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Instant Reaction: DeBrusk tallies three points in Canucks’ shootout loss to Kraken
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
David Quadrelli
Jan 3, 2026, 01:24 ESTUpdated: Jan 3, 2026, 01:26 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 Linuep

First Period

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It was a quiet start for both teams, and it took over five minutes for our first sign of life from the home crowd. The first was thanks to Nils Höglander, who broke in on the wing and wristed a shot that Joey Daccord stopped with relative ease. The second came after Brock Boeser made a phenomenal cross-ice feed to Max Sasson, which Daccord was fortunate to get a piece of.
The chances kept coming for the Canucks, who seemed to have found their legs after a quiet and sloppy first five minutes. Elias Pettersson floated a shot in from the wall, looking for a rebound, and Linus Karlsson narrowly missed with his backhand attempt after Pettersson’s shot gave Daccord trouble. It wasn’t just in the offensive end that the Canucks looked better, too. After struggling to break the puck out of their own end on a few separate occasions, the defence began to execute their passes and move with speed, which lent itself well to the Canucks being able to enter the zone with possession.
All of a sudden, the Canucks were cranking up the pressure on the visiting Kraken. So naturally, the only goal of the period came from a player whose last and only career goal came in 2019 against the *checks notes* Vancouver Canucks.
1-0 Kraken.
Some takeaways from the first:
-It’s pretty cool to watch Zeev Buium continue to get better and more comfortable as time goes on.
-Good first period for Elias Pettersson. Anticipated well and created some good chances for both him and his teammates.

Second Period

The second period began with what initially looked like Linus Karlsson missing another open net, but Jake DeBrusk’s shot-pass wasn’t a great one.
The Canucks were outshooting the Kraken to begin the second, as it took over eight minutes for Seattle to get their first shot of the period. Elias Pettersson was called for interference, killing some momentum for the home side. On the ensuing Seattle power play, Drew O’Connor and Kiefer Sherwood found themselves on a 2-on-0 breakaway, but couldn’t get a shot off:
Immediately after, with both Canucks forwards up high, the Kraken scored on the rush, with Jordan Eberle blasting home a one-timer.
2-0 Kraken
The Canucks got a power play of their own later in the period, and Kiefer Sherwood scored his 17th of the season to get the Canucks on the board:
2-1.
The Canucks looked to be back on track! So again, it was Seattle who got the game’s next goal.
3-1. 
Before the end of the period, the Canucks got another power play chance, and they wasted little time in making good on it. Elias Pettersson snapped a pass to Brock Boeser on the wing, and Boeser rifled a pass towards the net front, where Jake DeBrusk was ready to bury his 10th goal of the season:
3-2. 
Some takeaways from the second:
-As always, need to mention how good Filip Hronek was tonight.
-The band of misfit toys line, or I suppose they could be called the umlaut line (Höglander-Räty-Öhgren), looked good in the second period.
-Honestly, the Canucks didn’t really deserve to be trailing after 40 minutes.
-Gotta feel good for DeBrusk on that one.

Third Period

The Canucks entered the third trailing by a goal.
They began the period with plenty of up-ice pressure, and the DeBrusk-Pettersson-Karlsson trio turned in a strong shift that nearly saw them score after Karlsson deflected a PO Joseph shot off of the post. The Canucks kept up the pressure, and in the first five minutes of the third, Joey Daccord was the Kraken’s best player.
The Pettersson line got back to work, and once again, Linus Karlsson found himself with a prime scoring opportunity. This time, he found the back of the net.
3-3. 
3 point night for Jake DeBrusk, in what was already his first multi-point game of the season.
This one needed overtime.
Some takeaways from the third:
-He didn’t get a goal at 5v5, but make no mistake about it, Jake DeBrusk was making things happen and has looked a step quicker after his healthy scratching.
-Thatcher Demko made some key stops tonight, especially in the third.

Overtime

As you know by now, the Canucks are sometimes tough to watch in overtime this season. They hold onto the puck a lot, regroup a lot, and when they do give up the puck, it’s almost always a 2-on-1 for the opposition. That’s what happened in this frame, as Tom Willander deviated from the script and tried to shake his way out of trouble instead of passing it 100+ feet back to Thatcher Demko. Demko made a great couple of saves to keep the Canucks alive.
Shortly after, it looked like Seattle had won the game, but the Kraken were called for interference as the puck went in.
On the power play, the Canucks came close to scoring, with Jake DeBrusk nearly tallying his fourth point of the game and second goal on the night. Instead, this one needed a shootout. And Kevin Lankinen wasn’t in goal!

Shootout

DeBrusk: Stopped.
Gaudreau: DENIED!
Elias Pettersson: Stopped.
Kakko: Stopped by Demko’s left big toe.
Liam Öhgren: Stopped. Nobody could believe it.
Beniers: Wins it.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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