undoubtedly a losing one for the Canucks. And even if it goes through, it won’t fix the other headache. By all accounts, Miller is definitely getting traded sooner than later. Both parties seem ready to move on and there’s no putting that toothpaste back in the tube, EP40 trade or not. Picking J.T. now will only delay an inevitable breakup later, like a partner suggesting a threesome to save your marriage.
All roads lead to two scenarios. Through one door, a chance to retool and re-energize an existing core. Through the other door, a definite rebuild; one that ends with practically every player, Pettersson and Miller included, getting packed away and shipped off to the highest bigger. Brock Boeser would be next to go in free agency, and if you think Quinn Hughes will want to stay onboard and captain a sinking ship long term, I have a ten-lane bridge to sell you.
To even get to this point, Canucks fans sat through eight years of incredibly dismal hockey before finally getting treated to the legitimate playoff run we deserved. And through all those terrible seasons, all those Jayson Megna shifts with the Sedins, all those Loui Eriksson empty netters, the one consolation prize was the Core Four at the end of the rainbow. A world where Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes would join forces and lead the Canucks back to postseason glory.
Now, there’s a real chance that a front office with no real ties to these players would rather sacrifice all of them, throwing a near decade of pain into the trash, just because the offers for one 31 year-old centre weren’t good enough for their liking.
You’ve already given up so much time and patience to this team. Don’t let them sell you on the wrong door.
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