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Instant Reaction: Canucks make mistakes at terrible times in 6-2 loss to Jets

Photo credit: Terrence Lee-Imagn Images

By David Quadrelli

Nov 5, 2026, 21:39 ESTUpdated: Nov 5, 2026, 21:49 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!

Lineup

DeBrusk – EP40 – Boeser
Öhgren – Rossi – Lekkerimäki
O’Connor – Quillan – Karlsson
Cotter – Sasson – Gallagher

EP25 – Hronek
Buium – Brisebois
Oleksiak – Mancini

Meriläinen

No Tom Willander again, as he’s day-to-day with the injury that kept him out on Tuesday night.

First Period

Drew O’Connor was called for hooking early into this game, and unlike Liam Öhgren’s hooking penalty on Tuesday night, there wasn’t much debate about this one.

That led to Leevi Meriläinen making his first great save of the night. The Jets kept pressing though, and Alex Iafallo deflected a Haydn Fleury wrister from the point. The Canucks have surrendered a power play goal in 14 of their 18 games this season, according to John Shorthouse on the broadcast.

Power play goal for Winnipeg!Scored by Alex Iafallo with 16:11 left in the 1st. Assisted by Haydn Fleury and Dawson Mercer.WPG: 1 | VAN: 0#VANvsWPG #GoJetsGo #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T00:24:33.979310Z

1-0 Jets.

And just 14 seconds later, the Jets struck again. This time, it was Cole Koepke who wristed a rather innocent-looking shot toward Meriläinen, but the puck somehow squeaked under the Canucks goaltender’s pad, quickly pushing the Jets’ lead to two.

Winnipeg goal!Scored by Cole Koepke with 15:57 left in the 1st. Assisted by Morgan Barron.WPG: 2 | VAN: 0#VANvsWPG #GoJetsGo #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T00:25:34.732660Z

2-0 Jets.

Nearly seven minutes had passed before the Canucks recorded their first shot on goal. And what a shot on goal it was! Liam Öhgren cut towards the middle, and while his head made it seem like he was looking pass the whole way, Öhgren quickly snapped a shot across the ice that beat Stuart Skinner cleanly to cut the Jets’ lead in half.

Vancouver goal!Scored by Liam Ohgren with 13:09 left in the 1st. Assisted by Marco Rossi and Jonathan Lekkerimäki.WPG: 2 | VAN: 1#VANvsWPG #GoJetsGo #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T00:33:57.496350Z

2-1.

The Jets pushed their lead to two when Dawson Mercer — acquired in the Connor Hellebuyck trade, scored his first of the season.

Winnipeg goal!Scored by Dawson Mercer with 05:56 left in the 1st. Assisted by Cole Perfetti and Dylan DeMelo.WPG: 3 | VAN: 1#VANvsWPG #GoJetsGo #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T00:54:47.952260Z

3-1 Jets.

Zeev Buium — who hadn’t had a great period to this point — accidentally batted a puck over the glass from his own defensive end, giving the Jets a fragmented power play to finish the first period with. The Canucks’ PK managed to clear the puck multiple times and escape the period down by a couple.

Some takeaways from the first period:
-Elias Pettersson, the forward, sure looked good in that opening period. Effective in the dot,
-I hope Tom Willander comes back soon.
-I really appreciate Meriläinen’s steady feet and positioning. There are very few wasted movements with him. Rarely is he sliding around when he doesn’t absolutely need to be.

Second Period

The Canucks killed off the remainder of Buium’s penalty, thanks in part to Pettersson winning his 10th of 12 faceoffs to that point. At the end of the Buium penalty, it was Pettersson again who made a nifty move to the middle to kickstart a chance for the Canucks and draw a roughing penalty on Kyle Connor in the process.

This gave the Canucks their first power play chance of the game, and that was another chance for Pettersson to impress in this game with some very nice passes and smart decision-making. If you didn’t watch this game, it might sound like I’m being a bit too complimentary of a player who didn’t have a point in this game, but the confidence Pettersson was playing with tonight and the number of times he made something out of nothing in this game was undeniable.

But that didn’t matter very much, because the Canucks made the Jets — who just finished snapping a nine-game losing streak — look like a top team.

First, Neal Pionk scored after Meriläinen made a great stop on Gabe Vilardi. Kyle Connor moved right in through the Canucks’ sloppy defensive structure, with the puck eventually finding its way to Pionk, who made no mistake.

Winnipeg goal!Scored by Neal Pionk with 13:08 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi.WPG: 4 | VAN: 1#VANvsWPG #GoJetsGo #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T01:31:35.190189Z

4-1 Jets.

Then with eight and a half minutes to go in the second, Mark Scheifele poked the puck past Meriläinen after Jake DeBrusk turned the puck over in his own end.

Winnipeg goal!Scored by Mark Scheifele with 08:24 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Kyle Connor and Viggo Björck.WPG: 5 | VAN: 1#VANvsWPG #GoJetsGo #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T01:42:22.201835Z

5-1.

Some takeaways from the second:
-I think play should be blown dead when a goaltender’s strap of their mask pops off, but that’s just me.
-This one was getting a bit out of hand.

Third Period

As the broadcast noted, this one was pretty close in terms of offensive zone time, shots, and other stats, but the Canucks’ carelessness with the puck came at inopportune times and repeatedly burned them.

Manny Malhotra switched up his lines to begin the third, but it didn’t do much for the Canucks, who spent a good stretch of the opening ten minutes of the final frame defending.

The Jets pushed their lead to five when Mark Scheifele dangled and set up Mario Ferraro, who ripped the Jets’ sixth goal of the night past Meriläinen.

Winnipeg goal!Scored by Mario Ferraro with 08:28 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Mark Scheifele and Dylan DeMelo.WPG: 6 | VAN: 1#VANvsWPG #GoJetsGo #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T02:34:48.439604Z

6-1 Jets.

The Canucks chipped into the Jets’ lead after Jacob Quillan won a puck battle along the boards and backhanded a pass to Brock Boeser, who roofed it on the backhand.

6-2.

The Canucks’ comeback efforts would stop there, however, as Marco Rossi took a tripping penaty with three minutes remaining.

Some final takeaways from tonight:
-11 points in his last 11 games for Brock Boeser.
-First point as a Canuck for Jacob Quillan.
-The Canucks needed to manage the puck a lot better than they did tonight.
-This game was closer than the scoreboard reflected.

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below! And be sure to tune into Rink Wide Vancouver LIVE after the game on the Daily Faceoff Vancouver YouTube channel. Check out our live programming button in the top right of our website for easy access!