Slowly but surely, we’re getting closer to seeing what the Canucks’ opening night lineup might look like.

The Canucks started the game with some good jump, but Linus Karlsson was called for a slash in the offensive end, giving the Kraken an early chance to work on the power play. The Canucks’ PKers showed well against the Oilers, preventing the inexperienced group Edmonton sent from ever really getting set up. Tonight, the Kraken got set up and, on their first shot attempt, opened the scoring. Brandon Montour blasted a point shot that appeared to beat an unscreened Kevin Lankinen cleanly on the blocker side, but upon a closer look, the puck deflected off of Paul Cotter’s stick.

Lankinen had to be sharp on some quality Seattle chances early in the first, but on a couple of occasions, those big saves came out of necessity thanks to him kicking out juicy rebounds to Kraken forwards. One such instance came eight minutes into the first, and this time, Lankinen couldn’t make the save off the rebound.

With just over nine minutes left in the first, the Canucks got their first power play chance of the game when Ryker Evans was called for holding Linus Karlsson’s stick.

The Canucks’ power play was stellar post-Olympic break last season, and they hope it can be a bright spot again this season. The first power play unit, quarterbacked by Filip Hronek with DeBrusk, Rossi, Pettersson, and Boeser out as the forwards, made quick work of their first opportunity of the night. Hronek blasted a shot that was first deflected by Jake DeBrusk, then by Brock Boeser and past Joey Daccord to get the Canucks on the board.

After the goal, the Canucks absolutely found their legs, thanks mostly to a shift from Max Sasson where the Canucks winger was absolutely zipping around all three zones. The start of this game was mostly Kraken, but the Canucks held the Kraken from getting a shot on goal in the final 12 minutes of the period.

Some takeaways from the first period:
-It never ceases to amaze me how good Linus Karlsson is at winning battles along the wall, even in cases when he’s a late arrival and should have no business coming up with the puck.
-Elias Pettersson looked like the Canucks’ best player on a couple of occasions in the first frame.
-It was multiple great Energizer-bunny-like shifts from Max Sasson in the latter part of the first period. Nice to see.

The second period got off to a great start, and that ended in a goal less than three minutes in. Linus Karlsson got in on the forecheck, stripped the Kraken defenceman of the puck behind his own goal and passed the puck to Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who found Elias Pettersson in tight. Pettersson made a quick move to his backhand and beat Daccord to tie this one up at 2-2. 

That is Lekkerimäki’s fourth assist of the preseason. First primary assist.

This game had some real edge to it. First, a mix-up between Linus Karlsson and Matty Beniers drew a crowd. A bit later, Adam Larsson came flying in and clipped Kevin Lankinen. The whistle blew quickly as Larsson was called for goalie interference, and I think the reaction to this really mattered. Jamie Oleksiak went behind the goal and went after Larsson, with Brendan Gallagher flying in for a pound of flesh as well. Why it mattered: young Tom Willander quickly turned his attention from looking to the referee with his palms in the air to getting into the scrum with his teammates once he saw Oleksiak and Gallagher go after Larsson. Always protect your goaltender, and don’t let your team get pushed around, no matter how many games you’re going to lose this season.

And if you were watching that game, you’d know that we had hot mics galore on this exchange. Always a treat.

Anyway, Canucks back to the power play.

The Canucks got a great chance immediately after Elias Pettersson made a great read and set up Brock Boeser, who moved in on Daccord but skied his shot attempt. The Canucks switched up to the second unit after a minute, and we saw a two-defenceman PP2, with both Tom Willander and Zeev Buium out on the unit. The Boeser chance was their best of the two-minute sequence.

Filip Hronek was called for tripping with just over two minutes left in the second period, and on the PK, the duo of Elias Pettersson and Liam Öhgren caused all sorts of problems for the Kraken power play. Tom Willander also stood out in this sequence for disrupting plays along the boards. Also, Luke Schenn made an awesome stick check.

This was a fun game to watch, and the give-a-bleep meter seemed high for both teams.

Some takeaways from the second:
-This was quickly looking like as good a game as we’ve seen from Lekkerimäki this preseason. Yes, he had the primary assist, but what impressed me the most was the willingness to mix it up along the boards, play through contact, and flat-out battle. He did that on multiple occasions.
-Solid opening 40 minutes for Elias Pettersson, the forward.

Berkly Catton scored less than two minutes into the third after Shane Wright made a nifty touch pass to Ryan Winterton, who broke in and found Catton streaking to the net to give Seattle a 3-2 lead.

The Canucks were a bit sluggish to start the third. Brendan Gallagher moved in with a rush chance and ripped a wrist shot that found iron, and then it was that fourth line again that caused some trouble. The BRÖ line came out, did a beautiful job of cycling the puck around, and Jamie Oleksiak streaked to the net and deflected a hard pass just wide of the goal. The Canucks quickly began stacking shifts, and the Pettersson line, after spending extended time in the Seattle end, put the Canucks back to the power play when Pettersson drew a tripping call. Side note: Jonathan Lekkerimäki showed no hesitation to shoot tonight. Nice to see.

The second unit came out with about 30 seconds to go, and after Zeev Buium led an end-to-end rush to help the Canucks gain the zone, Buium served as the triggerman when Linus Karlsson found him with a cross-ice feed.

Elias Pettersson threw a big, clean Niklas Kronwall-like hit on Shane Wright and was challenged by Ryan Winterton moments later. DPetey threw a massive right hand that dropped Winterton, much to the delight of the Rogers Arena crowd. Remember that hockeyfights.com is your go-to all season long!

The Canucks ended up with a power play as a result of this play, thanks to Winterton being the instigator. The Canucks power play, having already gone 2-for-3 on the night, of course looked dangerous, and after a few times coming close, they broke through for the third time of the night as, after some beautiful passing, Hronek passed to Pettersson, who quickly found Boeser in the bumper for a one-timer. Boeser’s shot deflected off Jake DeBrusk, and the Canucks went up ahead by a goal.

Some takeaways from the third:
-I thought the Canucks were looking east-west a bit too much when they entered the offensive zone in this game. I’d have liked to see them throw more pucks on net, get bodies in there, and hunt for rebounds.
-More nice flashes from Zeev Buium tonight. And a goal!
-The Canucks’ forecheck was causing serious problems for the Kraken defencemen. Nice to see.
-By far the Canucks’ best effort of the preseason, and it’s not particularly close. Hockey is back, and hockey is fun.

Be sure to tune into Rink Wide Vancouver post game! Watch it below!