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Instant Reaction: Canucks mount unbelievable comeback on the back of Lekkerimäki to beat Ducks 6-5 in OT

Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

By David Quadrelli

Oct 28, 2026, 00:53 EDTUpdated: Oct 28, 2026, 00:58 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!

First Period

Leevi Meriläinen was busy early and often to start this game, flashing the leather multiple times to rob Ducks shooters. Meanwhile, the players in front of him attempted some shots, but it took nearly eight minutes for the Canucks to be credited with their first official shot on goal, a Linus Karlsson wrister that Lukas Dostal shouldered away.

Meriläinen’s early saves opened the door for the Canucks to find their footing a bit, and they began to get on their forecheck.

You know how Manny Malhotra has been talking about effort-based mistakes and the Canucks’ defencemen not clearing out the crease? This wasn’t exactly that, but it was another tough moment for Filip Hronek, who has not looked like himself to start this season. DPetey kept a driving AJ Greer to the outside, but Greer fired a pass into the middle for Tim Washe that Hronek inadvertently redirected behind his goaltender.

Anaheim goal!Scored by A.J. Greer with 04:08 left in the 1st. Assisted by Jackson LaCombe and Sam Colangelo.ANA: 1 | VAN: 0#VANvsANA #FlyTogether #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T02:51:34.877411Z

1-0 Ducks.

The Canucks didn’t let that stop them, immediately returning to the forecheck and playing an up-tempo game.

Travis Mitchell flipped the puck over the glass from his own defensive end, which led to the Canucks being awarded the game’s first power play with just over a minute to go.

To be clear, the Canucks did not have a particularly bad opening 20 minutes of play. Certainly far from their worst first-period effort of the season.

Some takeaways from the first:
-Jackson LaCombe sure looks like a top pairing defenceman. I remember being briefly confused when the Ducks locked him up long-term, but there’s no confusion now.
-What a tough start to the year for Hronek.

Second Period

The Canucks opened the second period with just under a minute of power play time, and did not score. They didn’t have to wait long for their next chance, as Tyson Hinds was called for roughing on Linus Karlsson. This time, they rolled out their second unit to start things off, but it was to no avail. One positive though was that the Canucks pulled ahead on the shot clock. I’m pretty sure I could count on one hand how many times I’ve been able to say that in a second period of a game this season.

And eventually, they tied things up.

First, Marco Rossi won a defensive zone draw to Zeev Buium. Buium quickly snapped the puck up to Liam Öhgren, who tried to move the puck up but was stopped in the neutral zone. Buium kept his feet moving, got to the puck first, and kickstarted a zone entry, dishing off to Linus Karlsson before making a beeline toward the net. Karlsson rifled a pass over to Öhgren on the far side, and Öhgren’s attempted pass back to Buium on the backdoor deflected off Ducks defenceman Tristan Luneau and past Dostal.

Vancouver goal!Scored by Liam Ohgren with 13:24 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Linus Karlsson and Zeev Buium.ANA: 1 | VAN: 1#VANvsANA #FlyTogether #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T03:21:36.042012Z

It’ll go down as a secondary assist for Buium, but he’s the engine on this play and that’s one of his better moments of the season. 1-1.

The Ducks answered back just 30 seconds later as Jeff Malott set up right near the blue paint and didn’t face much pushback before rifling home a pass from Jackson LaCombe.

Anaheim goal!Scored by Jeff Malott with 12:54 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Jackson LaCombe and Noah Warren.ANA: 2 | VAN: 1#VANvsANA #FlyTogether #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T03:22:21.508978Z

Don’t think that’s one that Manny is going to like very much from DPetey. 2-1 Ducks.

The Canucks got their third power play of the game just past the halfway mark of the second period when Drew Hellesson was called for slashing. Brock Boeser got a soft chip chance off from the bumper spot, a shot from the point as he looked for a deflection in front, then found Elias Pettersson for a one-timer, but the Canucks couldn’t break through.

It was a pretty solid 35 minutes for the Canucks!

Then Elias Junior Pettersson took a cross-checking penalty, giving the Ducks their first power play of the game. I just want to highlight how strange it was that DPetey got a penalty out of this play:

DePetey gets challenged by the Ducks after the most normal hit in hockey and somehow Anaheim got a power play out of it.

— Lachlan Irvine (@lachinthecrease.com) 2026-10-28T03:34:21.338Z

Anyways, the Ducks’ PP moved the puck well, and scored one of the nicer PP goals you’ll see:

Power play goal for Anaheim!Scored by Beckett Sennecke with 04:16 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson.ANA: 3 | VAN: 1#VANvsANA #FlyTogether #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T03:41:35.250071Z

3-1 Ducks.

Leo Carlsson added another before the end of the period to push the Ducks’ lead to three. Meriläinen came way out to challenge a shooter, made the initial save, but unfortunately, the rebound was too tough for Buium to handle clearing, and Carlsson banged it home.

Anaheim goal!Scored by Leo Carlsson with 01:36 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Jeff Malott and Tristan Luneau.ANA: 4 | VAN: 1#VANvsANA #FlyTogether #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T03:53:14.762421Z

4-1 Ducks.

Some takeaways from the second:
-Third of the year for Öhgren. Thought he had some good jump and responded well to the healthy scratch.
-Three assists in his last four games for Zeev Buium.
-Loved to see Buium execute a Quinn Hughes-like end-to-end rush zone entry on the power play.
-The Ducks’ power play was a good reminder about just how much longer the Canucks need to be committed to this rebuild if they want it to actually work out. Sennecke, Gauthier, LaCombe, and Leo Carlsson, to name a few. The Canucks still have plenty of young talent left to accumulate in this rebuild.

Third Period

The Canucks’ power play was 0-for-3 on the night, and they got their fourth chance shortly after the third period began. This time, they started with the second unit, and while they did some more good things, they ultimately didn’t score, and the Canucks’ odds of a comeback grew thinner.

The Canucks seemed to have another great chance to come back in this game not long after, when Travis Mitchell once again sent a puck out and over the glass from his own end. The Canucks’ power play was quickly nullified, however, when Elias Pettersson got his stick up after another faceoff loss (he was 5-for-15 in the dot at the time of this penalty) and was assessed a two-minute minor.

Brock Boeser was taking a ton of shots in this game, and seemed like he was due for a goal. He eventually got it after Elias Pettersson made a nice move to cut into the middle before pushing the puck towards the net. Boeser got the last touch as it trickled past Dostal.

Vancouver goal!Scored by Brock Boeser with 08:20 left in the 3rd.ANA: 4 | VAN: 2#VANvsANA #FlyTogether #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T04:32:22.032494Z

4-2.

Again, though, the Ducks answered back in a hurry. Anaheim’s fourth line wreaked havoc all night, and on this one, Hronek was sure not to get in his goaltender’s eyeline. That’s all we’ll say about it.

5-2 Anaheim.

Jamie Oleksiak scored his second goal of the season as Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser led the Canucks’ effort to not give up on this game. And that sounded like a real moral victory when I originally wrote it, but I urge you to read on.

A few Ducks get turned around and the ice opens up for Jamie Oleksiak. #Canucks behind by two

— Lachlan Irvine (@lachinthecrease.com) 2026-10-28T04:29:04.353Z

5-3.

The Canucks pulled their goalie with 3:30 left. AJ Greer committed a terrible turnover in his own end, feeding Jonathan Lekkrimäki a beautiful pass that allowed the Canucks’ young sharpshooter to wind up a wrister and rifle a perfect shot past Dostal to pull the Canucks within one.

Prime Time Lekkerimäki. What a lethal shot. #Canucks

— Lachlan Irvine (@lachinthecrease.com) 2026-10-28T04:38:26.358Z

5-4.

And you won’t believe this, but Jonathan Lekkerimäki scored again. But before that, a shoutout to Lekk is in order for nearly setting up Jake DeBrusk for a tap-in in front, before deciding on his next chance to just rip the puck himself. And when you’ve got a release like that, why wouldn’t you?

PRIME TIME AGAIN. WE'RE TIED#Canucks

— Lachlan Irvine (@lachinthecrease.com) 2026-10-28T04:39:15.196Z

As Brock Boeser appeared to say after this goal… “Holy F***”

All tied up.

Some takeaways from the third:
-A bit of a chaotic third period.
-Tough night in the dot for EP40, but he won a crucial OZone draw with the goalie pulled.
-Not Leevi Meriläinen’s best game, but he still made some big saves in this game. He’s just been otherworldly since landing in Vancouver. Tonight wasn’t that.
-Lekkerimäki has been a bright spot to start this season, and he sure shone bright tonight.
-Three points for Boeser, who I really thought led by example this evening and helped kickstart the comeback.

Overtime

Free hockey!

Jake DeBrusk started OT with a fun rush, then the Canucks sent out Chytil, Lekkerimäki, and Buium. Lekkerimäki nearly had a chance to score his hat trick goal, but instead did another thing to help his team: Lekkerimäki skated back with Beckett Sennecke pressuring him, shielded the puck, and took a high stick to the face.

Canucks with a two-minute power play with 2:11 left in OT.

The Canucks had 16 seconds of 5-on-3 time to work with after Alex Killorn was called for goaltender interference after Elias Pettersson poked the puck off his stick while Killorn was driving toward the net.

Lekkerimäki out on the ice. I thought he would be itching to shoot, but instead picked up an assist on Filip Hronek’s one-time shot that won this game for the Canucks.

What a night for these guys.

What’s your instant reaction to this 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!