It’s not every day two teams who are both coming off a loss to the same opponent face off against one another, but that’s what happened when the puck dropped for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs tonight.

The Canucks wasted little time in opening the scoring in this one. Elias Pettersson won a D-Zone faceoff, and the Canucks’ new-look first line went the other way, and was officially a +1 early on.

Brock Boeser from Myers and Pettersson. 1-0 Canucks early. 

Pius Suter was called for tripping, giving the Maple Leafs the first power play of the contest. The Canucks, with some help from Kevin Lankinen, killed both penalties off. It was a fine opening period from the Canucks, and Lankinen did his part in making sure the Canucks got to the second still protecting a lead.

The big story from the opening 20 minutes was that the Canucks’ new look top six — DeBrusk and Boeser as the top line with Pettersson, and Höglander and Garland with Miller on line two — thoroughly controlled play.

This is what will separate the Canucks, two great top six lines. We’ll see if it can last.

Miller took the Canucks’ third penalty of the game in the second when he got his stick in William Nylander’s face. Toronto’s power play has been struggling as of late, and those struggles continued tonight.

What became a bit frustrating from a viewing perspective was how the Canucks elected to play low-event hockey and dump the puck in every chance they could. But hey, that’s how this team feels they have to play in order to pick up wins.

The Canucks pushed their lead to two in the dying moments of the second when, after Pettersson drew a penalty, Quinn Hughes went to work at 6-on-5 with the official’s arm in the air. The Canucks’ captain fired a puck through traffic that eventually found its way to the back of the net to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead heading into the third.

In the third, Hughes did more great things for this team on the first shift of the third. Hughes brought two Leafs with him, found Kiefer Sherwood in the middle of the ice, and Sherwood promptly deposited the puck behind Hildelby.

That would stand as your final, as the Canucks did a great job of locking this one down.

Some more takeaways from tonight:

-My expectations were so much lower after last night’s game, but you can never underestimate the Leafs’ ability to not show up on any given night. Especially when they’re favoured to win.
-I really don’t like Jonathan Lekkerimäki on the fourth line. That cannot be where he plays in this lineup for any stretch of time.
-Erik Brännström not being able to get into the lineup before Guillaume Brisebois got another chance is just weird.
-Solid night for Elias Pettersson on the defensive end. Added a point too. I like that configuration of the Canucks’ top six. Pettersson is so good defensively, and giving him that responsibility of going up against the opposition’s best seemed to get the best out of him.
-Didn’t like to see Max Sasson taken out of the lineup instead of Phil Di Giuseppe or Danton Heinen.
-Vinny Desharnais out of the lineup surprised me. Forbort, Juulsen, and even Soucy seem like they could use a game off.
-MVP-type performance from Quinn Hughes in the centre of the hockey universe.
-This will be an interesting one to dive into in The Statsies tomorrow.
-Canucks’ first regulation win in eight games.

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