Team

Betting

CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA

Scenes from morning skate: Canucks shake up D pairs and power play units vs. Islanders

Photo credit: John Jones-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Oct 13, 2026, 13:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 13, 2026, 12:52 EDT

Comments

The Vancouver Canucks (2-5) face the New York Islanders (2-3) at UBS Arena tonight. Opening faceoff is set for 4:45 pm PT.

The game is one of 16 on the NHL schedule and is part of the league’s Frozen Frenzy. It’s one of two nights this season when all 32 teams are in action. April 10th – the final night of the regular season – is the other.

What we saw

Thomas Drance

@ThomasDrance

·Follow

#Canucks line up at morning skate Tuesday ahead of their game @ NYI: DeBrusk-EP40-Lekkerimäki Cotter-Rossi-Karlsson Öhgren-DOC-Boeser Bains-Sasson-Gallagher Extra: Chytil, Räty DPetey-Hronek Oleksiak-Willander Buium-Schenn Brisebois-Mancini

3:40 PM · Oct 13, 2026

Read 23 replies

Bleeding goals at an alarming rate, the Canucks appear to be making a handful of changes to their defence corps for tonight’s game. Based on this morning’s skate, young blueliners Elias Pettersson and Zeev Buium appear to be swapping spots, with Pettersson skating alongside Filip Hronek and Buium taking turns with Luke Schenn. After being a healthy scratch on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, veteran Jamie Oleksiak appears to be replacing Guillaume Brisebois in the lineup and will play with Tom Willander.

Up front, the Canucks are making just one change. After sitting last game against the Rangers, Arshdeep Bains draws back in for Aatu Räty. Max Sasson shifts from fourth-line wing to centre, with Bains sliding in on the left. The power play units also saw some rejigging, with Jonathan Lekkerimäki promoted to the top unit and Marco Rossi sliding down to PP2. It’s also worth noting that Tom Willander was the lone defenceman on PP2, meaning Zeev Buium has been taken off that unit for the time being.

Leevi Meriläinen appears set to get the start in goal. One of his three NHL shutouts came against the Isles at UBS Arena. So he’s 1-0 lifetime versus NYI and has not surrendered a goal. Meriläinen has surrendered six goals over two starts (and four appearances) with the Canucks. Only one of those goals came at 5-on-5, where he carries a league-best .986 goals against average.

Forward Filip Chytil, who suffered a shoulder injury in a strange collision with a referee in a September 24th preseason game, has rejoined the team and skated with the group this morning. He remains on injured reserve and won’t play tonight, but may be an option as the road trip continues to Florida for the final two games later this week.

The Canucks have dropped four straight, including all three to start their six-game road trip. In Sunday’s loss to the Rangers, Jake DeBrusk and defenceman Elias Pettersson scored the Vancouver goals while Kevin Lankinen stopped 19 of 25 and took the loss. DeBrusk has three goals in his last three games and has figured in four of the team’s five goals on the trip so far.

Vancouver has yet to carry a lead into the third period this season and has trailed heading into the final period in six straight outings.

The Canucks have never lost at UBS Arena. They are 5-0 and the only team in the league without a loss at the Islanders’ new home. Overall, they have won their last six visits to Long Island, including their final game played at Barclays Center.

The Opponent

The Islanders have been idle since a 5-3 home ice loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday. Tony DeAngelo, Brayden Schenn, and J-G Pageau scored for the Isles, while Ilya Sorokin stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced in goal. The Islanders have alternated losses and wins to start the season.

Former Canucks captain Bo Horvat is off to a quick start with four goals and six points through five games. Three of his four goals have come on the power play. Schenn is second on the team with five points.

Rookie of the year Matthew Schaefer has picked up where he left off, posting four points (all assists) in his first five games of the season. Schaefer logged 27:07 on Saturday night.

The Isles power play is 4-for-16 (25%) early in the season. It is three for eight (37.5%) in three home games so far.

New York has started the season without Coquitlam’s Mat Barzal, who missed training camp and the exhibition schedule with knee inflammation. He is skating on his own, but is not practicing with the team and has not yet played a game this season. The Isles have also lost defenceman Alexander Romanov for the season with a knee injury suffered in a game against the Rangers last week.

Ilya Sorokin is 2-2 on the season, but has posted sparkling individual numbers with a 1.77 GAA and a .937 save percentage. He makes his fifth start in six games this season tonight.

News and notes

These teams split their two games last season with the road team winning on each occasion. The Canucks posted a 4-1 victory on Long Island just before Christmas while the Isles were 4-3 winners at Rogers Arena in mid-January. That was the Canucks’ 11th straight loss (0-9-2) and the final game on their losing streak. They beat Washington in their next game.

The Islanders will visit Vancouver this season on January 5th.

The referees for tonight’s game are Jon McIsaac and Alex Lepkowski.

Don’t forget to join Rink Wide Vancouver for full postgame coverage after this game – and every game. The livestream starts moments after the final buzzer. Rink Wide is the place for full postgame analysis and discussion. Contribute to the live YouTube conversation with your thoughts on the game and support our charity partner – the BC Mental Health Foundation – with a Superchat.