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Instant Reaction: Räty scores a pair, Willander pots first NHL goal in Canucks’ 4-2 win over Wild
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Photo credit: © Christopher Morris-Imagn Images
Tyson Cole
Dec 7, 2025, 00:55 ESTUpdated: Dec 7, 2025, 01:07 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

Following Adam Foote’s media availability, the only lineup changes we were expecting were that Evander Kane would return and Jonathan Lekkerimäki would sit. However, the Canucks were hit with a significant blow, as Elias Pettersson left pre-game skate with an upper-body injury and would miss tonight’s game.
With Pettersson out, here is how the Canucks lined up:

First period

With all the drama surrounding the team over the hour before the game, with the report of the New Jersey Devils and Canucks having a conversation on Quinn Hughes, and Pettersson being ruled out, the Canucks had a chance to get ahead early after Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt took a tripping penalty on Filip Hronek.
Without Pettersson, the top power play unit consisted of Hughes, Brock Boeser, Conor Garland, Jake DeBrusk and Evander Kane. The Canucks failed to register a shot on goal. And shortly after the penalty expired, Mats Zuccarello was sprung on a two-on-one with Matt Boldy, who made no mistake to put the puck in the yawning cage.
1-0 Wild.
The Canucks had a few chances, but it was really the Wild who came up with the more threatening chances. But tonight’s starting goaltender, Nikita Tolopilo, made some solid saves to keep his team within one.
Linus Karlsson has been playing well of late. And while we did not get to see Karlsson, Pettersson and DeBrusk build off that impressive performance against the Utah Mammoth, Karlsson has not been afraid to get into the rough stuff. His bread and butter is at the net front, and he wasn’t shy to get physical during the play and after the whistle with Wild captain Jared Spurgeon.
Although they were outshot 10-4 in the opening period, the Canucks walked into the first break down just one goal.
First period takeaways:
– The Canucks did a fine job in the faceoff dot without Pettersson. They won the battle 60%-40%: Räty 4/4, Kämpf 3/4, O’Connor 1/2, and Sasson 1/3.
– The Wild converted on a lot of rush chances, including a Kirill Kaprizov breakaway. Kaprizov and Zuccarello also connected on a few East-West passes that led to dangerous scoring chances. The Canucks might be in trouble.

Second period

Mere seconds after the second period puck drop, Marcus Pettersson takes a cross-checking penalty on Boldy in the defensive zone. But the Canucks killed it off.
Ryan Hartman appeared to get injured on a play in front of the Canucks net early in the frame. His replacement, Nico Sturm, came onto the ice and was hit with a high stick and seemed to be favouring his nose as he went to the Wild bench. Neither player would miss a shift.
The Canucks had some trouble breaking the puck out of their zone due to the offensive zone pressure from the Wild forecheckers. But Minnesota forgot about the one-man breakout, Quinn Hughes.
Hughes sends a long stretch-pass to Kane on the left side boards, who enters the zone on the rush. He sends a cross-ice pass to Kiefer Sherwood, who doesn’t have the best shooting angle and sends the puck to the net front. With a defenceman on his back, Räty enters the
1-1 tie.
Psych. The goal was reviewed, and it was determined that Räty kicked the puck in. No goal.
1-0 Wild.
But don’t worry, the Canucks didn’t let that disallowed goal discourage them.
Karlsson enters the zone with speed and keeps his head up, scanning the ice for a passing option. He stops up and finds Willander on the right side, who fires the puck into traffic and places it perfectly over Jesper Wallstedt – who never saw the puck – and under the bar for his first NHL goal.
1-1 tie. FOR REAL.
Elias Pettersson (D) gave as big a celebration for his teammate’s first NHL goal as Willander did. But Pettersson did not have to wait long to get a goal of his own.
Following a faceoff win by Räty, Willander goes D-to-D to Pettersson. He fires a floater toward the net, which sneaks through traffic and handcuffs Wallstedt, beating him between the high pad and under the glove.
2-1 Canucks.
There wasn’t much of a push back from the Wild after the Canucks took the lead. Boldy had a pair of shots, but in terms of scoring chances, the Canucks did a good job of limiting the Wild. The Canucks didn’t have many chances of their own until Räty got the puck on his stick.
With a board battle taking place behind the Canucks net, Räty goes back in support and gets the puck loose. Kane challenges the Wild defenceman along the boards and kicks the puck up the ice to a streaking Räty.
Räty wins the race for the puck and is sprung on a two-on-one with Sherwood. With Jacob Middleton playing the pass, Räty lines up for a shot at the top of the left circle and wires it into the top left corner.
This one counts.
3-1 Canucks.
Aatu Räty has now been in on four of the last five Canucks goals.
The Wild did answer with a chance of their own, the best one coming off a Joel Eriksson Ek tip, which beats Tolopilo, but not the crossbar.
Vancouver only had six shots in the period, but they managed to capitalize on three of them. The Canucks lead 3-1 after two.
Second period takeaways:
– Canucks had a real problem breaking the puck out of their own zone through this game due to the tenacious Wild forecheck. But they made the most of it when they did.
– I’ve been really liking what I’m seeing out of Linus Karlsson. At the tail end of the period, Karlsson had a shift where he stepped up on Danila Yurov, which knocked the puck loose and straight to Max Sasson at the net front for a backhand chance. Later in the shift, Karlsson picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and entered the zone slowly, pulling the defender, which gave DeBrusk time to catch up and get open for a one-time chance. The pass was blocked, but it was still encouraging to see Karlsson slow the play down.

Third period

The Wild came to play in the final period, logging six shots in the first three minutes.
But any hope for a comeback was lost when Wallstedt mishandled the puck behind the net, and Räty scoops it up and buries it into the open net.
4-1 Canucks.
O’Connor gets a cross-checking penalty for sending Middleton into Tolopilo, who was down and in the splits with a 6’3″, 220-lb defender on top of him. The Canuck netminder was fine, but that couldn’t have been comfortable.
Sherwood was sprung on a shorthanded breakaway,  but could not get a shot away after a slash from Brock Faber. This sent the game to four-on-four.
There wasn’t much else going on for the next 10 minutes. The Wild had their pushes, but Tolopilo and the Canucks played prevent defence and limited their opportunities.
Boeser took a late tripping penalty on Boldy with around three minutes remaining. Playing at 6-on-4 with the goalie pulled, Zuccarello circles the faceoff dot and fires a shot farside on Tolopilo, who Eriksson Ek was screening.
4-2 Canucks.
Kaprizov took a cross-checking penalty on Karlsson in the Vancouver end, sending the Canucks to the power play late. The Canucks spent the final 40 seconds in Minnesota’s end to ice the game.
4-2 Canucks win.
Game takeaways:
– With the number of injuries down the middle of the ice, I don’t think it’s outlandish to say that Räty has been the Canucks’ second-best centre on the season. And he only built to that case tonight. After serving as a healthy scratch last week against the San Jose Sharks, Räty had a disallowed goal the following game against the Los Angeles Kings. Since then, Räty has scored two and been in on five of the last six Canucks goals. Two of those games he played under 10 minutes, and he went 29/36 (78%) in the faceoff dot.
– Karlsson has played himself into a bigger role on this team. The way he’s slowing the game down, finding time and space with his head up to find the right play, has been awesome to watch.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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