If the Vancouver Canucks wanted to sum up their 54-year history in one sentence, it would be “Expect the unexpected.”

For 31 other teams, getting caught in a snowstorm right before the second game of a back-to-back is a guaranteed loss. Arriving in Toronto hours before puck drop against one of the most dynamic teams in the league is a guaranteed loss. And only mustering 19 shots on goal is almost always a guaranteed loss.

The Canucks dealing with all three in a 24-hour span and earning a shutout win? That’s just another day at the office for the blue and green.

I won’t lead you on; this game was very, very far from a Picasso. It was frankly not all that different from some of the slogs we’ve witnessed in Carolina and Seattle. But when you outscore your opponent and get key defensive contributions from your best players, even the most low-event hockey magically becomes much more watchable.

Besides, we’ll never get tired of beating Toronto.

Best Eras Tour Comparable

Canucks had a police escort to take them through to downtown Toronto because they arrived 6 ½ hours before game time, damn crazy travel. https://t.co/TZwN6hEX1D

— ameena (@Canuckgirl20) January 12, 2025

If you thought Taylor Swift concert tickets were expensive, you haven’t tried to be in the pit for Canucks/Leafs on a Saturday night.

“Hockey is for everyone”

MLSE: “hold my beer” pic.twitter.com/OtYFMUWLjj

— Leafs Papi (@LeafsPapi_) January 11, 2025

quinn hughes shows that you can drop out of college but you will never escape being the only person who works on the group project

— skye (@_seatoskye_) January 11, 2025

Best You Already Know

You bet they had to turn the lights off to force Quinn Hughes off the ice pregame. Canucks captain is locked in. pic.twitter.com/ElTpRqww6U

— Quinning (@barn_burner19) January 11, 2025

Best ‘Welcome to the league, kid’

BROCKKKKKK BOESERRRRRRRR

— Adam Kierszenblat (@Adamkblat) January 12, 2025

What in the actual hell was that.

— arielle (@ellycelly) January 12, 2025

What’s the best way to open a game against an inexperienced goaltender? Score an incredibly early and somewhat lucky opening goal.

After the Carolina fiasco, any sign of life from the offence was going to be vital quickly. But after the Pius Suter line took the opening faceoff, Tocchet immediately swapped them out for the new-look line of Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk for a defensive zone draw. Tocchet almost seemed to be testing EP40 in Game 2 back from injury by putting the team’s best snipers on his wings.

Petey wins the D-zone draw against Auston Matthews, then finds Tyler Myers open at the blue line after the Canucks gain the zone.

Only a Chaos Giraffe could be paired up with Quinn Hughes and look him off to take the tempo-setting shot through traffic himself. Myers’ initial slapper was going well wide, but in his efforts to evade the check of Morgan Reilly, Brock Boeser had his right leg in just the right place to deflect the puck behind Hildeby.

Brock knows they don’t ask how at the negotiating table; they just ask how many. Ben Hankinson probably fired off a simple ‘👀’ text to Patrik Allvin after that one.

Best Aaron Judge impression

Canucks on pace for 180 shots

— Blake Price (@justBlakePrice) January 12, 2025

The LA Dodgers’ game plan in the last World Series was very simple: Put the ball in play and force the error-prone New York Yankees to field it.

The Canucks game plan was rather simple: Whatever energy they had time to unpack from their checked bags at the hotel, use 90% of it in the first 10 minutes to get Hildeby uncomfortable and playing on his heels.

Whatever the Canucks left on the table against Dustin Tokarski, they found it tonight. By shot #2 (another deflected shot) Hildeby was already second guessing if he had the puck covered. The rest of the Canucks chances in the first period ended with the 23-year-old goalie either fighting the puck or dropping pop-up flys.

The Canucks might’ve actually finished this game with even fewer shots on goal had it not been for some of those early errors from Hildeby giving them second or third chances. The shot totals were alarming again tonight, but the good news is Toronto’s weren’t much better or more effective, either.

Best Breeze-Bah Experience

Okay, the Brännström thing is just weird now. https://t.co/YvBNf8oyDs

— David Quadrelli (@QuadrelliD) January 11, 2025

Just one shot on goal, apparently.

Guillaume Brisebois has the #Canucks last two shots on goal.

— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) January 12, 2025

Whenever Guillaume Brisebois gets into the Canucks lineup, it feels like running into an old neighbour in the apartment building hallway. They’ve been there since you moved in; you know each other well enough to have a name and an apartment number memorized, but it’ll be months or years before you see them again.

This might be the only time I have to talk about Breeze-bah in a Stanchies until he inevitably draws in against new Atlanta in 2027, so we’d better make it count.

Brisebois, to my eyes, looked fine by current Canucks standards for a third-pairing seat filler. He had a couple of shots on goal, he wasn’t getting turnstiled by the Leafs’ speed, and he didn’t actively make his goalie’s job harder. But his best work was a pair of breakout passes worth highlighting.

In the first period, Brisebois collected the puck behind his own net and ripped the puck around the boards to Conor Garland, who quickly turned it into a scoring chance.

Defensive coaches might not always advise making that play under pressure from the Leafs forwards, but he did a rearview check to see if Garland was there rather than throw a blind attempt into danger.

Fast forwarding briefly to the middle of the second, where Brisebois corralled the puck in the corner, scanned the ice and fired off a crisp pass to Phil Di Guiseppe waiting near the Toronto blue line. Sure, he only had the chance to do that because Chris Tanev broke up his initial clearing attempt, but we can give Breezer a pass for that today.

HockeyStatCards doesn’t necessarily support my eye test, but until the Canucks find some reinforcements for their defence, Brisebois at least gives you fewer heart palpitations than the average Juulsen shift. And that’s good enough for me.

Best Amulet Blocker

LAANKKYYYYY!!

— Liv ✨️🎷🐗 (@HuggyxHoggy) January 12, 2025

the amulet is no match for Kevin lankinen

— kwïn hüz (@riotsurvivor) January 12, 2025

Once the adrenaline that only booking it out of an airport can give you had worn off midway through the first, the Leafs began to slowly regain control. What started as a 9-4 shot advantage for the Canucks eventually flipped into 13-9 for the Leafs, but Toronto’s first scoring chance in that run was one of the most dangerous.

Here, John Tavares somehow finds himself wiiiide open on a breakaway from the Canucks blue line in, but Kevin Lankinen reads Tavares’ shot perfectly and looks the puck right into his trapper. Tavares might need a tinfoil hat to go with his amulet to protect his thoughts cause he was selling glove the whole way in.

How Other JT ended up so clear of the Canucks defenders is another story. Normally, I’d chalk this one up to the fire drill a Noah Juulsen-Derek Forbort pairing is prone to causing, but we actually have a bit of a scapegoat: William Nylander, who clipped Juulsen’s skate away from the play and sent him sliding before running an obvious pick on Forbort to open up the room for Tavares to get through.

The refs might not have seen what you did, Willy, but the GIF Squad is always watching. And we will be requesting a phone hearing tomorrow.

Best Lanky Charms

KEVEZINA LANKINEN WITH THE SAVE

— carm 🙂 (@bubblecarm) January 12, 2025

Lankinen….wow#canucks pic.twitter.com/bO990ojDCw

— SoapVox (@soapvox) January 12, 2025

Kevin Lankinen might not have had the busiest night of his career against the Leafs, and the lack of shots actually seemed to work against him in the rebound control department at points. But when push came to shove, Lanky was there.

Toronto’s best chance of the game came courtesy of the Nick Robertson line, who pinned the Canucks in their zone for a good 30 seconds with some precision passing around the perimeter. Eventually the puck worked its’ way to Max Domi as Robertson was stepping into the slot, undetected by the defenders. The pass was perfect, and Robertson’s release was solid, but Lankinen got just enough on it for the puck to drop onto the ice behind him.

On just about any other day, Lankinen probably knocks the puck back toward the open net with his outstretched blocker arm, or a Leafs forward finds it before he can. But today, it landed perfectly underneath Lankinen’s blocker hand as he snow-angeled in the crease.

The best players create their own luck, and Lankinen’s been the Canucks’ equivalent of a five-leaf clover this season.

Best Match Fixing

It’s boring as hell but at least the Canucks are winning

— Andy Cole (@AndyCole1984) January 12, 2025

The second period was where this game really kicked into overdrive. And by that, I mean the Canucks and Leafs got all the way to the eight-minute mark and combined for just eight shots on goal before Sportsnet could get a commercial break-in. It’s almost as if both teams agreed to save the viewers from themselves. Heroes don’t always wear capes.

To give you an idea of that mutually assured destruction, here the Leafs turn a Noah Juulsen bobble at the blue line into a 3-on-1 the other way. With Tavares covered in the slot Nylander finds Pacioretty open on the far side, only for Patches to shoot the puck harmlessly into the opposite corner.

Tavares seemed to be arguing to the ref that Juulsen had his stick tied up so he couldn’t tip the puck, but that was probably just for show.

Best Confidence Store Shopper

After the Canes’ game on Friday, Rick Tocchet said that you can’t buy confidence at a store. But that doesn’t explain the Confidence gift card that Kiefer Sherwood’s been paying bills with all season.

Sherwood rarely (if ever) takes a shift off, but when the extra motivation is there, he somehow reaches another gear. We’ve seen it against his former teammates in Nashville, and we saw it tonight in Toronto.

In the first, Kiefer made his presence known with strong clears against a shockingly powerless Leafs power play on each of their first two-man advantages. In the second, he did it with a strong hit on Tessa Virtue’s husband that required a shift and a TV timeout for Morgan Reilly to regain his wind.

A few shifts later, he helped make the Robertson line’s life miserable in the O-zone, pouncing on every loose puck within his vicinity in a 30-second span before throwing a check on Conor Timmins for good measure.

That kind of relentless attack has a funny way of coming back around for the player, making it happen.

Best Quinn-ity over Quantity

this is the canucks’ gameplan for the rest of the season pic.twitter.com/iu4M0NZRU9

— festive lu ❀ (@ahoesmad) January 11, 2025

No. Let’s wrap up the Hart now. Glad that’s cleared up. https://t.co/XjSRxnAAMb

— Anna Forsyth (@aforsyth03) January 12, 2025

It only makes sense that Quinn Hughes, even coming off a game 24 hours earlier and a morning flight, would look as invincible as ever compared to his superstar counterparts across the ice. And it was Quinn that led one of the smartest plays the Canucks have made all year.

It all starts in the defensive zone thanks to Elias Pettersson’s elite work drawing penalties, with David Kampf holding him right in front of the referee.

But rather than immediately rush up the ice after Lankinen leaves for extra attacker J.T. Miller, the Canucks call Brisebois back and simultaneously replace him with a rare fifth forward, Pius Suter. The Canucks take a few seconds to cycle near their own blue line, and as Pettersson gets off a few beats later, the Canucks once again send out a forward in Conor Garland, leaving Hughes as the only true defender as they enter the Leafs zone.

It only takes 10 seconds for the puck to work its way back around to Hughes, who handcuffs Hildeby with his wrist shot strong enough for the puck to float over the goalie’s head and roll across the goal line. Simon Benoit sped up the process by whacking it into the net, but he was going to be late anyway.

Hughes’ ice time was cut down to a more manageable 23 minutes tonight, and he made the water breaks count. He and Tyler Myers both had a strong game manning the top unit, a pretty damning piece of evidence if you’re close to returning, Fil Hronek.

In an ideal scenario, Hronek returns to lead his own pair next to Carson Soucy or maybe even Erik Brännström while this pair stays intact, giving the Canucks two strong units. But since the Canucks were sold on Hronek’s importance as Hughes’ partner, who knows if that’ll be the case.

The truth is Quinn Hughes can play with anybody and do great things. Tocchet could pair him up with a Golden Retriever on skates, as long as they know ‘sit’, ‘stay’ and ‘give Quinn the puck’, the dog’s probably leaving the rink with a couple of assists. And the way some mock ballots have turned out, the Norris and Hart Trophy voters might need to see some proof of that concept.

NHL voting remains hilarious https://t.co/vOuCYuTsAi

— Sean Warren (@SeanWarren234) January 12, 2025

Best Rewards Card

Just waiting for someone to clip that Sherwood wink – post goal, iconic.

— Olivia McDonald (@LivMae10) January 12, 2025

https://t.co/GMbhJnQvx3 pic.twitter.com/TchqkA02bb

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) January 12, 2025

Remember how the hockey gods like to reward the hardest workers? Well, Kiefer Sherwood actually gets points to spend on every Confidence Store purchase.

It’s worth wondering if Rick Tocchet was playing a hunch by starting the third period with his third line. Whatever the reason, Sherwood, Suter and Danton Heinen immediately went to work crashing the net and opening up space for the defenders. Quinn Hughes tracks the puck around the boards and walks the perimeter like a tightrope, dragging Pacioretty and Domi out of position in the process. That opens up enough room near the top of the circles for Sherwood to call for a pass, roofing the puck over a screened Hildeby’s glove.

Sherwood’s goal was more than just a net-seeking missle. It was an exclamation point on a strong night for both him and his Canucks teammates.

Best Doing It All

The trade Petey crowd looking pretty foolish tonight lmao

— Jez (@Zer0PucksGiven) January 12, 2025

It’s amazing how a shutout win against the Leafs in Toronto can change everything.

— Chris Conte (@ChrisConte79) January 12, 2025

Elias Pettersson just had some rust to shake off against Carolina. In Toronto, EP40 had one of his most well-rounded games of the season.

I know he didn’t score a goal, and some very loud fans want you to know he’s not paid to block shots. But Tocchet and Petey’s teammates certainly have a different view on it.

Star players can win you games without goals or points. By drawing a penalty in the second, Pettersson directly gave the Canucks the scoring chance needed to grab a 2-0 lead. And tonight, he was determined to disprove a certain complaint his doubters have pointed to: That he’s too soft to play in the playoffs.

With the Canucks looking to prevent another choked-away lead, Pettersson took charge through terrific defensive play and blocking five Leafs shot attempts. His biggest block was this one in the second on Morgan Reilly, following it up with some great work pressuring Toronto’s shooters in the third.

In the third period, EP40 turned one of his final shifts into nothing for Toronto, knocking away shots by Philippe Myers and Mitch Marner within eight seconds of each other.

Pettersson was all over the scoresheet in this game in the best way, a crucial part of preserving Kevin Lankinen’s fourth shutout of the season. And his teammates let him know it in the best way.

Quinn Hughes told us that the players on the #Canucks bench, taking notice of Elias Pettersson’s defensive form tonight, were yelling “Selke” as Pettersson racked up disruptive defensive plays on Saturday night.

Pettersson: “First time I heard it this year.”

— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) January 12, 2025

Winning solves everything.

Best Shot & Chaser

Shot: According to Hockey Night in Canada, the Canucks entered tonight’s game having lost 14 of their last 15 visits to Scotiabank Arena, formerly the ACC.

Chaser:

seats emptying out with 10 mins left rip bozo pic.twitter.com/hV9Qasv9TD

— a ♡ (@canucksaz) January 12, 2025

The Canucks are 7-0-1 on the road over the past two years when Az is in the building, just in case anyone was questioning her commitment to the cause for some reason.

Best Problem for Future Me

gotta think the $4.77m the canucks have to pay oel next year would come in handy for whatever kevin lankinen is gonna ask for lol

— Sam (@samanthacp_) January 12, 2025

Best Asking the Right Questions

How filthy is the #Canucks post-win playlist that they have to keep cutting the sound in these clips? https://t.co/fqCRjkA7ET

— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) January 12, 2025

Best Path through a Snowy Wood

I thought I’d end this one with a fun little story. Snowstorms causing travel havoc isn’t new. Heck, the Canucks dealt with it last year before a game against Columbus. But I found a far more interesting, and dare I say closer, comparable for what this team has faced through the first half of the year.

It’s February 11, 1994, and the Vancouver Canucks are stuck in New Jersey.

It hadn’t been easy sledding for the defending Pacific Division champions. They’re sporting a middling record of 27-26-2 and are fresh off a 7-3 loss to the Devils the day before. And now a snowstorm has grounded their flight from Newark International to Tampa Bay, where they’re supposed to play the Lightning in just over 24 hours.

Instead of respite for a team dealing with a slew of injuries, the Canucks were forced to camp out in the airport terminal for most of their day off. In Ten Years After, a documentary made for Canucks season ticket holders in 2004 that you can find on YouTube courtesy of Yosoo, Trevor Linden saw it as a metaphor. “That just kind of seemed how our season was going. Things weren’t really going right at that point in time.”

They’d lose to the Lightning the next day. But four months later, they’d be some 25 kilometres away from that terminal at Madison Square Garden, playing for the right to hoist the Stanley Cup.

Fast forward to today, where the current Canucks found themselves in a pretty identical situation. And much like that 1994 team, they at least still have the time to turn things around.

Winning the day today was Step One. Figuring out how to repeat it will be Step Two.

Sponsored by bet365

Recent articles from Lachlan Irvine

Breaking News