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Instant Reaction: Boeser and Sasson find twine in Canucks’ 4-2 loss to Leafs

Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By David Quadrelli

Oct 31, 2026, 21:40 EDTUpdated: Oct 31, 2026, 21:41 EDT

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Welcome back to Instant Reaction, the series here at CanucksArmy where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Vancouver Canucks game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

Lineup

DeBrusk – Pettersson – Boeser
O’Connor – Rossi – Lekkerimäki
Öhgren – Quillan – Karlsson
Cotter – Sasson – Gallagher

Pettersson – Hronek
Oleksiak – Willander
Buium – Schenn

First Period

The game got off to a tough start for the home side, as Jamie Oleksiak — who we’ve noted has been playing some of his best hockey of the season as of late — blew a tire and allowed William Nylander to move in on an early breakaway.

Toronto goal!Scored by William Nylander with 18:37 left in the 1st.VAN: 0 | TOR: 1#TORvsVAN #Canucks #PassionNeverSleeps

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-31T23:31:36.240205Z

1-0 Leafs.

The Canucks’ first power play of the game came not long after the Leafs’ opening goal, as old friend Troy Stecher tripped up Elias Pettersson. They managed to get set up and looked good, but did not score. My main takeaway from this one was that Jonathan Lekkerimäki passed up a couple of chances to shoot, and given what we saw from him earlier this week against the Anaheim Ducks, I don’t want him passing up those opportunities.

The Canucks didn’t have to wait long for their next opportunity to work on the man advantage, however, as a crafty zone entry attempt by Elias Pettersson caused Brandon Duhaime to kick Pettersson’s skate out from under him, putting the Canucks right back on the power play. That’s two penalties drawn thanks to strong work from Pettersson, for those keeping track at home.

This time, the Canucks made good on their power play opportunity, as Brock Boeser took a beautiful pass from Filip Hronek and pulled off an even more beautiful dangle on Anthony Stolarz before roofing his chance, tying things up at one all.

Power play goal for Vancouver!Scored by Brock Boeser with 09:30 left in the 1st. Assisted by Filip Hronek and Jonathan Lekkerimäki.VAN: 1 | TOR: 1#TORvsVAN #Canucks #PassionNeverSleeps

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-31T23:44:12.604069Z

1-1.

The Leafs got their first PP chance of the game just past the 11-minute mark as Drew O’Connor got his stick up on Chris Tanev. Leevi Meriläinen made his best save of the game to this point when he anticipated a pass beautifully and lunged to his right to rob Gavin McKenna at the net front. Jamie Oleksiak seemed to think that was super cool and wanted to see more sweet saves from Meriläinen, so he tripped up William Nylander to give the Leafs 1:08 of power play time to work with.

The Leafs’ PP had the Canucks hemmed in, but the Elias Petterssons and Filip Hronek (with some help from Leevi Meriläinen and the post) did an exceptional job of keeping the Leafs at bay. One thing that I really love about Meriläinen is how aggressively he comes out towards a shooter if he recognizes that they’re going to be shooting and don’t have many realistic passing options. That was on display in this sequence.

Marco Rossi had a great chance to score after an errant pass at the Toronto blue line, but Stolarz held on and kept it tied after 20 minutes of play.

A very fun first period.

Second Period

The Canucks were a bit sloppy to begin the second period, and were spending a good amount of time in their own end defending. Eventually, that cost them. After Elias Pettersson, the forward, broke his stick blocking a Darren Raddysh point shot, Raddysh quickly moved down low and pulled off a give-and-go with Auston Matthews, with the Leafs captain serving as the triggerman to score his 11th goal of the season.

Toronto goal!Scored by Auston Matthews with 16:13 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Darren Raddysh and Jack Roslovic.VAN: 1 | TOR: 2#TORvsVAN #Canucks #PassionNeverSleeps

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-01T00:21:35.556942Z

2-1 Leafs.

The Canucks were right back to defending after this, and it was a lot of defending to begin this period, and that wasn’t great.

The Leafs were running things pretty well to start this period, and another old friend — this game had a lot of them — Zack MacEwen let go of a shot that deflected off of Luke Schenn.

Toronto goal!Scored by Zack MacEwen with 07:26 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Morgan Rielly and Teddy Blueger.VAN: 1 | TOR: 3#TORvsVAN #Canucks #PassionNeverSleeps

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-01T00:41:37.017464Z

3-1 Leafs.

The Canucks weren’t doing much to create opportunities for themselves to this point, but the door certainly opened when William Nylander was called for hooking Elias Pettersson. Unfortunately, the Canucks’ power play wasn’t much better than their lacklustre play at even strength.

Meriläinen made a beautiful, and yes, as it so often is with him, it was also a calm-looking glove save, off of Troy Stecher to keep the Canucks within two. There were also two posts in the final two minutes, which obviously helped.

Third Period

The Canucks quite clearly needed to come out stronger in the third than they did in the second. And technically, they did, since they weren’t hemmed in their own end. However, they struggled to turn their puck possession into dangerous sequences or shots on goal. Baby steps, sure, but you can’t come back in a game if you don’t get shots on goal.

Max Sasson — who some really smart authors were saying had a great opportunity to seize in Filip Chytil’s absence — pulled the Canucks within a goal just before the 10-minute mark of the period. Brendan Gallagher did well to fire a shot on goal, which led to a rebound that Sasson made no mistake in burying. Assists to Paul Cotter and Gallagher.

Vancouver goal!Scored by Max Sasson with 10:33 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Brendan Gallagher.VAN: 2 | TOR: 3#TORvsVAN #Canucks #PassionNeverSleeps

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-01T01:21:37.014685Z

3-2.

Manny Malhotra didn’t hesitate to send out his fourth line after that shift, even with the Auston Matthews line out for Toronto. And that line once again turned in a strong potential momentum-swinging shift when Paul Cotter kept his feet moving and drove to the net, leading to Morgan Rielly tripping him up.

With the Canucks’ power play having already converted on the night, they got back out there with a chance to tie things up.

They did some good things, Elias Pettersson did his dekes and created a great opportunity for Jake DeBrusk, Zeev Buium helped create a chance in the bumper for Paul Cotter, but the Canucks did not convert as time dwindled down.

To their credit, it was another game where the Canucks hung around and even pulled ahead of their opponent on the shot counter at multiple points in the game.

But with five minutes to go, the Canucks found themselves hunting down a goal in this one.

With just over two minutes remaining, the Canucks summoned their goaltender to the bench for the extra attacker. And about 30 seconds later, it was Teddy Blueger who buried the dagger against his old team.

4-2 final.

What’s your instant reaction to this game? Let us know in the comments section below! And be sure to tune into Rink Wide Vancouver LIVE after the game on the Rink Wide Vancouver YouTube channel! Check out our live programming button in the top right of our website for easy access!