If you’d asked me what I’m thankful for on Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday, the opportunity to write the Stanchies would’ve absolutely come up. There’s not a day that goes by that you’re not grateful for the chance to give Canucks Nation the most in-depth coverage possible and tell stories for the most passionate fanbase in the NHL.

But games like this one remind us how excruciating it can be to cover a bad start. Grasping for moral victories three games removed from a Pacific Division winning season was not what anybody had in mind.

This game easily could’ve quelled all concerns that the first two outings had created. The Canucks have already proven they can score with ease on a given night, and they’re a team that’s supposed to be on the way up. Meanwhile the Lightning are a different kind of team than when we last saw them. The core of two Stanley Cups is still mostly intact with Kucherov, Hedman, Vasilevskiy and Point. But their longtime leader Steven Stamkos left in July to pursue his dreams of country music stardom, and years of title runs have left the depth cupboard pretty bare and the core with plenty of hard miles on them.

There’s been lots to like about every single one of the Canucks’ games, including this one where they couldn’t find their first goal until deep into the third period. But much like years past, one blown lead has quickly unravelled into an opening week where the Canucks are still searching for their first complete game effort, and Tampa is showing that championship mentality doesn’t go away overnight.

Let’s not waste more time, we’ve got GIF money to make.

Best Helping Hands

There will be some #canucks fans at tonight’s game as 44 power-line workers from BC will be attending. These dudes have been working 16-hour days for 3 weeks to help restore power to those affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. pic.twitter.com/ed7lsS2hrx

— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) October 15, 2024

If this kind of humanity doesn’t warm your heart, then maybe nothing will.

Days like today are when we’re reminded that hockey is more than just about wins, goals and saves. Sports are far from the most important thing in people’s minds after a natural disaster. But they do often provide the first place for the community to gather, see friends and, for a brief two and a half hours, forget their troubles cheering on the home team.

The Lightning will undoubtedly provide that place in the coming weeks for the people in the Tampa/Orlando area, while some of BC’s best help to give the locals a little peace of mind. Stick taps all around.

Best Giraffe Sighting

All 7 #Canucks defensemen (including Tyler Myers) are on the ice for warmup. @Sportsnet650

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) October 15, 2024

Everybody remain calm.

starters and scratches for #Canucks vs Lightning pic.twitter.com/ZTU3mB0o67

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) October 15, 2024

Never mind! Get your expectations sky high!

The collision Tyler Myers had with Joel Farabee on Friday looked like the kind that could put a key defender out of commission for weeks, if not months. Even when Batch caught him skating with the team in practice yesterday, I didn’t believe it was anything more than a move and skating while he spent a week or two on the shelf. For him to be in the lineup tonight is either nothing short of a miraculous break or a sign of how concerned Rick Tocchet is about his blue line already.

But he wouldn’t be the Chaos Giraffe if the impossible or unexplainable wasn’t his par for the course.

Best Surprise

surprised it's Silovs
surprised Bains gets top line shot this early
surprised Myers is playing
surprised Sprong is scratched
maybe I'll be surprised by the outcome tonight

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) October 15, 2024

Aren’t we all, Jeff. Aren’t we all.

Best Trial By Fire

The seat isn’t scorching hot under Arturs Silovs as the Canucks number one goalie already. But it is warm enough that you might feel the temperature changing.

This game presented a perfect litmus test for the young netminder. The Bolts might not be the champions of old, but their unrelenting attack is still the stuff of legends. If Silovs wanted a holiday dish made with pressure early and often, the Lightning were served as the perfect belated Thanksgiving feast.

If the season opener wasn’t evidence that the long shot book is definitely out on Arty, three of the first four Tampa shots coming from the high slot was all the proof you could need, including two off the stick of new Lightning captain Victor Hedman.

Silovs tracked all three perfectly, while the fourth of those early chances was a gorgeous Point blank save off Brayden himself.

But if he thought he was going to get a lot of help from his defenders after the early flurry, Silovs was in for a rude wake up call.

Best Struggle Bus

Yeah, the #Canucks are definitely gonna need to add another RHD at some point this season

— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) October 15, 2024

Noah Juulsen is an adventure and a half when the puck is in his vicinity. By gosh he tries his best, but try as he might when a former Hart Trophy winner is bearing down on him.

On an early shift some atrocious luck snowballed as Juulsen caught a rut in the ice and turned the puck over to a tailing Nikita Kucherov. The Lightning quickly set up a pretty tic-tac-toe play that confused the Canucks back checkers and opened up enough room for Kucherov to bury a wide open shot for his fourth goal in two games.

We also get to see an angle from a camera that’s not getting enough Vitamin C in its diet (or just wasn’t whitebalanced properly, one of the two).

Hopefully this type of defensive breakdown will not become a theme in this game!

Best All Aboard the Bains Train

Two straight losses to start the season – even in extra time – is bound to lead to some line shuffles. And after a few defensive breakdowns by Daniel Sprong immediately put him in Rick Tocchet’s dog house, it culminated in Sprong taking a seat and Arshdeep Bains getting his first lineup call of the season. And it wasn’t just any assignment either; a prime opportunity opening the game on the Miller-Boeser line.

Bains’ evening wasn’t the loudest, but he did make his precense known early with a Grade-A scoring chance, taking the feed from the corner and whipping it off the blocker of Vasilevskiy.

Baby steps for the kid from the Surrey. He’s proved the doubters wrong so far, what might a little time to form some chemistry do for him?

Best Well-Rounded Hög

As far as the more established names go, Nils Höglander’s efforts in the early parts of the season haven’t gone unnoticed. He even got the hero’s edit to start the broadcast on Sportsnet! But the broadcast also highlighted his short fuse sometimes getting the better of him like it did late against Philadelphia.

If the mission in this game was to only provide a positive presence, he got off to a great start by goading Conor Sheary into hooking him through the neutral zone and hanging on long enough to draw a penalty.

Then a few shifts later he blocks a Nick Perbix shot to nab possession, but he nearly causes his coach a heart attack when he tries a drop pass back over the blue line. Luckily Carson Soucy wasn’t asleep at the wheel.

Best Tuesday after a long weekend

Silovs had 300 saves in the 1st period,
Prove me wrong

— Blake Price (@justBlakePrice) October 15, 2024

Let’s face it, we’ve all been here the day after Canadian Thanksgiving. The turkey was a little too delicious, that extra slice of pumpkin pie was calling your name, or you had one more serving of potato salad than you should’ve. Whatever it was, you’re feeling a little lethargic when you clock in for work the next day.

But the truth hurts sometimes, and in the first period the Canucks’ skaters looked like a group that enjoyed the long weekend too much. The Lightning were consistently a step ahead of the Canucks at both ends and pummelling them in the possession metrics during the opening frame, as all hope for a full 60 minute effort went sailing out the Amalie Arena window. Again.

Luckily for Vancouver, at least one person came to play, and he was the one who needed a prove it game most.

Silovs clearly has a few articles, video thumbnails and tweets pinned up in his locker, because he was determined to make a statement in the first period. And Tampa was more than happy to oblige. As the rest of his teammates lethargically chased the Lightning around the ice, Tampa made the fatal mistake of letting Silovs cook, starting with an Anthony Cirelli backhand in front of the net and a flying knuckle puck from distance that Silovs spotted and knocked over the net at the last second.

He arguably saved his best for last, robbing his countryman Zemgus Girgensons with a sprawled out pad save in the dying moments.

If not for the Latvian Wonder, this game would’ve been over much, much sooner. Instead the Canucks got a second lease on life, as did Silovs’ odds of retaining the number one goalie title.

Best Aw Räts

To the Canucks’ credit, the boys woke up from their early malaise in the second period and turned the tables on the Lightning to open the second. The only thing missing was a little bit of finish.

The most glaring of those chances came courtesy of a perfectly placed Fil Hronek lead pass to a streaking Aatu Räty. But his NHL inexperience came back to bite him, as Räty lost the handle right in front of Vasilevskiy and the puck bounced harmlessly into the right corner boards.

I know Räty deserves a little bit of lenience considering how new to the lineup he is, but not even getting a weak shot away with plenty of time and space is a tough pill to swallow. And Tocchet seemed to agree, as Räty ended up not even eclipsing ten minutes on the ice.

The Canucks got another great chance to even the score a couple minutes later when Jake DeBrusk fed Elias Pettersson a pass from behind the net. Petey got everything he wanted on the snapshot but it agonizingly sailed wide.

My kingdom for a little bit of finishing!

Best Omen(?)

With the Bolts scrambling, Conor Garland did what he does best and drew an interference call from Victor Hedman in front of the Lightning net. Being small enough to get t-boned right in the back of the helmet sometimes has its perks, and it wouldn’t be the last time he used his work ethic around the net to his advantage.

Unfortunately, the pendulum of momentum quickly swung the other way, with the Canucks power play unable to get a shot through the Lightning’s aggressive penalty kill. This time Quinn Hughes took the role of the right side one timer option with Pettersson and J.T. Miller trading off as the two back checkers. And considering Pettersson’s start, that move set off a sudden alarm.

Best I don’t wanna panic, BUUUUUT…

I know none of us want to do this so early, but we have to talk about Elias Pettersson a little.

Pettersson’s struggles have been chalked up to multiple reasons that everyone and their mother will happily provide if you ask them about it. Whether it’s a nagging wrist injury or an overall lack of confidence, it’s all culminating in a superstar that’s consistently unwilling to take the last shot or, perhaps more alarmingly, can’t seem to get the same mustard behind his shots as he once could or form any meaningful chemistry with his linemates.

Take the Canucks first period power play as an example. First Pettersson passes up a shot after a cross ice feed from J.T. Miller, then Hughes puts the puck in his wheelhouse with all the room required for him to rip it. But Petey could only get to half power on the shot that Vasilevskiy easily swallows up, and Pettersson smacks his stick on the ice in frustration.

Pettersson’s inability to get to full tourque has led to a different approach for shot attempts than we’re used to, as he goes hard to the net and creates jam plays and rebounds in close. While the addition to his arsenal is nice, it doesn’t matter much when the main gun isn’t firing.

I cannot overemphasize how much I believe Petey can weather whatever storm this is regardless of reasoning, and he has more than enough time to figure it out. And he was quite frankly doing good things tonight when he was on the ice, even if it wasn’t translating on the scoreboard. But even as soon as three games in, you’re not wrong for being a little concerned where this train is headed.

Least shocking plot twist

First instinct on that goal is to ask what on earth Carson Soucy was doing skating away from Brayden Point. #Canucks

— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) October 16, 2024

Just as the Canucks were waking up and getting some real opportunities, so it’s only fitting that they would immediately collapse defensively at the worst possible time.

Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel execute a give and go at the blue line with Myers and Soucy as the defenders back. Soucy makes an ill-advised leap at Guenztel as he carries the puck over the blue line, putting himself out of position and forcing Myers to move over and seal off Guentzel’s path to the net. Soucy then glides back to the slot area as nobody notices Point waiting eagerly at the blue line for a one timer opportunity.

Well, nobody except Guentzel.

Some people’s instinct might be to blame Silovs under the ‘shot from distance’ category, but there’s not a lot of goalies who are stopping a Point blast from that spot when nobody’s covering him. If this is the defence the Canucks are planning to run with for the foreseeable future, it won’t matter what goalie the Canucks throw into the crease. They’d all have their work sizably cut out for them.

Best Looking for a man in finance

woah this special edition cut of lost in translation is cutting way too close to home pic.twitter.com/w88yj4VYOF

— Memarzadeh (@ArashMemarzadeh) October 16, 2024

For me and my fellow goalie nerds, Andrei Vasilevskiy has been one of the absolute best netminders to watch over the last decade, and will go down as one of the best of his era to play the game.

For every person that’s told you “goalies are voodoo”, Vasilevskiy is their archnemesis. No goalie in the NHL has put up as consistently rock solid numbers year after year, and during the Lightning’s run of three straight Finals was so much more integral to that success than people ever give him credit for. Last season was the first truly substandard campaign for Vasilevskiy, and even that had a lot to do with a microdiscectomy surgery that kept him out of action until November.

Vasilevskiy also represents everything the modern NHL goalie coach wants in a pupil; they’re looking for a goalie that gloves left, six-four, (stays in the) blue paint. And even when he drops into his butterfly Vasilevskiy is able to cover the net like Gromit defending against the Soccamatic.

When he’s at peak power, you’re going to need some serious puck luck to beat him. And Conor Garland sure found some late in the second when he intercepted a pass right at the lip of the crease. But as he tried to tuck it around Vasilevskiy’s outstretched arm, the post got in his way.

A shift later J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser teammed up for a well-executed tipped shot that Vasilevskiy snatched away with impossible ease. On most goalies that puck is sailing in, but Brock could only look away in disappointment with the Lion in net.

Hockey is a game of inches, and at this time last year the Canucks were seemingly always on the right side of the ruler. So far this season, the ruler is just repeatedly smacking them in the hands.

Best added challenge

Even with the early struggles, the Canucks weren’t out of the game heading into the third period. Not by a long shot. All they needed to do was to keep Tampa away from the front of the net, tap a couple past Vasilevskiy and survive long enough to claw away a point or two.

That’s when the Canucks immediately self-destructed off the opening faceoff and killed all their momentum.

30 seconds in, the Lightning gained the zone as Brandon Hagel slipped behind Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers while Nick Paul controlled the puck along the boards. As Paul fed the puck back to Hagel and Hughes tried to atone for the checking mistake, Anthony Cirelli got in behind Myers by the net and was open just long enough for Hagel to snap the puck into the crease as he deftly tipped the puck between Silovs’ pads.

If you’re getting flashbacks to 2021-22 and 2022-23, you are not alone and you’re entitled to financial compensation.

Best Ol’ Reliable

Garland has become an absolute workhorse under Tocchet. Just doesn't stop working hard

— Jez (@Zer0PucksGiven) October 16, 2024

If trying to find two goals against Vasilevskiy was a mountain to climb, three might as well be peaking out of the ozone layer. But with the pressure essentially off for a winning result, Nils Höglander immediately found some push off a great shot that Vasilevskiy snared and an ensuing scrum that the refs decided was the fault of two Conors: Garland and Sheary.

With both teams at four aside, even the threat of Pettersson breaking out for a goal was enough to convince Erik Cernak to take his skates out from behind, giving them an extended 4-on-3.

The Canucks ramped up the attack with the additional open space, but the Bolts kept getting in front and deflecting the puck out of harm’s way. It wasn’t until the coincidental minors got back on the ice that there was suddenly light at the end of the tunnel, lit by the headlights of ever reliable Toyota Corolla.

A lot of credit goes to Brock Boeser for a perfectly placed deflection that Vasilevskiy lost sight of just long enough for Garland to spot from along the goal line and tap into the net in the most anti-climactic fashion you’ll ever see.

The Corolla Garland nickname has stuck for a reason, and I’m not just saying that so I get more Stanchies starts in the future.

Best No Surrender

The key to the Canucks turning things around around?: Get every player to play as hard and be as noticeable as Conor Garland.

— Don Taylor (@DonTaylor5) October 16, 2024

Before Garland’s goal could give the Canucks much of a boost, some poor stick control by Jake DeBrusk ended up turning Zemgus Girgensons into a tomato can and forcing the Canucks to kill off a double minor.

DeBrusk’s penalty certainly undid some positive momentum, and it could’ve been the death rattle for this game, but the Canucks’ penalty kill put together one of their best four minute stretches we’ve seen in the last half decade. They spaced out well, got in shooting lanes and, most importantly, cleared the puck with authority. And once again it was Garland breathing life and energy into the unit, completely flustering the Lightning in the neutral zone and nearly forcing two separate turnovers.

Then Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter also worked together to make Taylor Raddysh’s life miserable, with Blueger foiling his attempt to leave the zone with the puck and Pius Suter taking it for a shorthanded scoring chance that Vasilevskiy barely got a toe on.

And to cap things off, Carson Soucy took one for the team blocking Tampa’s final real chance before DeBrusk left the box.

Maybe moral victories aren’t what you want so early in the season, but the Canucks are at least refusing to quit under long odds.

Best Cheating Scandal

That’s me in the goal crease. That’s me in the spotlight, having my goal overturned. Trying to keep up with the rule, and I don’t know if I can do it. Oh no, I’ve said too much.

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) October 16, 2024

The Lightning nearly called game after DeBrusk’s penalties expired, but their strategy of some blatant cheating proved to be their undoing.

With the Canucks defenders caught out on a long shift, Michael Eyssimont attempted a wraparound that Silovs initially sealed off, but as he shuffled to get his glove in a better position to cover it Eyssimont used his stick to push Silovs’ pad into the net as the puck dribbled over the goal line.

Eyssimont’s impression of your least favourite forwards in hockey history would’ve fooled the refs if the Canucks hadn’t challenged for goalie interference. And even that almost wasn’t enough considering the refs spent FIVE WHOLE MINUTES looking at four replays and seemingly calling the forensics department in.

It shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds to decide that “stick pushing pad is bad”.

Best Hughe wouldn’t like me when I’m angry

due to employment, today’s game day doodle is on a sticky note pic.twitter.com/iWRzFMtukF

— erin (@painacotta) October 15, 2024

I’ve been fortunate enough to watch Quinn Hughes for the last six seasons (yes I see it too, we don’t have time for an existential crisis right now), but he can still surprise you some 360+ games later. Namely, the 5-foot-1o Norris winner can pack a complete wallop into his wrist shot.

Vasilevskiy learned that fact the hard way when his stick went sailing out his blocker like Homer Simpson checking his swing on a Roger Clements pitch.

Eyssimont got his goalie’s stick back to him before the Canucks could take full advantage, but at least it made for a cool moment in a lost game.

Best signed, sealed and delivered

The Canucks pulled out all the stops to try and close the gap with two minutes remaining, but some miscommunication between Miller and Hughes along the boards and a bouncing puck gave Brandon Hagel all the runway needed to salt the game away.

Unlike the last few times the Canucks came out of the shoot ice cold, you can see the glimpses of a much better team for vast stretches. This isn’t a team hanging on by the seat of their pants anymore, or at least it shouldn’t be. All the integral parts of a 3-0-0 team have shown up already, but their 0-1-2 record is telling you otherwise.

The pieces are all provided in the box. The rest of this road trip will either give way to a group that can complete the puzzle, or one that’ll flip the entire table in frustration.

CanucksArmy! The season is HERE, and what better way to kick it off than with your crew at Greta? It’s all going down on Saturday, October 19th at CanucksArmy’s home for the fans, Greta Bar! We’ve got it all—prizes, trivia, and more to keep the energy buzzing all night. And this time, we’re doing it for a great cause, supporting the BC Mental Health Foundation. Doors open at 3PM, and you know the drill—tickets are going fast, so hit up nationgear.ca before they’re gone. This event is 19+.

Recent articles from Lachlan Irvine

Breaking News