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Instant Reaction: Stars stomp Canucks with six unanswered goals for ninth straight win
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Lachlan Irvine
Mar 3, 2026, 01:15 ESTUpdated: Mar 3, 2026, 01:46 EST
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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!

Starting Lineup

First Period

In some ways, the Canucks facing a Dallas Stars team entering the evening on an eight-game winning streak might fill you with confidence. The Canucks are a franchise where nothing has ever made sense, so wouldn’t it be par for the course if the Canucks managed to come out flying in a matchup this tilted?
And that’s exactly how the game began when Jake DeBrusk’s initial shot was kicked out by Jake Oettinger, before Evander Kane upped his trade value by letting the rebound hit his foot and direct into the net.
1-0 Canucks.
The Canucks were actually outshooting the Stars through the first 20 minutes and keeping toe-to-toe with a much better team on paper. But as is tradition for this franchise, something wonky flipped the script.
Adam Erne broke into the Canucks’ zone and snapped a shot through coverage that Nikita Tolopilo stopped. But the rebound took a ricochet off the boards behind the net, shot back into the crease, hit Tolopilo’s skate blade and sailed into the net.
The Canucks would never recover.
1-1 tie game.

Second Period

The Stars took the first period to get up to speed. Once the second began, they proceeded to acutely demolish the Canucks with precision and ease.
After an icing call left a quintet of Canucks out for an extended period and unable to get a full change, the Stars put together a passing clinic that wound up with an Lian Bischel shot past Tolopilo’s glove side.
2-1 Dallas.
A few minutes later, the Stars take advantage of a Fil Hronek puck over glass penalty when Jason Robertson rips a puck from above the hashmarks for his 34th goal of the year.
3-1 Dallas.
This game isn’t out of hand yet. But it would be by the final 20.

Third Period

Dallas completely pulled away in the third period, starting thanks to a terrible Marcus Pettersson pass attempt that landed right on the stick of Miro Heiskanen. A couple of easy cross-ice passes later, and Matt Duchene found a wide-open net to smash the puck into.
4-1 Stars.
A few minutes later another Canucks turnover, this time by Tom Willander, turned into an open chance in front of the net for Colin Blackwell. Blackwell flipped the puck over Tolopilo’s left pad with little resistance.
And the final nail in the coffin came off another goal by Lian Bischel. The Stars overwhelmed the Canucks’ extremely outmatched checkers along the boards, and Bischel was able to get open near the right circle for a shot over the right shoulder of Tolopilo, sending everyone at Rogers Arena for the exits early.
6-1 Stars final.
Overall, this was a game that had a first period of positive momentum, only to be totally snuffed out and forgotten by the end. Hopefully the NHL front offices considering trading for some of these players in the next week will write these increasingly common losses off.
Some takeaways:
  • Elias Pettersson had no shots on goal for the third straight game since the break. Patience for him to figure things out is running on empty too.
  • Nikita Tolopilo wasn’t teriffic tonight, but he’s at least keeping things entertaining in goal compared to his counterparts. Hopefully he gets more starts down a meaningless final stretch of games because who else are you gonna put in?
  • It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of Canucks issues, but Marcus Pettersson has been absolutely awful this season and that turnover that became the Stars’ fourth goal was a microcosm of his year. You probably wish the Canucks still had that Rangers first rounder they traded for him instead right about now.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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