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!
I’m taking over for Quads tonight on the Instant Reaction! I will say, I am a jinx when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks when I write game articles. Here is my record:
Hand up. I’ll take the blame for these, and hopefully, this streak will change tonight.
Speaking of changes, the Canucks made some changes to their lineup ahead of tonights game against the Seattle Kraken.
Changes to all four forward lines and back to the traditional 12 forwards and six defenceman roster. Unfortunately, Elias Pettersson (D) had to be the one to come out of the Canucks lineup. However, keeping Carson Soucy and Derek Forbort in the lineup to showcase them before Friday’s Trade Deadline makes sense.
The Canucks came out firing right off the hop. They dominated possession time, with all four of Tocchet’s new lines spending time in the offensive zone. After just five minutes, the Canucks had eight shot attempts to the Kraken’s one.
But it was Seattle who was rewarded first.
Quinn Hughes is too good; not even his own teammates can handle his passes. Pius Suter can’t corral Hughes’ pass, and it springs the Kraken on a 3-0n-2. Shane Wright does a great job of drawing Filip Hronek to the right side, leaving Andre Burakovsky wide open for a one-timer, which finds the back of the net.
If you’re Filip Hronek, you just can’t be caught that out of position. Trust your goalie one-on-one to make the save and cover the much more threatening passing option. Also, is it just me, or does Suter just look so slow on the back-check?
1-0 Kraken.
Tyler Myers has been feeling it lately. He scored an on-the-rush slapshot goal and grabbed the primary assist on Pius Suter’s goal last game against the Ducks, and he carried that momentum over in the first period tonight.
He made a nice end-to-end rush here, driving through the middle of the zone and got a shot off – just what his coach wanted from the team. Earlier in the period, he registered his first shot on goal with a nice give-and-go with Drew O’Connor. He’s just oozing with confidence right now.
Shortly after, the Canucks got their reward with a goal of their own:
Thanks to an aggressive forecheck from Kiefer Sherwood and Nils Höglander, Vince Dunn sends a questionable pass up into the slot area, where Pius Suter rips a quick one-time shot behind Joey Daccord. Suter set a career high in goals on this one with 16.
Tied 1-1.
But the Canucks weren’t done there:
In the final few minutes of the first period, Filip Chytil won the draw back to Marcus Pettersson. He goes D-to-D to the hot Tyler Myers, who rips a one-time slap shot. Myers’ shot broke the stick of the Kraken forward but still managed to get toward the net. That’s where Chytil is all alone and patiently outwaits the goalie and gives the Canucks the lead.
2-1 Canucks.
However, the Kraken found the equalizer shortly after the break:
The Kraken worked the boards well and sent the puck back to Brandon Montour at the point. He then takes a seeing-eye shot toward the net, and Oliver Bjorkstrand makes a great tip to get it past Kevin Lankinen to tie the game.
There’s not much you can really do on this one. Filip Hronek probably should have been there a bit sooner to not allow Bjorkstrand to be all alone in the front of the net. Also, can’t really blame Lankinen, either.
Tied 2-2.
And the floodgates have officially opened:
After Jared McCann turns the puck over on the power play in the offensive zone, Drew O’Connor and Dakota Joshua get sprung on a shorthanded 2-on-1. Once O’Connor notices the defender has committed to his side, he sends a nice saucer pass over to Joshua, who shows some silky hands to deke to his backhand and find re-gain the Canucks’ lead.
It’s been a slower start to the season for Joshua, but it really looks like he’s returning to form over his last four games. He looks physically present again and has two points through his previous four games.
3-2 Canucks.
Just a few of minutes later, the Kraken evened up the game… again.
This looked very similar to the Kraken’s second goal.
Matty Beniers wins the faceoff cleanly back to Vince Dunn. He just winds up for the slapshot that looks like it’s going to miss the net. However, Beniers lost his check and was able to get a stick on it and direct it toward the net and past Lankinen.
Tied 3-3.
And exactly one minute later, deja vu… again.
Another goal for the Kraken that goes from low to high where the defender takes a point shot, and a Kraken forward is left alone and tips it past the goaltender.
Quinn Hughes’ stick breaks in the corner battle, and instead of following his check, he switches to the closer forward and leaves Eeli Tolvanen all alone in front to tip give the Kraken their second lead of the game.
4-3 Kraken.
Hey Siri, play When It Rains It Pours by Luke Combs:
Jordan Eberle rings the puck around the boards for Jared McCann. With so much movement around the zone, the Canucks are left floundering. The puck goes past Chandler Stephenson in the slot and right to Brandon Montour, who is left with a lot of open ice to step up and rip a slap shot on the far side of Lankinen.
5-3 Kraken.
And because we have to include every goal:
A spin-o-rama pass from Conor Garland goes off the boards and on the stick of Dunn, who sends it up to Tolvanen. He just has Garland to beat as the Canucks pulled the goalie, and he puts it in the empty net for his second of the game.
6-3 Kraken Final.
We are still without a win on our game coverage articles. For that, I’m sorry.

Takeaways

– Sure, they lost. But the team was able to generate offensively, scoring three goals and added over 30 shots. It’s unfortunate that it’s in a losing effort; however, the puck luck was just not on the Canucks side there. The results will be different if they continue to play like that offensively.
– Think Tocchet may have found something with these new lines. Each of the lines seemed to find chemistry and developed scoring chances. Joshua looked great in an elevated role. Suter’s line with Höglander and Jake DeBrusk were buzzing offensively.
– Got to be concerned about Hughes. He still played 21:56 but did not play the final 9:05 of the game. There was
– Hronek had a rough game. As we mentioned above, he struggled with his positioning, wasn’t able to handle the puck and accept passes early on, and finished the game with a minus-4 rating.
Make sure you read The Stanchies later.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
And be sure to tune into Rink Wide Vancouver after the game LIVE on YouTube moments after the final horn!
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