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The Stanchies: Hot dogs fall from the sky as Canucks fall 6-3 to the Hurricanes
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Photo credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images
The Stanchion
Oct 21, 2026, 03:25 EDTUpdated: Oct 21, 2026, 04:09 EDT
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Under Adam Foote, it looked like the Canucks didn’t know how to play hockey.
Under Manny Malhotra, it looks like the Canucks know how to play hockey; they just aren’t very good at it.
Relatively speaking, of course. They are NHL players at the end of the day, and even in their sleep they would beat a beer league team without even blinking, their bodies walking through the motions as they dismantled even the best players on Hot Boy Summer Squad.
But in the landscape of the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks have relatively few answers when average teams come through town, much less the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
Which is where you really have to lean in on the learning moments, and those times during the game where the Canucks show some pushback. Three times the Canucks went down a goal, and three times they climbed back into the contest to tie it back up. It was an admirable effort from a team that was outshot 43-17 on the night, a shot ratio Rick Tocchet sets his watch to. The Canucks won’t win many games praying for a fortuitous shooting percentage to save the day, but overall they kept a very dangerous team limited in their dangerous looks on net. Again, how far that sort of outlook keeps your interest in a rebuilding season may vary, but at least it thematically fits with a team trying to rebuild and get a good draft pick.
But as all good teams know, they have that extra gear the poor can’t afford, which means when they have to take a game seriously in the third period, when they have to sit up in their chair, they tend to get the job done. Carolina made it look easy in the third period, pulling away with ease and giving the people of Kamloops something to finally be proud of, in the form of Logan Stankoven’s second goal to seal the game.
A 6-3 defeat to Rod the Bod’s team feels like more of the same this season, but the good news is effort is never the issue. The Canucks never quit in the games, despite the massive skill gap they face on most nights. It’s very clearly the talent that gets them in the end, something brought alarmingly into focus when even a fourth-liner on the Hurricanes is able to try and go betwixt their legs to score a goal. Hell, Nicolas Deslauriers was on a hat-trick watch Tuesday night with his two-goal effort in the game.
So while I do my best to convince you that Leevi Meriläinen did in fact have a great night despite letting in five goals, remember there are many more games of this left to watch this season, so you have to find the joy wherever you can.
And that if the rebuild never works, at least one day the sun will eventually implode.
Best taking control of the nets
Leevi was beat five times, but damn it, he still had a fantastic game. Even prime Bubble Demko would have struggled to keep this one below three, mostly because Carolina NEVER STOPS FORECHECKING. I get exhausted watching them play at times. I just have to take a moment and remind myself that life doesn’t have to be this hard, so I don’t spiral.
And when I watch the Hurricanes, I know without a shadow of a doubt that is how Adam Foote thought he could get the Canucks to play. For whatever reason, he imagined David Kampf running teams down all night or whatever. The man-on-man relentless pressure Carolina exerts on you is borderline criminal, which when you combine that with an incredible amount of skill, gives you a team that is just super annoying to play against.
Which is why for most of the night it was back to the Canucks doing their best to figure out the whole “zone exit with possession” thing that Quinn Hughes put so much duct tape on over the years here.
The first good chance of the game went to Stank the Tank, when he tipped a Jackson Blake offering from the point on net, followed up by Sean Walker somehow getting the rebound but then blocking his own shot, which is another example of how incredibly skilled that team is:
Even when the Canucks would find a way to force a break in coverage, Vancouver would end up being its own enemy, as escaping Carolina pressure in one area of the ice didn’t mean they would escape the next scenario of pressure.
On this play, Elias Pettersson draws in two Hurricanes to open up room for Tom Willander to breathe for a second, only to watch him promptly skate the puck up near his own blue line and turn the puck over with an ill-timed pass:
Nikolaj Ehlers would add insult to injury by walking around EP40 with a little shimmy-shimmy-yay-yay; however, Leevi was there to save the day.
Want another example of struggling with zone exits? TOO BAD, YOU GET TO WATCH IT ANYWAYS.
Here is Fil Harmonic Hronek seeing no other options in life, so he just tosses the puck to Jesus and prays it sort of figures its life out somewhere down the road. The problem? Carolina is always waiting to jump on the puck, so they quickly cut the puck off in the neutral zone, feed it up to Jackson Blake, who then backhand sauces one over to Sir Logan the Stank like he’s serving him eggs benny:
1-0 bad guys, and it’s not even five minutes into the game yet. And during those five minutes, they have already clearly established with the Canucks that this night is gonna suck for them.
And suck it did, Bob, as a few shifts later Fil Squared combine to get the puck away from Carolina, a miracle in and of itself, only for Fil Chytil to get the puck and end up turning it over when he flipped the puck back to Jesus again:
Defensively gifted Elias Pettersson sort of saunters away from the boards, so Chytil doesn’t have an outlet to make a pass, leaving him the option of sending the puck into the air and hoping it gets out. But because Carolina is, respectfully, so bleeping annoying, Andrei Svechnikov gets a stick on the clearing attempt, resulting in a limp toss, ending in Andrei Svechnikov getting a shot on net.
Which is why this game felt a bit like survival mode from Vancouver’s side of things. They know they’re outmatched, so the only way to win on the night is to cut down the mistakes as much as possible and just hope Max Sasson goes off on a heater for eight goals.
Best hoping for the best
Vancouver Giants legend Brendan Gallagher is in the twilight of his stellar NHL career, so I say this with love when I say this attempt to score felt like it was guided by Happy Gilmore:
The only thing missing was him taking a clapper into the stands and then asking if that goal is regulation size or what.
I think everyone wants to see Gallagher get a goal in a Canucks uniform, and while the start to the season has been slow for the NHL veteran, it’s again never a case of lack of effort with this team. The execution, yes, that is missing. But not the effort.
Best keeping it real
Linus Karlsson booted Jonathan Lekkerimäki off of the Elias Pettersson/Jake DeBrusk line for the night, and while I still prefer Prime Time in that trio, number 94 did snipe home a beauty to tie the game at one halfway through the first period:
Good for Linus on jumping on the loose puck, and even better on him for that filthy bit of sniping. Someone is ready for the new Call of Duty game to drop, and it shows. I can almost hear Karlsson unlocking new attachments on his gun as we speak.
As for Elias Pettersson, it’s another bit of skill from the team’s leading scorer, who is one of the few players on the team who can hold onto the puck and do some dangles. At first, I thought he did such a good move that he deked himself out and fell to the ice in shock at how good he can be. Alas, he was tripped on the play, so while it wasn’t as magical as I initially thought, it still remains a good sign that the Canucks’ top center is on a point-per-game pace through the first eighth of the season.
I know the 1/8 benchmark isn’t a sexy benchmark for many, but don’t count it out. That’s all I’m saying. Don’t count it out.
Best Jason Seaver teachable moment
Tom Willander is still finding his way in the NHL, and boy did he take a wrong turn at Albuquerque when he decided to leave Ehlers alone behind him, instead choosing to cut off the boards from a pass that never came:
It’s again another example, respectfully, of how stupidly annoying Carolina is. The Hurricanes looked like they might ring the puck around the boards down low behind the net, so you can see what Willander was hoping to prevent. I assume he was almost giggling to himself about ruining the Hurricanes’ plans, getting ahead of the game, and finally being the one who knocks.
Alas, Sir Logan the Stank instead took the puck in the corner and immediately passed it back out to Jackson Blake, who was able to skate into the soft coverage of Jamie Oleksiak and Paul Cotter, leaving an easy lane over to a wide-open Nicky Ehlers. With Willander wondering why the choices he made in life led him to this moment, Ehlers even has enough time to settle the puck down before shooting the puck past what I can only assume was a very confused Leevi Meriläinen.
Which kudos to Meriläinen for still trying to dive to make the save. Jordan Binnington would have already been busting out his “annoyed with teammates, shoulder shrug wtf” animation had this been him. Yet young Leevi chose grace and compassion over anger.
Best buzzer beater
Not since LeBron James led my Sixers to glory over the New York Knicks in the first game of the regular season have I enjoyed the beating a buzzer has taken this much.
In this case, it was Prime Time himself, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, not letting the demotion get him down. Instead, he’s out here scoring a power play goal with few seconds left on the clock?
How much time was left in the period? So much so that it can only be described as scant.*
*Not to be confused with “scante”, which I learned tonight is another term for meth. How did those come to be? The theory going is that “esconde” in Spanish means to hide or conceal, so people would yell that out when making their meth and the cops came around. This eventually turned into the English ear hearing “sconde!” instead of “esconde”, which in the fun game of telephone eventually turned it into “scante”. All of which I assume will play out in a mission in the new Grand Theft Auto in November. Which I assume Linus Karlsson will be playing because I have arbitrarily assigned him the role as the gamer on the team. Most likely not even close to the truth, but here we are.
Back to the game, however, and I want to point out the main thing that impresses me on this play wasn’t even the goal Jonathan scored; it was the play leading up to it. Lekkerimäki actually has to knock down a tough pass from the point, and then makes a very smart, patient pass to Elias Pettersson to keep the puck safely moving in the offensive zone. Eventually the puck moves around the ice, Jake DeBrusk makes a brilliant little pass of his own in front of the net, and then Lekkerimäki finally scores.
All of which is to say it’s the way Lekkerimäki has been strong on the puck that has separated himself from the pack this year for me. Watching these games and seeing these highly skilled teams on the schedule, it’s their ability to make plays under pressure that puts them in the top tier of the league. How many times have you watched the Canucks panic under pressure, only to fling the puck out and turn it over? With Carolina, there were times when they would have a full minute of pressure in the offensive zone, and even if they lost the puck or fumbled a pass slightly, they would recover almost immediately and then make a skilled play on the puck, extending their possession.
Lekkerimäki has been one of the better Canucks at shielding the puck with his body, turning away from pressure, biding time, and then making a pass that continues possession of the puck for his team. Which, when you combine that with his clearly NHL-ready shot, makes for a very tantalizing package of talent.
Best her?
Nick Deslauriers, or Nicolas Deslauriers when he hosts a fancy dinner, would then put Carolina ahead yet again, this time off of a rare mistake from Meriläinen. His attempt to clear the puck around the boards ended up in the back of his net when it was intercepted by the, respectfully, dumb Carolina Hurricanes:
Hey, after watching your D-men turn the puck over on zone exits, why not give it a shot yourself, I say.
I can only hazard a guess that, much like young Tom Willander earlier in the game, Luke Schenn was anticipating a puck along the boards on the reversal from his goalie. He cuts pretty hard toward the glass, only to watch the puck go the other way, and with Schenn not being the fleetest of foot, he skates back into frame just in time to see Deslauriers going top shelf from an angle I would call more acute than obtuse.
I would also hazard a guess that Leevi would want that goal back, not just because Nicolas just YouTubed him, but because you can see the Canucks goalie go down early and shuffle a bit to his right, giving the corner up to the Carolina forward.
Fun fact: Deslauriers once played on a team in the QMJHL with three people named Guillaume. The more you know.
I also have a clip of Arshdeep Bains hitting the post, and I don’t know where to put it, so here you go:
That’s actually a rather nice setup from Max Sasson, but unfortunately the Abby Avengers hit iron, man.
Best how are they not tired yet
There was a moment in the second period where for two minutes, Carolina had so much sustained pressure that you just felt bad for the Canucks. Oleksiak got the dreaded “Shift length” overlay on the television, and it ended up being a marathon of seeing just how much Vancouver could bend before they broke.
With Vancouver serving a penalty, Carolina probably should have gone up 4-2 when they found Svechnikov down low with what looked to be an empty net begging for a backhand shot:
Which brings us back to the main point of the day in that the effort is always there, even if the execution is not.
And when the effort is there, and you’re riding the high of that sweet, sweet shooting percentage, sometimes you tie the game up for the third time out of nowhere.
Best Max Power, thrusters engaged
With the Canucks going full Rocky mode in the period, taking Carolina’s best shots and demanding more (minus a weird robot sidekick), Max Sasson, Zeev Buium and Arshdeep Bains sprang into action, landing a quick counter right midway through the middle frame:
Arshdeep Bains did what all grinders understand to be true, which is to drive hard to the net and hope someone else scores. You’re just there for the ride, man. And luck would have it that he caused enough of a commotion rushing the net that Bradley Nadeau, legend of the TSHL, got a little exuberant in his defending, resulting in him taking out Bains at the knees and running his own goalie out of the way.
Which meant once Buium found Max Sasson with the pass, all that was left was the clinical finish, and you know what, if games were 33 minutes long, this would have been a really nice feel-good moment.
Full credit again to Max Sasson’s speed creating room on the ice, and that was nice offensive instincts for Buium to jump into the play, and was a brilliant piece of patience to hold onto the puck for just the right amount of time to make it look like he might shoot, before dishing back to 63 for the open look on net.
Best let’s go on a journey together
OK, things got silly at one point in this game. Like, Looney Tunes levels of hijinks.
It all started when Drew O’Connor, noted non-centreman, was back playing centre with Marco Rossi out due to illness. “Under the weather,” as they call it, which I can’t even begin to guess at the etymology of that one. Pirates? Probably pirate-based.
Back to DOC, who isn’t my favourite guy running centre, but you get the feeling Manny is addicted to speed down the middle. So all things being equal, if someone has to step up and fill in as the substitute teacher, he’s going with the guy who has nice wheels.
The problem with not being a natural centre is, hey, maybe you didn’t read all the rules. There are an awful lot of them after all, and half the time the NHL seems to make them up as they go. Why waste time knowing every nook and cranny of the minds that gave you Tim Peel when you can just work off vibes?
Vibes in this case meant seeing the puck dangling under your feet and having a loose hand in the near vicinity, leading to Doc illegally touching the puck off a faceoff:
With the Orange County “No touching!” policy violated, Vancouver found themselves killing yet another penalty.
Now you’d think one obscure penalty was enough; well, let me tell you my friends, they don’t call Elias Pettersson a creative genius for nothing. He refused to be one-upped by a guy who isn’t even a natural centre, so whilst on the penalty kill, EP40 did what most men dare not dream of, which is to toss his stick at the puck to make a play:
This is of course also blatantly illegal, and I still can’t tell if Elias’ reaction of disbelief is that he got caught, or if he just didn’t know the rule either. Either way, I think we can all agree it was a well-executed defensive maneuver; it shut that play down in its tracks! It was just, you know, illegal.
This led to Sebastian Aho being awarded a penalty shot for the airing of grievances of the Swedish stick toss, leading to Leevi Meriläinen having to make a top-tier save:
The best part is we aren’t done there, as the Canucks continued to kill off Drew O’Connor’s penalty, leading to HIM getting a breakaway attempt after he got out of the box after Chytil sent him in all alone:
And before the period ended, Sean Walker wanted in on the action, as he then took a penalty for what many are calling a shoo-in for the most obvious interference call of all time, when he took out Paul Cotter instead of the puck:
I’m telling you, third period aside, this was a solidly entertaining game. I have to imagine John Garrett is smiling somewhere at all the crazy shenanigans that went on during the end of the second.
Best finish strong
As with most things in life, they are over when Nick Deslauriers says they’re over.
This time it was Luke Schenn trying to land a hit on Big Nick in the corner, only to be felled himself and then had to watch as Deslauriers set up shop all alone in front of the net:
Again, I don’t want to say Luke Schenn isn’t the fastest skater in the world, so I won’t, and I will leave it at that. The heavy implications in the air will do the rest of the work here.
Regardless, by the time Schenn gets back into the play, he can either try to cover Nick, or go after Nadeau behind the net, or try to block the pass out front. Luke attempts to block the pass but fails at the task at hand, and it is essentially game over from this point forward.
Best chance for the Canucks I guess, sure, why not
The Canucks best pushback in the period? This shot attempt from Lekkerimäki:
The puck takes a bit of a lucky bounce off of the rear end of the official, but Lekkerimäki finds himself in a prime shooting position but can’t light the lamp on the release.
The broadcast didn’t even deem it replay-worthy, however, which feels a bit depressing? It wasn’t like there was a lot to choose from.
Best playing with fire
The final frame was more of what we saw in the first period, where the Canucks just could not handle the pressure from Carolina.
Here we have Brock Bork Boeser throwing the puck out of the reach of Tom Willander, leading to Jackson Blake taking DPetey for a walk, forcing Leevi to make a kind of cool-looking frog save:
Bradley Nadeau would then skate hard on the puck and come out of the battle with Luke Schenn with the rights for visitation on the weekends, forcing Leevi again into making a big save:
Which, if CSI has taught us anything, if you fill up enough mailboxes with concrete, eventually you get burned and charged with murder when teenagers try and hit it with a baseball bat:
Hronek’s terrible season continues (he has been alarmingly bad at times this year) as the puck escapes him along the boards, allowing Ehlers to walk the puck down the ice, skating right around Oleksiak, and finishing with the clinical touch.
The only question that remained at this point was if Carolina would embarrass Vancouver with a Deslauriers hat trick, or do the gentlemanly thing of letting Sir Logan the Stank get another goal in front of his friends and family.
Best doing the right thing
Logan Stankoven, your time is now:
It was not a great game. Not a terrible game. But not a great game.
Some entertaining moments, but it will feel nice when another bottom-dweller team shows up on the schedule, if for no other reason than the change of pace.
Also, Quinn Hughes on Sunday is all that matters at this point.
Best homage to the GOAT
The Canucks also dropped hot dogs from the skies during a break in play at one point, complete with ketchup packages, and it was about a heartwarming nod to the legend you could give. Full kudos to the Canucks for embracing the moment and honouring a Canucks legend.
Best silly tribute video
I only met John Garrett in person a handful of times, but every time I did, he was an absolute delight. Just the most down-to-earth man you could ever hope to meet. When I produced a mac and cheese box for him to sign, he couldn’t have been more polite and engaging. I have talked before about how breaking into the media business wasn’t embraced by many of the old school types at the time, but John was part of the group of people that treated you as an equal. He was a big part of me battling the impostor syndrome that plagued me in the early days.
Now I don’t claim to know him very well, so I can only speak to the few interactions I had with him. What I can do, though, is speak to what he brought to Canucks games. He did what I attempt to do in my writing, which is bridge that gap between covering sports and the fandom that loves it. The idea that the person you’re listening to or reading is one of your buddies in the room with you.
When the team is doing well, life is pretty darn easy when covering the Canucks. Back in 2011, you could post a picture of Aaron Rome as a carrot and you’d have people clapping you on the back, telling you what an amazing job you did.
When the team struggles, though, that’s when you need people to commiserate with. To find a bit of light during the dark times. To know that you aren’t in this sporting journey alone.
And that’s what John Garrett did so well. Even during some of the worst games imaginable, he would find a way to crack me up. He’d find a way to make Shorthouse laugh. He’d bring up a story from his playing days. He’d make you smile with his love of hot dogs.
He just made the game more than the game; he’d make it feel like you were watching it with friends. That was the power of John Garrett; he would find a way to make you feel like you were part of his inner circle, and you were both just cracking jokes about the silly game of hockey.
And don’t get me wrong, he could have strong critiques of the play on the ice. He knew when to pick a spot and call out a bad play or something the Canucks needed to execute better. He knew when to be serious and when not to.
But for the most part, he knew to sit back and enjoy the ride with you. He became such an intrinsic part of the Canucks watching experience that it honestly hasn’t been the same since he left. You have comfort memories in life, whether it’s a TV show you always watched as a kid when you stayed home sick from school, or a song that your Dad played in the car on long rides. Memories that just trigger you and bring you back to a time when life felt simple and peaceful.
John Garrett is a core comfort memory for me when I think about the Canucks. Anytime I come across his clips on YouTube, I stop to listen to them because I know it will make me laugh and it will make me smile.
Sports presentation can either be super professional and sterile, or it can have heart. John Garrett and John Shorthouse managed to have both, which is why they are among the best to ever do it.
We were lucky for the time we had with John Garrett, and I would hope his family takes pride in the legacy he left behind and the impact he had on so many people who watch this team.
Rest in peace, King.
Best tribute video
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