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Scenes from morning skate: Canucks healthy scratch Schenn and Gallagher against Stanley Cup champs in Carolina

Photo credit: © James Guillory-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Oct 8, 2026, 13:00 EDT

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The Vancouver Canucks (2-2) face the reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes (2-1-1) at Lenovo Center in Raleigh. Puck drop is set for 4 pm PT. It’s the opener of a six-game road trip that will continue with three games in the New York area and conclude with two games in Florida.

What we saw

Thomas Drance

@ThomasDrance

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#Canucks on the ice for an optional skate in Raleigh ahead of their game Thursday against the defending Cup Champions. 15 skaters and both goaltenders, with a handful of veterans taking the option.

3:42 PM · Oct 8, 2026

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It wasn’t a surprise to see the Canucks conduct an optional skate this morning in Raleigh. After a 2pm local time practice on Wednesday afternoon and with three games in four days to kick off this road trip, Manny Malhotra was never going to grind his players with a full morning skate. Still, as creatures of habit, 15 skaters and a pair of goalies took to the ice ahead of tonight’s game.

The Athletic’s Thomas Drance reported that Brendan Gallagher, Luke Schenn, and Guillaume Brisebois were the last players on the ice this morning. That is usually a solid indication of who will sit out come game time. If that’s the case, the Canucks look like they’ll be making two line-up changes for tonight’s game. Jake DeBrusk is fully healthy and will return to the line-up after missing both games over the weekend due to illness. At practice on Wednesday, DeBrusk returned to his net front spot on the team’s top power play unit.

It’s been a quiet start to the season for the veteran Gallagher. He has yet to record a point and is averaging just 9:56 of ice time through his first four games.

And all signs point to Victor Mancini making his season debut on defence. He was paired with Elias Pettersson at practice over the past two days. This will mark Mancini’s first regular-season game since April 11th against San Jose. It will also be the first time this season that Luke Schenn takes a seat in the press box.

Canucks’ expected line combinations vs. Hurricanes

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Lekkerimäki
Cotter-Rossi-Boeser
Öhgren-Sasson-Karlsson
Bains-Räty-O’Connor

Buium-Hronek
Oleksiak-Willander
DPetey-Mancini

With weekend back-to-backs on the horizon, Kevin Lankinen and Leevi Meriläinen will likely split those duties. As for tonight, expect Lankinen to get the call against the defending champs. He was the first goaltender off the ice this morning and was solid in a 3-2 loss to Vegas on Sunday.

Paul Cotter and Jonathan Lekkerimäki scored the Vancouver goals against the Golden Knights. Cotter leads the team with four goals through four games while he and Elias Pettersson share the team lead with six points apiece. Filip Hronek has five assists through four games, tops all Canucks in ice time averaging 25:52 per game and leads the NHL with 17 blocked shots.

Max Sasson is set to become the third Canuck already this season to reach the 100 NHL game milestone. Liam Öhgren and defenceman Elias Pettersson passed the century mark for games played last week.

The Opponent

The Hurricanes are coming off a 6-4 win in Montreal on Tuesday night. Sebastian Aho led the way with a goal and two assists while Taylor Hall scored his first two goals of the season. Andrei Svechnikov, Eric Robinson and Mark Jankowski also scored for Carolina. Brandon Bussi made 16 saves as the Canes outshot the Habs 34-20.

Carolina has won back-to-back games after starting the season with a pair of losses and just two goals in those first two games. Aho leads the hockey club with four goals and seven points in the early going this season. He also shares the league lead with five minor penalties taken.

Against Montreal, 17 of the Carolina skaters recorded at least one shot on goal. The only one that didn’t was Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who logged a team-low 6:53 of ice time. The Hurricanes trailed 2-1 and 3-2 in the first period, but scored four of the game’s final five goals.

Both Hurricanes wins have come on the road. The team is 0-1-1 on home ice, including a 1-0 OT loss to Florida in the team’s banner-raising season opener. Last season, Carolina won a league-high 29 games at home and then went 8-2 in 10 post-season games in Raleigh.

Seth Jarvis is out of the Hurricanes line-up after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery. He took part in the team’s morning skate this morning, but will not play tonight.

Pyotr Kochetkov will make his second start of the season tonight. He was in goal for a 3-2 OT win in Philadelphia on Saturday night.

News and notes

The Hurricanes took both ends of last season’s series, winning 4-3 in overtime on home ice and 6-4 in Vancouver. Carolina will be the opponent on October 20th in the Canucks first game at Rogers Arena after this road trip. The Canes have won four straight head-to-head matchups.

The referees for tonight’s game are Kelly Sutherland and Kyle Rehman.

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