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Instant Reaction: Canucks pull Lankinen after 3 goals on 13 shots in loss to Red Wings
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
David Quadrelli
Dec 9, 2025, 00:28 ESTUpdated: Dec 9, 2025, 00:30 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

The Canucks certainly started on time tonight. They had at least  two or three prime scoring opportunities in the first five minutes of the game. Most notably, Brock Boeser rifled a one-timer in the high slot after Conor Garland found him with a pass from below the goal line. Then Quinn Hughes activated along the wall and found Jake DeBrusk for a cross-crease tap-in that DeBrusk didn’t make good contact with.
After 10 minutes of play, the Canucks were outshooting the Wings 8-2. Not a bad start at all.
On their third shot of the game, however, the Red Wings opened the scoring. Aatu Räty decided to join the effort on a board battle behind the net, leaving his position in front of Kevin Lankinen vacant. The puck squeaked out in front, and James van Riemsdyk buried his chance.
1-0 Red Wings. 
The Canucks got the game’s first power play late in the first, and after looking like an absolute mess against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night, the power play looked much better. They gained the zone with ease, controlled, and amassed some great pressure on the Red Wings penalty killers. Unfortunately, they couldn’t convert, and entered the second period trailing by a goal.
Some takeaways from the first:
-Should Nikita Tolopilo start in goal on Thursday against Buffalo? I’d say so.
-Really impressed with Tom Willander so far. He made a bad read late in the first, but did a great job of recovering and catching up to the Red Wings player to prevent what would have been a breakaway chance against the Canucks. We talked about him plenty on today’s episode of Canucks Conversation (linked here and available wherever you get your podcasts!)

Second Period

The Canucks’ power play got another chance to work early in the second, and the story of this one was how unlucky Jake DeBrusk was. First, he hit the underside of the crossbar on a rush attempt. Then he got a rebound right in close, lifted the puck the way he wanted to, but was denied thanks to John Gibson lifting his pad and turning DeBrusk’s second great chance aside.
The Canucks moved to 2-for-2 on “nice looking” power plays, but 0-for-2 according to the scoreboard. The big scoreboard soon read 2-0, as well. After a broken play at the Canucks line and a failed clearing attempt from Filip Hronek, the Wings quickly snapped the puck around and managed to get a tap-in look that Kevin Lankinen didn’t have much chance on.
Less than a minute later, Nate Danielson tipped down a puck that found it’s way through Lankinen’s legs to put this game further out of reach in a hurry.
That’s three goals on 11 shots for Kevin Lankinen. 3-0 Red Wings.
John Gibson sure was very good through 40 minutes.
Some takeaways from the second:
-I love watching Nils Höglander play and can’t wait until he’s fully up to speed and can return to being an important part of this team’s top six.
-Yes, I’m definitely starting Nikita Tolopilo on Thursday.

Third Period

Tolopilo led the Canucks out for the third. I hope that doesn’t exclude him from starting on Thursday.
The Canucks started the first period well, and they started the second period pretty well, too. In the third, however, their start was just okay. And just okay wasn’t going to solve John Gibson tonight. With 4:31 to go, the Red Wings added an empty netter.
4-0 Red Wings.
Some takeaways from the third:
-Tom Willander is doing a lot of little things very, very well.
-Far too many similarities between the Canucks tonight and the Whitecaps’ performance in the MLS Cup final on Saturday. Controlled play, had stretches of dominance, hit some posts, but made some back-breaking mistakes and lost a game they probably deserved a better fate in.
I’ll just leave this here.
What’s your instant reaction to this game? Let us know in the comments section below!

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