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Instant Reaction: Ohgren scores the winner as Canucks beat Kraken 3-2 in shootout
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Photo credit: © Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
David Quadrelli
Dec 30, 2025, 00:56 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

Almost immediately, the Canucks gave up a breakaway against, as Kaapo Kakko snuck in behind the Canucks’ defence after Tyler Myers dove in to retrieve his stick and Zeev Buium didn’t realize his partner wasn’t there anymore. Thankfully, a breakaway is pretty similar to a shootout attempt, so Kevin Lankinen stopped it.
Myers was a story early in this one, as he made a bad read on a Seattle zone entry, leading to a Kraken scoring chance, and on the same shift, Myers cross-checked Jacob Melanson to give Seattle the game’s first power play. The Canucks’ PKers killed this one off, but Seattle no doubt had a good amount of pressure on the visitors early in this one. Tom Willander — with forward Elias Pettersson doing his best Chris Tanev impression behind him — blocked what looked like a sure goal as Lankinen was caught out of position.
The Canucks got their first power play of the game shortly after, but Linus Karlsson took a tripping penalty almost right away to make it 4-on-4. Things went from bad to worse when the Canucks were called for too many men on the ice. Now on a 4-on-3 power play, Jared McCann wasted little time in blasting a one-timer past Kevin Lankinen to open the scoring in this one.
1-0 Kraken.
Conor Garland caught McCann with an elbow, and as shown on the broadcast, McCann told Garland that he’d like to fight, and Garland obliged. Both players got some punches in, and Garland no doubt fired up his team. Watch it below, and be sure to vote for the winner over at hockeyfights.com!
Kiefer Sherwood was beaming from ear to ear as Garland skated off the ice, and right after the fight, Linus Karlsson scored the Canucks’ first goal of the game.
1-1. That is four goals in four games for Linus Karlsson, who has been doing plenty of things right over the last month.
After the tying goal, the Canucks cranked up the pressure on the Kraken, and began to stack shifts. Unfortunately, the next goal went against the momentum, as Elias Junior Pettersson was flat-footed on a bad line change and ran into Tyler Myers, which allowed Ryan Winterton to tap home a cross-crease pass rather easily:
2-1. Tough way to finish the period.
Some takeaways from the first:
-The coaches REALLY want to make Brock Boeser work on PK1, hey?
-Nice to see Buium get back out on PP1 as he was taken off of it in favour of Filip Hronek on Saturday night. That switch came after some rough shifts for Buium.
-Looks like the DeBrusk scratch worked as intended as a wake-up call for the other underperforming Canucks veterans. Brock Boeser turned in a strong first period effort, and so did his linemates Elias Pettersson and Evander Kane.

Second Period

The Canucks’ top line of Kane-Pettersson-Boeser turned in a strong first period, and they were rewarded for their efforts early into the second. Evander Kane entered the zone, dished off to Pettersson, and he didn’t hesitate before ripping the puck past Daccord for his ninth goal of the season.
2-2. 
The second period had a decent pace to it, but there wasn’t much room for players on either side to create much offensively. The Canucks got a late power play chance, and unlike their first, this one lasted more than 10 seconds! Marco Rossi got a great chance on goal after Elias Pettersson set him up with a nice pass, and Zeev Buium created a nice look for himself, but the Canucks couldn’t score, and the game remained tied at two apiece after 40 minutes of play.
Some takeaways from the second:
-Harman Dayal and I had the conversation on today’s episode of Canucks Conversation… who comes out tomorrow night, assuming that Jake DeBrusk was just a one-game reset? I assumed it’d be Brock Boeser, and it still might be, but that top line was solid tonight. It would be a bit shocking to see them split up for tomorrow’s game. Just not Nils Höglander. Let him get his legs under him!

Third Period

The Kraken kicked off the third period with some great pressure on the Canucks, and Kevin Lankinen was sharp, keeping his team in the game. Elias Pettersson was called for slashing, giving the home side a prime opportunity to take the lead. Seattle got three shots off on Lankinen, but he continued to stand tall, making the saves he needed to.
The two sides traded chances for the duration of the third, and it truly was anyone’s game. Lankinen made some more great saves for good measure. He was sensational in this period.
This one needed overtime.

Overtime

Bad news: Kiefer Sherwood tripped someone (but it was Evander Kane who was given the penalty). Good news: Sherwood shot the puck into the empty net on the delayed penalty, which was very funny.
As a result, the Kraken finished OT with power play time. Filip Hronek had a key shot block, and Elias Pettersson nearly pulled off what would have been one of the most ridiculous moves I’ve ever seen at the other end. Lankinen made some more key stops, and this one headed for a shootout.

Shootout

As you know, Kevin Lankinen becomes a combination of Dominik Hasek, Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Martin Brodeur, and Patrick Roy when the shootout starts.
Gaudreau: Stopped.
Garland: Stopped. Barely.
Tolvanen: Stopped!
Pettersson: Stopped. Again, barely.
Eberle: Stopped!
Ohgren: Scores! Again!
Some final takeaways:
-Great game for Kevin Lankinen. He needed that in what’s been an up-and-down season for him so far, with more downs than ups.
-Strong night for Filip Hronek. When is it not, though? Dude is an absolute gamer and has been great this season.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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