Utah was called for too many men on the ice early on, giving the Canucks the game’s first power play. They didn’t score, and struggled to get set up. In fact, the highlight of it was that Jonathan Lekkerimäki made a nice defensive play as the Mammoth tried to break back the other way.

Right after the penalty expired, the Mammoth managed to get an odd-man rush going, and opened the scoring.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the Canucks to answer. After a Utah turnover in the Canucks’ end, Teddy Blueger made a quick pass to Conor Garland, who feathered a pass to a streaking Liam Öhgren, who ripped a snap shot past Karel Vejmelka to tie this game up.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, Utah answered back even faster.

Look, I know these are both grade-A chances and that the Canucks need to defend better, but Lankinen sliding out of position on two goals in the first 10 minutes is not a good look. Especially when we’ve all been treated to the calm and compact game of Nikita Tolopilo recently.

In what was quickly becoming an eventful first period, the Canucks took their first penalty of the game after David Kampf was called for tripping. A very nice development — aside from the Canucks killing the penalty off — was that Max Sasson got some PK time. We imagined a world without the Canucks’ pending UFAs earlier today, wand one takeaway was that players like Sasson should get some PK opportunities in the event those UFAs are traded.

Some takeaways from the first:
-Is Nikita Tolopilo on his way to starting more games than Lankinen down the stretch? It’s sure starting to feel that way.
-Somebody needs to make sure Filip Chytil knows if he’s a centre or a winger on any given shift, because he darted out to the point after losing the faceoff on the second goal, instead of taking the centre’s defensive responsibilities.
-Nice for Liam Öhgren to get on the board. Feeling more and more optimistic that the Canucks might have a solid middle-six winger on their hands with him.

The Canucks went back to the power play for the second time on the night after Elias Pettersson drew a holding penalty five minutes into the period. This time, the Canucks got set up, looked to get the puck to Jonathan Lekkerimäki a bunch, but once again failed to score. The closest they came was an Evander Kane wrister that pinged off the crossbar.

Seemingly hellbent on trading power play chances, Evander Kane took a penalty, and Utah didn’t waste much time before converting. Mikhail Sergachev teed one up from the point and beat a screened Kevin Lankinen.

This one started to get ugly, as with 7:44 left in the second, Clayton Keller zipped a pass from East to West in the Canucks’ zone over to John Marino, who snapped a pass of his own to the net front that bounced off of Elias Junior Pettersson and past Kevin Lankinen.

Utah added another not long after:

Before the end of the second, though, the Canucks pulled within three as Teddy Blueger took a pass from Conor Garland and ripped a shot past Vejmelka.

Some more takeaways from the second:
-Not to double up on takeaways, but I really liked what I saw from Liam Öhgren tonight. He seems to have a high enough baseline game and hockey IQ to forge a solid NHL career for himself.
-So Tolopilo will get Wednesday in Vegas, and then it’s the Olympic break. Wonder how they deploy their goaltenders when they get back.
-One day, Marcus Pettersson will record a clean zone exit. I think.
-Not much looked good for the Canucks tonight. But the Ohgren-Blueger-Garland trio certainly did.
-Teddy Blueger now has five goals in eight games played this season. Hopefully the Canucks can trade him for a decent return (and then re-sign him in free agency?).
-It’s been a tough stretch for Conor Garland as of late, but he certainly looked more like himself tonight. His head was up and he was making plenty of smart plays, as he usually does.

Filip Chytil didn’t make it out for the third period, and the Canucks said that he wouldn’t be back for the rest of the game. Given his lengthy injury history — particularly with concussions — anytime Chytil exits with an injury, the concern level is high.

The third period was seemingly flying by, but the Mammoth found time to add a sixth goal, as Nick Schmaltz completed his hat trick after he and Clayton Keller broke in on a 2-on-1.

Final tally on the line mentioned in the title: eight chances for, three against.

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!