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Instant Reaction: Canucks lose 4-1, fail to spoil Kings’ playoff hopes
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Photo credit: © Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
David Quadrelli
Apr 10, 2026, 01:05 EDTUpdated: Apr 10, 2026, 01:24 EDT
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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

Right from the drop of the puck, the Kings looked like a team that had just been given some sort of pump-up speech about how vital winning tonight’s game was in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. They were first to pucks, heavy on the forecheck, and were giving the Canucks all sorts of problems in the first few minutes.
This translated into a goal almost immediately, as Adrian Kempe got loose in front and buried his 33rd goal of the season:
1-0 Kings early. 
The Kings kept up their momentum, but eventually the Canucks found their footing and the game got a bit choppier as a result. The first five minutes was all Kings, and the next 10 or so was basically nothing but broken plays for both teams.
Playing in his 600th career NHL game,  Marcus Pettersson got the puck in deep. Marco Rossi helped win the puck along the boards to Liam Öhgren, who got the puck to Brock Boeser, who made a nifty backhand pass back to Pettersson. Pettersson let go of a booming slap shot that he was able to lean into, and blasted home his third goal of the season, and second in his last five games.
1-1. BRÖ line strikes again.
It took less than two minutes for LA to answer back, as Jake DeBrusk had his pocket picked in the neutral zone, giving Joel Armia and two of his Kings teammates time and space to move in with numbers.
2-1 Kings.
Some takeaways from the first:
-Tough first period for Elias Pettersson in the draw. 0-for-7. Those are Seattle Mariners numbers.
-Nikita Tolopilo allowed two goals, but he has looked so much calmer in the crease these past couple of games. Good to see.

Second Period

The second period continued with more of the choppiness and broken plays we saw in the latter half of the first. On the broadcast, Dave Tomlinson said this game was being played almost entirely five feet away from the boards, and he was absolutely right.
Somehow though, the Canucks allowed the Kings two breakaways in the first 10 minutes. First it was Trevor Moore, then it was Artemi Panarin. Tolopilo was up to the task, stopping both attempts (although Moore never really got the chance he wanted to).
Drew O’Connor found himself with a great chance in tight on Anton Forsberg, but couldn’t bury it:
This would go down as the Canucks’ best chance of the period, and they looked poised to enter the third trailing by a goal… That was, until Kempe deflected a point shot through the screen of Anze Kopitar and past Nikita Tolopilo with 30 seconds remaining in the frame.
3-1 Kings. 
Despite that goal, it really was a solid period for the Canucks from a territorial perspective. They were all over the Kings, and while it didn’t translate to many great chances, their forecheck was strong and they spent minimal time defending in their own end.
Some takeaways from the second:
-Zeev Buium and Filip Hronek are reading off of each other in a similar way that Hronek and he who shall remain nameless did. I hope we get a steady dose of those two as a pairing next season.

Third Period

The Kings were in protect mode, and you know what they say: the best defence is more offence.
The Kings pushed their lead to three after taking advantage of a turnover in the Canucks’ end, coupled with a bit of a miscommunication between Elias Junior Pettersson and Tom Willander. The puck deflected off of Pettersson’s stick and over Nikita Tolopilo’s shoulder:
4-1 Kings.
As they have so many times already this season, the Canucks pulled their goaltender with over three minutes remaining. It didn’t lead to a goal.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!

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