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Instant Reaction: Canucks’ penalty kill perfect in 6-3 loss to Hurricanes

Photo credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images

By David Quadrelli

Oct 21, 2026, 00:41 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!

Lineup

DeBrusk – EP40 – Karlsson
Cotter – Chytil – Boeser
Öhgren – O’Connor – Lekkerimäki
Bains – Sasson – Gallagher

EP25 – Hronek
Oleksiak – Willander
Buium – Schenn

First Period

The game began with the Canucks immediately having to defend, and struggling to break the puck out against the Hurricanes’ forecheck. Leevi Meriläinen was doing his best John Garrett impression early in this one, as he had to make two quick saves early on. The Hurricanes kept up their pressure and didn’t take long to break through, as it was Logan Stankoven who sniped one past Meriläinen in front of about 200 of his friends and family, who the Kamloops native bought tickets for.

Carolina goal!Scored by Logan Stankoven with 15:16 left in the 1st. Assisted by Jackson Blake and Juuso Välimäki.VAN: 0 | CAR: 1#CARvsVAN #Canucks #CarolinaCulture

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-21T02:31:36.415214Z

1-0 Canes.

The Hurricanes kept up their pressure after the goal, and we got to see some more solid stops from Meriläinen. As I’ve written many times already, his positional play and calm feet have really impressed me.

The Canucks answered back just over ten minutes into the game after an icing against the Hurricanes. Elias Pettersson won the faceoff, then made a move with the puck inside the blue line to cut into the middle of the ice and evade two Hurricanes. Pettersson toepicked, but got enough on the puck to slide it to Linus Karlsson, who rifled home his third goal of the season to tie things up.

Vancouver goal!Scored by Linus Karlsson with 09:50 left in the 1st. Assisted by Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk.VAN: 1 | CAR: 1#CARvsVAN #Canucks #CarolinaCulture

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-21T02:42:26.482345Z

1-1.

The Canes answered back in a hurry, however, as Logan Stankoven found Nikolaj Ehlers with a cross-ice feed that Meriläinen had no chance on.

Carolina goal!Scored by Nikolaj Ehlers with 07:51 left in the 1st. Assisted by Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven.VAN: 1 | CAR: 2#CARvsVAN #Canucks #CarolinaCulture

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-21T02:43:15.276941Z

2-1 Hurricanes.

I wrote about the Canucks’ defence pairings earlier today, and in that piece, I highlighted how much the Oleksiak-Willander pairing has struggled. This was another example of that. Willander was completely lost on this play.

The Canucks had a stronger finish to the period than their start, and got to finish with a power play as Shayne Gostisbehere was called for hooking on Brock Boeser.

The Canucks had less than a minute to work with and were struggling to get set up, but with under 10 seconds left in the period, an off-balance Brock Boeser swept the puck towards the net. From the left side of Pyotr Kochetkov, Jake DeBrusk deflected the puck to Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who buried his chance with 1.1 left on the clock.

Power play goal for Vancouver!Scored by Jonathan Lekkerimäki with 00:02 left in the 1st. Assisted by Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser.VAN: 2 | CAR: 2#CARvsVAN #Canucks #CarolinaCulture

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-21T02:51:37.298842Z

2-2 after 20 minutes.

Some thoughts from the first period:
-That Logan Stankoven… quite the player! Would be neat if the Canucks could have drafted him.
-I like the look of Linus Karlsson on the top line, but I really wish Jonathan Lekkerimäki could have held down his spot there. It was such a strong start to the season for him playing with DeBrusk and Pettersson, and I hope to see his ice time at least stay up.
-Love and hate to see Filip Chytil carrying the puck through the neutral zone.
-Tough first period for a lot of guys, but Zeev Buium just looked like he was fighting the puck so much in that opening 20.

Second Period

Less than three minutes into the second, Nicolas Deslauriers — yes, you read that correctly — capitalized after Meriläinen came out to play the puck behind his net and lost his crease a bit on the recovery.

Carolina goal!Scored by Nicolas Deslauriers with 17:34 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Jesperi Kotkaniemi.VAN: 2 | CAR: 3#CARvsVAN #Canucks #CarolinaCulture

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-21T03:23:13.577386Z

3-2 Canes.

On the next shift, the Canucks’ fourth line of Bains – Sasson – Gallagher wreaked some havoc. Bains hit the post after Sasson set him up by creating an odd-man rush out of nowhere, and Gallagher shot a puck wide as well. It was a solid response shift, and it was all started by a nice play with the puck in the neutral zone from Zeev Buium, which was nice to see.

Linus Karlsson was called for hooking off an offensive zone faceoff, sending the Hurricanes to the power play for the first time of the night. The Canes’ power play got some looks, and were probably a bit unlucky to have not scored, but they didn’t have to wait long before getting their next chance as Max Sasson was called for hooking. Again, the Canucks’ PK stood tall, and this time, there wasn’t as much luck involved.

The Canucks evened things up when Max Sasson played catch with Zeev Buium, as Sasson snapped Buium’s return pass towards the net. Arshdeep Bains took crashing the net literally, but Carolina elected not to challenge for goaltender interference. Good goal for Sasson, with Buium and Willander picking up the assists.

Vancouver goal!Scored by Max Sasson with 06:53 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Zeev Buium and Tom Willander.VAN: 3 | CAR: 3#CARvsVAN #Canucks #CarolinaCulture

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-21T03:41:34.098455Z

3-3.

Drew O’Connor took a penalty for sweeping the puck back with his hand off a defensive zone draw, as the Canucks went onto the penalty kill for the third time.

On that penalty kill, Elias Pettersson, the forward, sprawled out to defend and threw his stick towards Sebastian Aho. That, of course, resulted in a penalty shot being awarded to Aho. Leevi Meriläinen made an unceremonious but solid save as Aho tried to beat him on the glove side.

Sometimes you make a save so nice that even *you* don't know where the puck is. #Canucks

— Lachlan Irvine (@lachinthecrease.com) 2026-10-21T03:45:17.814Z

The Canucks’ penalty kill killed off the rest of the O’Connor penalty, and O’Connor actually found himself on a breakaway as he stepped out of the box behind the defence and received a quick-up pass through the neutral zone. Kochetkov

Special teams truly dominated this period, as with just over a minute left, Sean Walker stepped in front of Paul Cotter and was called for interference.

Some takeaways from the second:
-The Hurricanes were sure taking a lot of gambles on plays tonight that they normally wouldn’t. I get it, but thought it was worth noting.
-Liked to see the Canucks get Oleksiak and Hronek out together. We saw a heavy dose of DPetey with Schenn, and Buium with Willander.
-Thought Buium settled in nicely in this period. Liked the new look of the defence pairings in that frame.

Third Period

The Canes killed off the remainder of the Canucks’ power play, and the visitors ramped up the pressure. The Hurricanes broke through and pushed ahead by one when — *checks notes* says here, Nic Deslauriers — scored his second goal of the game.

Carolina goal!Scored by Nicolas Deslauriers with 15:53 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Bradly Nadeau and K'Andre Miller.VAN: 3 | CAR: 4#CARvsVAN #Canucks #CarolinaCulture

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-21T04:21:37.216994Z

4-3 Canes.

That’s Deslauriers’ first multi-goal since he scored a hat trick on March 10th, 2020, when he was a member of the Anaheim Ducks. The NHL season would pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic shortly after.

The Canes didn’t stop there, as the shot counter got a bit wonky in their favour. Off a neutral zone faceoff, Nikolaj Ehlers somehow got behind the Canucks’ defence and beat Meriläinen five-hole.

5-3 Canes.

Filip Chytil took a double-minor for high-sticking with just under nine minutes left in the game, giving the Canucks’ PK another chance to work. Now, the success of the PK absolutely has a lot to do with the goaltender behind them, as the Hurricanes weren’t exactly kept to the perimeter for all five of their power play opportunities. They killed this one off again, with some more great saves from Meriläinen.

The Canucks pulled their goaltender with just under three minutes remaining. Logan Stankoven scored with the net empty shortly after to secure the victory for the Hurricanes.

Final shots: 42 for Carolina, 17 for Vancouver.

Some takeaways from the third:
-Meriläinen was solid right to the very end on a night he faced a barrage of shots.
–Max Sasson plays with so much speed, and it’s fun to watch.
-I’d like to have a conversation about Filip Hronek. Not today, but soon. I think.
-The Hurricanes are good at hockey.

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 post game with Jeff Paterson and Jamie Dodd moments after the final horn! Check out our live programming button in the top right of our website for easy access!