In the words of Dr. Stuart Price, we are back.
Folks, it feels like forever since we’ve got to talk about a Vancouver Canucks game, so if you’re new here, I’ll give you the lowdown on how this works.
This is Instant Reaction, the series here at CanucksArmy where we give you our instant reaction to the game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!
During the season, Wyatt Arndt brings you the most unique post game report with The Stanchies, but because he’s a huge diva, he doesn’t write about preseason games. But not me, a man of the people. I’m right there with you every step of the way, reacting to what goes down in each Canucks’ preseason game, so let’s get into game one!
On the first shift of the game, Elias Pettersson fumbled the puck at the Seattle blue line, but Nils Höglander kept the play alive with some help from a timely pinch from Tyler Myers. It was a sluggish game to start things off, to say the least.
On his first very first shift at Rogers Arena, Jonathan Lekkerimäki was bullied off the puck a couple of times and ultimately turned over the biscuit in his own end. Only up from here, kid!
Vilmer Alriksson was throwing his weight around early, and Seattle’s John Hayden took exception after a big hit on a teammate, giving Alriksson his first fight on pro ice.
Seattle took a too-many-men penalty on the same play as the fight, and the Canucks went to work on their first power play of the game. Lekkerimäki’s poise with the puck was quickly undeniable, and Aatu Räty let go of a couple of nice shots on the man advantage, but the game remained scoreless.
The Canucks were the better team in the moments that followed the power play, but still gave up some five-alarm chances that Arturs Silovs needed to be sharp in stopping. These were the results of sloppy play with the puck, slow reads by some younger players, and worst of all — sloppy line changes. These are all things Tocchet would like to see his team clean up.
The Canucks got their second power play of the game with just under four minutes remaining in the period, and on this one, they managed to capitalize. Linus Karlsson connected with Nils Höglander, who finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play to open the scoring.
Aatu Räty was rewarded for his strong first period, picking up a secondary assist on the goal.
Despite a bit of a rocky first period, Jonathan Lekkerimäki got more comfortable as the game went on. He had an impressive sequence early in the second frame where, after drawing a hooking penalty, the young Swede made more than a couple nifty touch passes to keep the Canucks’ zone time alive. It didn’t result in a goal, but it was an impressive sequence nonetheless.
On the ensuing power play, Nils Höglander continued his work in the bumper spot — a spot that seems to be up for grabs this preseason — with Aatu Räty giving him a couple of nice passes on the PP.
The Canucks’ power play got a workout in this one, as Joey Daccord took a penalty for playing the puck outside the trapezoid. After some nice work along the left wall by Lekkerimäki, a bomb of a shot from Filip Hronek pushed the Canucks’ lead to two late in the second period on the Canucks’ fifth power play of the game.
That’s Lekkerimäki’s first point on Rogers Arena ice, for those keeping score at home.
Räty hit the crossbar to end the period, and that capped off a very impressive first 40 minutes of play for the 21-year-old Finnish centre, who would likely be a lock to make this team if he were right-handed. Nonetheless, tonight was an impressive game for him, and he’s going to get every opportunity to show what he can do as the preseason marches along.
The period ended with Will Borgen running Conor Garland into the boards for no apparent reason, which Tyler Myers took exception to:
Chaos Giraffe doesn’t need any warmup.
The Kraken made this preseason game interesting by getting their first goal of the night just seconds into the third period after some… interesting defensive play from the Canucks.
It’s just the preseason. It’s just the preseason. It’s just the preseason.
Tyler Myers took the Canucks’ first penalty of the game, giving us our first look at the Canucks’ penalty kill. They killed that one off, so clearly under the directive of his coaches who wanted to see the PK get back at it, Derek Forbort took a roughing penalty.
Aatu Räty got (and won) the defensive zone draw, pushing his total to 14-for-18. Elias Pettersson also got a chance to PK, and had another shift that reminded us he likely needs some time in the AHL. And that’s fine.
Arturs Silovs was sharp all night long, and had to be with some of the sloppy plays by the players in front of him. This one from Derek Forbort was so bad that it likely made Luca Sbisa shake his head and say “boards and out” while watching the game from home.
And then there was this one from Silovs minutes later:
Pius Suter put the icing on the cake in this one shortly thereafter following a smart play from Lekkerimäki to get the puck out of the zone in a manner that meant Suter would be the next to touch it.
3-1 Canucks final. 
Some takeaways from tonight:
-What can you say about Arturs Silovs? The young netminder picked up right where he left off in the playoffs last year with a remarkable 18 save performance tonight. My guess is he’s likely going to be the 1A in the 1A-1B tandem with him and Lankinen. Silovs was named first star of the game.
-I wanted to see more from Sammy Blais tonight, who seemed quiet through camp and the scrimmage. Tonight’s performance from the PTO winger likely didn’t do him many favours.
-I wrote about him enough, but it was a great night for Aatu Räty, who said earlier today he feels NHL ready.
-Lekkerimäki was named the third star of the game, and I’m excited to get more looks at him on this stage.
-Nils Höglander, Brock Boeser, and Conor Garland all looked a step ahead of everyone else tonight.
What’s your reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
Sponsored by bet365