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!
The last time the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks faced off on November 2nd was a year ago to the day, and that was the night the Canucks won 10-1, giving us one of the funniest photos of all time:
How would the Canucks follow that performance up?!
More seriously, how would they follow up the pitiful performance they turned in on Wednesday night when they lost to the New Jersey Devils by a final score of 6-0.
Well, Carl Grundstrom got a 3-on-1 rush chance right off the bat, and thankfully, Kevin Lankinen was sharp early and made the stop. This is a good example of what I was trying to explain after the loss to the Devils on Wednesday. Arturs Silovs flat-out didn’t make many saves for the Canucks en route to their 6-0 loss, and the excuse was “he had no chance on any of those!”
As Kevin Lankinen continues to show us, you’re allowed to stop the high-danger chances, too.
The Canucks’ forecheck and energy was noticeable right away, and aside from the Grundstrom rush chance, the Canucks were the better team in the first period. They didn’t have anything to show for it though, and that’s always a dangerous game to play.
San Jose opened the scoring early in the second period of this one when Nico Sturm buried a juicy rebound from Kevin Lankinen to make it 1-0. 
After the goal, the Canucks responded well. Namely, Elias Pettersson’s line did a good job of extending zone time and hemming the Sharks in. Then Miller’s line did the same thing, and then the third line did the same, too.
The Canucks were still giving up far too many odd-man rushes in this game. However, Kevin Lankinen kept bailing them out. Lankinen turned away a breakaway chance off of William Eklund’s stick and sent the Canucks up the other way. Nils Höglander made a smart play to drop a pass back to Pius Suter, who ripped the puck past Mackenzie Blackwood to make it 1-1. 
You take the goal, and you’re certainly happy Kevin Lankinen is playing as well as he is, but the number of rush chances the Canucks are giving up is starting to become undeniably concerning.
Quinn Hughes drew the first penalty call of the night after Lankinen made another ten-bell save to keep this game tied.
The Canucks’ power play has struggled, going 0-for-10 over their past three games. On this one, the Canucks managed to get set up properly two or three times, so it was already one of the best power play showings we’ve seen from them in recent memory. They snapped the puck around and got some good looks off on Blackwood, but did not score.
JT Miller took a penalty with a second remaining on the Canucks’ power play, and like they have so often this season, the Canucks penalty kill did their job.
The Canucks got another power play chance with just over ten minutes to go, and again, they gained the zone and got a couple chances off the stick of Brock Boeser that Blackwood did well to turn away.
The game remained tied, and the Sharks got another chance of their own after Filip Hronek’s pick on Tyler Toffoli was called. Again, the Canucks killed off the penalty.
In the moments that followed, Brock Boeser rifled a shot off the post after a nice setup from JT Miller, and Jake DeBrusk broke through and scored his first goal as a Canuck to make it 2-1.
The Sharks pulled their goalie with just over two minutes left, and Mikael Granlund ripped the tying goal past a screened Kevin Lankinen with 1:17 left on the clock. 2-2.
The Elias Pettersson line saved their best for last, as after Pettersson made an efficient zone entry, Conor Garland set up Pius Suter in the slot for a one-time blast to make it 3-2 late. 
That’s a two goal night for Pius Suter, and that would be all she wrote.
3-2 final.
Some takeaways from tonight:
-Rush chances against are getting concerning.
-Jake DeBrusk scored his first goal of the season on this day last year. Neat.
-Forbort-Brännström didn’t light the world on fire, but that duo does seem like the Canucks’ best option on the third pair at this juncture.
-Kevin Lankinen was stellar again tonight. Play him for every game until Thatcher Demko gets back.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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