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Instant Reaction: Canucks head into Olympic break losers of 3 straight following 5-2 loss to Golden Knights
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Photo credit: © Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Tyson Cole
Feb 5, 2026, 00:54 ESTUpdated: Feb 5, 2026, 02:01 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

This game gets started with some bad blood early. Original mistfit Rielly Smith was caught offside by a near country mile, but passed it over to Shea Theodore. The Aldergrove, BC native had to have heard the whistle late as he wound up a snap shot and fired the puck at Kevin Lankinen after the whistle. Typically, there wouldn’t be a reaction from the Canucks players, but this time, Aatu Räty and Elias Pettersson (D) immediately charged at Theodore to stand up for their netminder.
Funny enough, Golden Knights defenceman Jeremy Lauzon was the only one to receive a penalty on the play, sending the Canucks to the power play.
Interesting to note that Conor Garland replaced Jonathan Lekkerimäki on the top unit power play. Lekkerimäki’s skill set is best served in the top-six, where he has an opportunity to score. If you aren’t going to play him there, he should really be on the top power play unit in a shooting position on the half-wall to utilize his best weapon: his shot. At least he was put with long-time friend Liam Öhgren on the second unit.
Anyway, the power play did not amount to anything, but in the dying seconds, Lekkerimäki had a nifty pass to Evander Kane off the corner for a scoring chance. As time expired, the play went the other way, and Keegan Kolesar was sprung on a two-on-one with Lauzon.
But Lankinen was there to make the first big stop of the contest.
Lankinen was tested again shortly after when Räty took an interference penalty on Jack Eichel, sending the Golden Knights to a power play of their own. But the Finnish netminder stopped all four shots he faced, and kept this game scoreless.
Later in the frame, a bit of a scary play when Kolesar left his feet to make contact with E. Pettersson (D) along the Golden Knights bench. Pettersson was hit up high and appeared to have his back bent over the bench boards while catching Kolesar’s gloves in the face.
Pettersson was bent over in obvious pain, but remained on the bench and did not miss a shift. Tough cookie.
Drew O’Connor had the best chance of the period when he followed up on his own rebound and had a chance behind Akira Schmid, but sent it through the crease. That would be the last threatening chance of the opening frame.
0-0 after one.
Takeaways:
– This game was fairly back and forth. With these two teams at the bookends of the Pacific Division, not many believed that would be the case after 20 minutes. We’ll see what the score bug looks like after 40.

Second period

Buckle up, cause the second period gets wild.
After five minutes of warming up, the team began their scoring spree. Mark Stone drops it to newly acquired Rasmus Andersson, who finds Jack Eichel all alone in the slot. Eichel has nothing but time with no Canuck in a stick-length distance to check him. He takes his time, picks his spot, and wires one far side on Lankinen to open the scoring.
1-0 Golden Knights.
Just over a minute later, Vegas comes back on the attack.
Braeden Bowman has the puck along the wall and carries it into the zone. M. Pettersson goes to pressure him, and since Tom Willander stepped up in the neutral zone, leaving the middle of the zone wide open for Cole Reindhart to waltz right in on Lankinen and beat him with a forehand, backhand, forehand move to double the Vegas lead.
Not a great look for Lekkerimäki on this goal. He is in line with the goal scorer, does not make an effort to keep up with him as he enters the zone, knowing that Willander has pinched up, and drops his stick in the process.
2-0 Golden Knights.
But not long after, the Canucks finally got on the board. After some defensive zone pressure from Conor Garland and Teddy Blueger, the duo forced a turnover. Anticipating gaining possession, Liam Öhgren jumps up in the neutral zone and springs the Canucks back on the attack. He gains possession, enters the zone, draws the defender over to him, cuts and finds E. Pettersson (D), who jumps up in the rush and slides the shot five-hole.
2-1 Golden Knights.
But right after the Canucks gained a little bit of momentum, Sin City stole it right back.
Pressuring PO Joseph behind the net, Eichel forces the turnover and centres a pass to Mark Stone at the net front. Instead of taking the open shot, he taps a back-pass to Ivan Barbashev, who takes the space in the high slot and fires one far side on Lankinen to extend his goal streak to four games.
3-1 Golden Knights.
Attempting to redeem himself after the turnover, Joseph nearly got his first as a Canuck, had it not been for a miraculous, sprawling effort from Schmid.
That net could not have been more wide open.
The hockey gods must have felt horrible for PO getting robbed like that, so they gave him another opportunity in the dying seconds of the period, and this time he capitalized.
Öhgren goes in heavy on the forecheck and forces the turnover. Garland gets the puck, wheels it around the circle and to Joseph at the point. He fakes the one-timer to drop the shot blocker, steps up, and fires a wrist shot through traffic and into the net.
That’s the hockey gods getting back even.
3-2 Golden Knights.
Takeaways:
– Well, I told you we’d check in after 40 minutes, and, not bad. Only down one, outshooting the Golden Knights by three. The Canucks would have probably taken this situation heading into the game.
– For the second consecutive game, the Öhgren-Blueger-Garland line was the best line the Canucks had on the night, but they were consistently buzzing and generating chances in the offensive zone. I don’t think you can say that about any other forward line to this point.

Third period

The final frame started a lot quicker than the second did – and not in a good way for the Canucks.
Mitch Marner walks out of the corner with the puck, and Jake DeBrusk pokes the puck off his stick. But for whatever reason, Tyler Myers pirouettes and opens a lane for Marner to feed Pavel Dorofeyev through Joseph’s stick for a back-door tap-in.
4-2 Golden Knights.
And exactly one minute later, the Golden Knights extend their lead.
Kolesar takes E.Pettersson (D) out wide and wraps around the net. Instead of switching, the two Canucks defencemen run into each other behind the goal line on the opposite side of the puck, leaving a sprawling Garland the only thing between a tap-in at the net front for Alexander Holtz.
5-2 Golden Knights.
There was very little pushback from the Canucks after this. In fact, they were dominated in the final frame, getting outshot 15-4 in a period where they trailed the entire time.
5-2 Final.
Takeaways:
– Has Elias Pettersson (F) just become a defensive centre at this point? Little to no offensive creativity coming from him, hasn’t scored in 11 straight games now, and he had a shot attempt where he walked into the zone, and shot the puck, but it had no zip. His defensive effort is noticeable, however, as he throws his body into the shooting lane to block the shot. It’s especially surprising considering this is the final game before the Olympic break, and he’s risking his body. So that’s admirable. But I’m starting to grow concerned that defence is the main thing we should be expecting from #40.
– Quite frankly, the Öhgren-Blueger-Garland line was the only noticeable line for the Canucks on the night.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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