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Instant Reaction: Canucks waste Hughes’ first 3-point night of the season in 5-3 loss to Jets
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Tyson Cole
Nov 12, 2025, 00:47 ESTUpdated: Nov 12, 2025, 01:28 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

No lineup changes for the Canucks after their 5-4 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche; Thatcher Demko returns to make the start.

First period

Nothing really happened within the game’s first five minutes. The Jets controlled play in the offensive zone, but the Canucks did a good job of keeping them around the perimeter. That was until a tipped pass lands on the stick of Josh Morrissey, who throws the puck on net, which bounces off Jonathan Toews’ skate and past Thatcher Demko.
Once a Blackhawk, always a Blackhawk when you’re playing Vancouver, I guess.
1-0 Jets.
The Canucks didn’t do a great job of bouncing back after they allowed the goal. In fact, Demko needed to bail them out of going down 2-0 in this game.
The Canucks answered back after a nice give-and-go from Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood. Hughes doesn’t have a passing lane to the net front, so he fakes going behind the net and quickly fires it back to Sherwood once his old defence partner Luke Schenn moves his stick out of the lane. Sherwood picks his spot on the far side and evens up the game for the Canucks.
1-1 tie game.
An offensive zone tripping penalty from Dylan DeMelo sends the Canucks to the power play. After a clearance from the Jets, Hughes springs Jake DeBrusk in on the rush, and he finds a hole on the short side and beats Connor Hellebuyck.
Kind of odd seeing the back-to-back Vezina winner and reigning NHL MVP get beat one-on-one like that. But hey, there’s just something about Jake DeBrusk and November.
2-1 Canucks.
But then everything started to turn for the worse for the Canucks.
Elias Pettersson (D) took a tripping penalty on Alex Iafallo, sending the Jets to the man advantage. In what looked to be an easy clearance after Marcus Pettersson faked to his left and created space to his right, the Canucks made it hard on themselves.
M. Pettersson bought himself time to wheel the puck behind the net and slap it down the ice. Instead, he sends a pass to Sherwood into a dangerous area at the front of the Canucks net. He just tries to get the puck off his stick as quickly as possible and ends up hitting Tyler Myers on the clearing attempt, which bounces perfectly to Josh Morrissey at the point. He backpedals and fires the puck toward the net. The shot hit Sherwood’s stick and went past Demko.
That’s just not a great play from M. Pettersson that cost the Canucks their lead.
2-2 tie game.
The game wouldn’t last long, as just 15 seconds later, the Jets regained the lead.
Elias Pettersson (D) loses the battle in the corner after losing positioning. Iafallo finds Adam Lowry behind the net, who wheels it around the net and fires the puck toward the net. The shot bounces off Nino Niederreiter as he battles Tom Willander at the net front and past Demko.
3-2 Jets.
The game quieted after this. After the goal, the Canucks outshot the Jets 3-1, but still trailed heading into the intermission.
Some takeaways from the first period:
– Hughes looked like the Hughes we’re used to seeing. His playmaking was on display, picking up two primary assists and a shot on goal.
– Can’t really blame any of those goals on Demko. Three weird bounces end up in the back of the net.

Second period

Gulp. Bad news Canucks fans. After the final TV timeout of the first period, the Sportsnet broadcast showed Demko doing some stretching during the break. And what many likely saw coming after that, Kevin Lankinen led the Canucks out to start the second period.
The Canucks immediately ruled Demko out to start the period.
Lukas Reichel took an early penalty to start the middle frame. Now down a man with a cold goaltender, the Canucks did a great job of holding the Jets without a shot on the ensuing penalty.
Outside of that, the second period started much as it did the first: with not a lot going on. The first exciting action we got from the Canucks was when Aatu Räty threads a pass to DeBrusk. He made a great move to the backhand, but could not beat the sprawling Hellebuyck.
Things just went from bad to worse after that for the Canucks. Headed back to defend Mark Scheifele on the rush, Hughes gets his stick tied up with the Jets centreman, and he’s left in clear pain. He was down on the ice for some time. Hughes was called for a hooking penalty on the play, but instead of going to the penalty box, he went down the tunnel.
But fear not Canucks fans, after a Logan Stanley interference penalty on Max Sasson behind the Jets’ net, Hughes rejoined his teammates for the power play a few minutes later.
It was a good sign to see Hughes shoot on that power play, indicating that the injury isn’t ailing him enough to fire pucks on net.
The Canucks rallied a few offensive zone shifts together in the Jets end toward the tail end of the period. After all five Jets players were on the ice for over a minute, they iced the puck. However, the Canucks don’t take advantage of some tired Jets bodies. In fact, they do worse, as Drew O’Connor takes a high-sticking penalty in the offensive zone to send the Jets to the power play for the final minutes of the period.
Some takeaways from the second period:
– Lankinen came in cold, but you wouldn’t have known based on his play. He stopped all 13 shots he faced in the second period, including four-and-a-half minutes down a man. He kept his team in it when the spirits seemed down after the Demko and Hughes injuries.
– Evander Kane just won’t stop shooting. And that’s not a bad thing. For a team who was often ridiculed for their lack of shot volume, Kane has brought it. He’s up to six shots on goal on nine shot attempts through two periods.

Third period

With over a minute remaining in the O’Connor high-sticking penalty, the Jets set up shop in the Canucks zone and made them pay. Kyle Connor finds Gabe Vilardi in the slot, who lifts an unsuspecting spinning backhand shot into the top left corner.
Not much Lankinen could do on that one. Who would have thought Vilardi was shooting that?
4-2 Canucks.
The Canucks thought they brought this game back to within one a few minutes later when a Willander shot goes high off the back boards, and Brock Boeser tries to shovel the rebound behind Hellebuyck.
The puck sits on the goal line, but it was unclear on video review after Hellebuyck sat on it.
As if the Canucks weren’t already going through enough injury troubles. Sherwood takes a Willander wrist shot to the arm. He was visibly ailing at the Canucks bench, but it appeared to be just a stinger, as Sherwood would not miss a shift.
The Canucks get aggressive and pull Lankinen with about four minutes to go. Despite a few attempts at the open net, the Jets couldn’t put the game away. And that cost them.
Elias Pettersson (F) fires a wrist shot from the point that gets blocked by Neal Pionk. Boeser is there to grab the rebound and beats Hellebuyck over the left shoulder to pull the Canucks back to within one.
4-3 Jets.
But it was all for not, as Iafallo, in his 600th career game, buries the empty-net goal to secure the Jets victory.
5-3 Jets final.
Some takeaways from the game:
– Canucks outplay another opponent, but can’t muster up a third period comeback. Vancouver spoils Hughes’ first three-point night of the season.
– It was a quiet game for Pettersson (F). As you probably noticed, we didn’t talk much about him throughout the entire game. He picked up a primary assist on Boeser’s goal, and a second assist on DeBrusk’s goal, but logged just two shot attempts in 24:23 minutes of ice time.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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