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Instant Reaction: Liam Öhgren scores the shootout winner as Canucks beat Bruins
Vancouver Canucks Liam Ohgren
Photo credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
Michael Liu
Dec 20, 2025, 22:45 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

Aatu Räty drew back into the lineup (finally) at the expense of Nils Hoglander. It doesn’t appear that it is injury-related, but perhaps is a coach’s decision to healthy scratch the Swede in an effort to ease him back into the lineup. Otherwise, Adam Foote moved Drew O’Connor back to the wing and slid Max Sasson between Liam Öhgren and Linus Karlsson.

First Period

Both teams start out feeling each other out, not really getting too much extended zone time and going up and down the ice. Not a lot of action or shots racked up through the first five minutes, but that’s better than the alternatives.
Boston gets itself a power play, and that’s all the advantage they need to capitalize. Morgan Geekie rips a bomb off a feed by Charlie McAvoy to give the Bruins the lead.
1-0 Bruins.
Vancouver does respond pretty well though – they continue to move their feet, go after their opposition on the forecheck, and make life hard for their opposition at 5v5 play. There’s not a lot of open ice for either team to work with, but a bad turnover by Max Sasson nearly gifts the Bruins their second goal of the game at the halfway point of the period. Kevin Lankinen comes up big with a glove stop off the tight 2-on-1.
Marcus Pettersson gets his stick tangled up in the feet of David Pasternak to send the Bruins back on the man advantage. Boston is all over Vancouver, but somehow this Canucks group bends and doesn’t break. It certainly adds plenty of shots to the Bruins counter, that’s for sure.
The Canucks get their first crack at a power play late in the period. They don’t really manage to do much, unfortunately.
Boston gets themselves a flurry of chances with under two minutes left and aren’t able to capitalize. Some back and forth action results in the Canucks generating a big takeaway in the offensive zone, as Linus Karlsson knocks over his man to find a wide-open Max Sasson to knot the game up at 1.
1-1 tie.
First period takeaways:
  • Love, love, love the Canucks forecheck in this game. They look relentless, with players hounding the puck carrier and a next man up mentality. They’re heavy and fast, and getting plenty of opportunities as a result of it.
  • On the other hand, there’ve been dicey moments and turnovers – far too many of them, giving Boston some near clean breaks that the Canucks barely manage to break up in time.

Second Period 

Canucks start the period trying to find the tie-breaking goal. They find themselves on the power play after Zeev Buium gets high-sticked. It was a pretty poor power play all things considered, but the Canucks got their goal after Jeremy Swayman was caught behind the net. Evander Kane collects the puck in the corner and centres it to a wide-open Linus Karlsson to put Vancouver in front.
2-1 Canucks.
The Bruins respond by upping the physicality. They get a couple of turnovers to go their way as the heat is firmly pressed to the Canucks here. Lankinen makes a couple of big stops to keep the game all knotted up as the Canucks sell out to protect their net.
Boston continues to press, but Vancouver finds their legs soon enough. They get some extended zone time, but are unable to really test Swayman all that much. A 4-on-4 sees Jake DeBrusk get a breakaway but gets absolutely robbed by the Bruins netminder.
Nikita Zadorov head-man’s a rush into the Canucks end, drawing all the defenders to him before finding a wide-open Pavel Zacha who buries it into the yawning cage.
2-2 Tie.
Scrambly, panicky hockey afterward on the Canucks part sees Tanner Jeannot bury a wide-open one-timer to put Boston back up by one.
3-2 Bruins.
Canucks almost get a chance to respond right away, but a 3-on-2 rush shot by Öhgren only results in a point-blank save by Swayman.
A big blast by Hronek from the point ends up being deflected by the hand of Marcus Pettersson. Unfortunately, it’s too much hand contact for Toronto’s liking, and the tying goal is wiped off the board.
Second period takeaways:
  • Canucks need to clean up their turnovers. Things have been way too dicey and Boston is in the lead because of it.
  • They also need to bury on chances. They’ve gotten opportunities, and they continue to press (which is a good thing!) but they need to capitalize on them now.

Third Period

David Kampf takes a tough hooking call to put Vancouver back on the penalty kill early in the third. Doesn’t do much to help the comeback efforts, that’s for sure. Canucks kill it off well though, but Boston continues to press and get their chances in bunches.
An innocent floating puck in the netural zone is spotted by Linus Karlsson, and he charges onto it and rips on top shelf gloves side to tie this game up at 3. Great puck pursuit, as has been the theme through the game for the Canucks.
3-3 Tie.
Winning face-offs is important, as on another icing by the Bruins, Kampf wins the draw back to DeBrusk who moves the puck to Marcus Pettersson at the point. His blast is tipped by Liam Öhgren in front to send the Canucks back into the lead.
Also, great job by Öhgren to get right in front of Swayman, going to the dirty areas to get that puck past the Boston netminder.
4-3 Canucks.
Another Boston penalty puts the Canucks on the power play shortly after Vancouver strikes twice in four minutes. Nothing really happens until Hampus Lindholm takes a rough tripping call to put the Canucks on a 5-on-3 advantage for 20 seconds. Unfortunately, Vancouver loses the face-off and can’t make the most of the two-man advantage.
Canucks swing the puck around well but just can’t generate those Grade-A chances. Power play over.
More end-to-end action for both teams as the third continues to tick away. The Canucks do a good job at limiting the opportunities that the Bruins can create, pushing them to the perimeter and skating in transition to try and get chances themselves.
Boston does start cranking up the heat as the clock ticks down in the third. Andrew Peeke is the beneficiary of it, as he sends a shot from the right point that goes right off the post. Unfortunately, it hits Lankinen off the back of his left arm and right into the net.
4-4 Tie.
Some end-to-end action closes out the period with neither team managing to break the deadlock. Not many chances to speak of after the tying goal.
Third period takeaways:
  • So. Much. Momentum. Swings. Credit to both teams for riding the waves, bouncing back from lows to spur themselves to the highs.
  • The Canucks have had some really dicey moments breaking the puck out of their own end. Seems like everyone is bobbling pucks or misplaying passes.
  • Nice defensive stickwork to disrupt Boston’s chances in general.

Overtime

Mark Kastelic being the face-off specialist for the Bruins is hilarious.
Brock Boeser fanned the hell out of a pass off the corner as Raty heads off on a change. McAvoy gets a glorious chance, but Lankinen stones him before making an excellent follow-up save to keep the Canucks in the running.
The teams continue to trade chances as has been the case all game. Boston gets a boost of momentum thanks to Marco Rossi and Conor Garland getting caught out for a long shift. That saw the Bruins dominate puck possession for the rest of the extra frame, but were unable to bury.
Overtime takeaways:
  • Some really bad lapses from Rossi there. Probably tired from being out for so long, but there were more than a couple of suicide passes that kept him out longer than he needed to be.
  • One of the more exciting overtimes to watch, at least for the first half. Plenty of chances and the frame opening up slightly.

Shootout

DeBrusk – No.
Middlestadt – Off the post
Karlsson – Rips it wide.
Pasternak – Gets Lankinen to bite, rips it high and beats the Finn, but not the crossbar.
Boeser – Unable to find the five-hole on Swayman.
Khusnutdinov – Rips it high and wide.
Garland – Can’t beat Swayman on the far side.
Peeke – Rips it at Lankinen, who loses track of the puck but stays out of the net.
Sherwood – Poked off the puck.
Eyssimont – Lankinen closes the 5-hole on him quick.
Kane – Stoned by Swayman’s blocker.
Elias Lindholm – Gets Lankinen to go down, but a big left pad save keeps the Canucks alive.
Öhgren – Beautiful deke, forehand to backhand, and beats a frozen Swayman.
Geeke – Stopped by Lankinen!
5-4 Canucks win in a shootout.
Takeaways from the game:
  • Gutsy effort from the Canucks. To go on the road, after trading away your franchise player and captain, and then to take all four wins and this one of the second half of the back-to-back? It’s quite frankly something that not many fans would’ve seen coming. They sit 4 points out of a playoff spot.
  • Would not be opposed to seeing this forecheck stick around for a bit longer. The entire team just seemed to come in waves, and surely helped push back against some tough stretches they faced. Boston never really took full hold of the game, at least not for long.
  • What a performance from Öhgren. Physical, fast, engaged, and getting some offence. You can see why he was picked in the first round.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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