It might just be days away from Halloween, but it felt more like Kevin was Home Alone on Monday night.

If there is one thing you take away from the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks, it’s that Kevin Lankinen is a grade-A champagne problem for the Canucks. We’re at the point where those jokes about him stealing Thatcher Demko’s job are starting to land a little harder than they should. Instead of laughing at how silly that joke is, now we kind of glance at each other as if to say, “But like, maybe?”

Clearly he has a long way to go in order to prove that he is indeed a bonafide hidden gem, plucked from the Nashville Factory of Elite Finnish Goaltenders. Who amongst us hasn’t enjoyed a goalie going on a heater in this town and gotten a drunken Arturs Irbe tattoo on their lower back?

But in terms of coming in to platoon the season until Thatcher Demko was back, it’s now become less of an Arty Party and more of a possibility of having a proper insurance plan in place in case Demko’s health and form never quite return to their previous bubble levels, or at the very least, allow Demko to take some nights off.

Again, we don’t need to jump to conclusions yet, and one bad month from Kevin can turn this entire narrative around. But as we stand right now, Kevin has been one of the most important players for this Canucks team. If Quinn Hughes is the glue of this team, Kevin has been the duct tape.

And sure, maybe you see his .875% save percentage tonight and wonder what the big deal is. 28 saves on 32 shots seems almost Johan Hedberg-like. Even Woodley can drag out numbers like that once in a blue moon.

For those who watched the game, however, you know what I’m talking about. People softly whispering, “Kevin” as they left Rogers Arena with the reverence normally reserved for finding Peter Pan’s true self, knowing that he dragged their home team into getting a point Monday night.

You see, the Carolina Hurricanes excel at making your favourite hockey team look like garbage. It’s sort of their thing.

You think you have a team that’s going to be pushing for the top of its division? Well, sit back and watch Carolina ram the puck down your throat for three hours, and let them give you a sobering reality check.

If there were a blueprint that Rick Tocchet based his style of hockey on, it would be Carolina hockey. Just endless North/South hockey, constantly forechecking the opposition into making mistakes, constantly skating with the puck, constantly getting it on net, and never having to protect your guts of the ice because the other team rarely has the puck. It’s Peloton cardio hockey at its finest.

And for the majority of the game, the plan was working. I saw it live in person in Seattle Saturday night as well, and it deflated the crowd as they watched a team being clearly better than theirs. It was deflating the crowd in Vancouver in very much the same way, as it felt like Carolina was a step ahead of the Canucks.

Except Kevin didn’t let the game slip away from his team. He outright refused to. He was the guy standing in line at Tim Horton’s demanding to be let in at 11:59 because, legally, the place is open until midnight. Kevin’s right pad alone made several highlight-worthy saves in a game that, by rights, should never have made it to overtime.

And we will give credit to the Canucks, because they did rally in the third, and there were some high-level plays made to get that game tied up.

But without Kevin, none of this would have been possible.

It might just be a month into the season, but this sure felt like a statement game from Kevin. And that statement is that this guy doesn’t want to be on the “contract steals of the season” next year.

In the words of another famous Kevin, though, why waste time typing lot word when few gif do trick.

Best Rick Tocchet hockey

Total domination by Carolina so far#Canucks can’t even get in the zone

— tocch about soucery (@vanleygoodtakes) October 29, 2024

It didn’t take too long for everyone to realize it was going to be a grind of a night when the Hurricanes went up 5 shots to 1 early in the game, and we still weren’t sure if Carolina even had a goalie in their net.

With the camera firmly fixed in Vancouver’s end for the majority of the first period, Carolina produced offence through the good old fashioned “get pucks on net” approach Don Cherry yelled at us about for a lot of years:

Now, being a skilled team is what makes this kind of offence work. If you simply move the puck down the ice quickly and try and forecheck your hardest, it won’t matter if you can’t do anything with it. But that’s what makes Carolina so efficient, in that they have a cardio program approved by Rod the Bod, and they have a ton of skill throughout their lineup.

Which means they were able to harass the Canucks into turning the puck over and would often turn any mistake into a dangerous-looking offensive rush that didn’t waste a whole lot of time getting the puck on net.

Even in the clip above, it’s just a small rotation at the blue line that ends up getting a rebound shot from the slot that Kevin had to make a good save on. Knowing where to be on the ice is half the battle, and Carolina is seemingly well-versed in GI Joe cartoon mentality.

Best makes you think

Seeing the #canucks execute a breakout would be cool

— Austin in Langley (@dekeypete1640) October 29, 2024

Carolina got their first goal of the night after Tyler Myers tried to get the puck behind the Carolina defence for a fast breakout. The problem was Carolina guarded the boars and cut the pass down, quickly turning the play back the other way:

This was the only goal of the night where I was kind of like, “Kevin, I’m not sure about that one,” but believe me, he was locked in the rest of the night.

My main takeaway from this game was honestly the concern I think we’ve all had this year: Vancouver’s defence might not be good enough for a team wanting to make a deep playoff run. I worry that they just don’t have the puck movement from the back end that you need when time and space is limited in the post-season. Being hurried into making a mistake is a time-honoured tradition when hunting for the Stanley Cup, and we’ve seen some signs that Vancouver’s rearguards might be susceptible to this.

Tyler Myers made a good play attempt here of course, and as we will see later, Fil Hronek shows how it looks when it’s pulled off. Which isn’t to say Tyler Myers can’t make this play or that this one play is proof positive he’s a chaotic giraffe intent upon crushing your dreams. I could find a failed play from any player at any level.

I just use it to highlight that with the struggles of the Carson Soucy/Myers pairing and the third pairing being a mishmash of moving parts, I do think it’s reasonable to suggest the main weakness of a deep playoff run would be the defenceman of the team and their decision making under pressure.

Far be it for me to suggest Quinn Hughes can’t play 45 minutes a night for an entire playoff run, but I do worry that this isn’t a feasible approach.

Best contract year

Rock out with your Brock out!

— Bryan (@kesrows) October 29, 2024

You know what you can always set your clock to? Or Brock to, I suppose? Brock-tober:

Not since Brian Savage have we seen such an elite sniper during pumpkin spice season, as Brock continues yet another hot start to a year.

The Canucks basically pulled a Carolina on this goal by making things super simple. Get a zone entry with possession, cycle until someone falls out of position, then feed the open guy.

In this case, it was Brock Boeser who was able to score after three Hurricanes players ended up mesmerized by a deadly combination of JT Miller’s moustache and skating, resulting in them forgetting to cover, and say it with me now, the guts of the ice.

Fun Fact: Brian Savage played with future Canucks legend Martin Brochu on the 1993-94 Fredericton Canadiens.

Best offsides are the Bains of our existence

Just go get another one kid. #Canucks

— Snowstar444 (@snowstar444) October 29, 2024

In what looked like another prime opportunity to garner another tweet reply from the Prime Minister of Canada was instead turned into a lengthy debate about offsides:

Pius Suter went in before the puck crossed the blue line, so the goal was called off, but we can still honour the hard work Arshdeep Bains put into making this theoretical goal happen. I have no idea how Bains’ career is going to play out in Vancouver, but credit to him for bringing his lunch pail to work every day and just getting greasy with it.

Honestly, this is the kind of goal I vibe with because it’s how I score goals in beer league. You can have your fancy goals, your toe drags or your between the legs, but give me a good old-fashioned three whacks and it’s in the goal any day of the week.

Best early signs of trouble

Good sticks to block the cross ice pass #canucks

— kevin (@kevinlambert23) October 29, 2024

Despite hypothetically being up 2-1 in the game, the signs were there that the Canucks were headed for trouble. Carolina is just so good at moving the puck quickly and forcing teams to chase the play until holes open up for dangerous shots.

The Canucks stopped it early on, such as on this power play where Carolina kept moving the puck, shrinking the Canucks towards their net, until they could try a cross-ice pass through the guts of the ice, which for efficiency’s sake, let’s just call it the GOTI:

The Canucks, though? They cut that sh*t down. Carolina tried to walk across Robson Street but were denied. This was good defence.

But you could see Carolina’s forechecking game start to work. The Canucks started struggling to get the puck out of their zone, and Carolina would jump all over it. Vancouver would find themselves tired in their own end, and they’d start chasing the play more and more.

So even though Quinn Hughes made a great play with his stick to break up this pass in front of his net, you can see the defensive coverage start to break down and get real sloppy despite a restaurant policy strictly forbidding it:

All of which led to…

Best what a sequence

WHAT WAS THAT SEQUENCE?? #Canucks

— tiana (: (@nuckaround) October 29, 2024

Carolina’s fast break out absolutely clowning the Canucks defensive coverage of the GOTI:

When you chase the play, you get tired, and the Canucks get caught by Carolina turning a dump-in into their zone into a goal at the other end in seven seconds.

Which, again, you do have to give credit to Carolina for this goal. You can’t always blame a team’s defensive breakdowns as the sole reason another team scored. That’s what makes Carolina such a challenging opponent; they are able to force teams into looking like poop.

And a lot of that is with Rick Tocchet hockey, baby. Work hard, play harder is the mantra, and you could see it on something as simple as a board battle.

In this clip, Corolla Garland has to skate all out just to get a puck retrieval, and when he sends it back the other way, Nils Höglander just waits for the puck:

Carolina is so proactive on chasing the puck that they simply skate to the boards and prevent it from ever getting to the Pig Man, and in the space of a few seconds, have turned a cycle attempt along the boards into a zone entry and shot on net at the other end. It’s the kind of efficiency that makes me sick, quite frankly. Whatever happened to lazy Sunday hockey vibes?

In another example of Tocchet hockey, Carolina pressures Hronek into making a quick pass, and then Quinn Hughes ends up fumbling the puck into a turnover like he’s Geno Smith facing the Buffalo Bills:

Now, 9.99 times out of 10, Quinn Hughes still makes the right play with the puck there. But when a team is forechecking you hard an entire period, and you’ve been playing with the knowledge that you have absolutely no time with the puck, it causes you to hurry up with the puck even when you don’t need to. It can cause even the great Quinn Hughes to maybe make a mistake once or twice because you just know you have to make a quick decision at all times; otherwise, one of those Carolina jerks is going to be all up in your business.

It’s ruthlessly efficient hockey, and it works.

I still get nightmares of the 2012 LA Kings playing this kind of hockey.

Best faith in yourself

#canucks looking a step behind vs. the Canes.

— Michael Paweska (@mrpaweska) October 29, 2024

JT Miller plays high-end offensive hockey, so we tend to forgive the one or two random passes he makes to the ghost of Christmas past during a game. It’s like ordering from Amazon, you’re not going to complain too much about the one package they left at the wrong building because the majority of the time they nail it.

But every once in a while, JT does a drop pass based fueled by thoughts and prayers, and in this case it ends up going along the boards to nobody. And what does Carolina do with mistakes? They ram it in your GOTI:

The Canucks are still in okay shape on this rush until Quinn Hughes takes the trailer and Fil Hronek and Jake DeBrusk pledge their undying allegiance to GOTI. And this is where Carolina having that high skill level comes into play because they simply take the wide angle given to them and still manage to turn it into a goal.

Again, the Canucks played a very skilled opponent who is very good at making your mistakes look awful due to them resulting in a goal.

Best Kevin time

This team has been so trash defensively but nobody talks about it because Lankinen has bailed them out so many times. On average we give up 5-6 odd man rushes a game #Canucks

— arpy (@Arpy6409) October 29, 2024

It’s still early so in the season, so we won’t go too far down that path, but as noted in the intro, the Canucks defence is going to get a spotlight on it in any games where Quinn Hughes and/or Kevin don’t play at an elite level.

That’s a problem for another day, however, so instead enjoy this save by Kevin:

Yes, that was the end of a Canucks powerplay. You might be asking yourself, “Hey wait, where is the clip of a Canucks scoring chance?” and I don’t know how to tell you this, but there were none. The Canucks powerplay went 0/3 on the night and didn’t particularly look very threatening. If it got on the bus with you late at night, not once would you ever think to yourself, “I’m in danger here.”

Instead, the Hurricanes turned it into a scoring chance that required Kevin’s right pad to solve.

Not content with one nice right pad save, the chaotic Giraffe celebrated his silver stick status by going full Ibrahimović by trying to backheel it by Kevin mere seconds later:

Mind you, it wasn’t a malicious backheel. It looked more like Tyler Myers was one of those dome hockey players twirling on a metal rod, unable to quite reach the puck and just sort of praying the puck ended up in someone else’s corner.

But the end result was Kevin having to make yet another five-alarm save with his team already down 3-1.

Best Kevin being Kevin

Somebody dip that right pad in bronze and hang it from the rafters #canucks

— Don (@TheFalconer) October 29, 2024

You’d think we’d be done with highlights featuring Kevin’s right pad, but here we find ourselves yet again, this time watching a 5 on 3 powerplay for the Hurricanes go to work:

I know somewhere Ian Clark is just absolutely fuming that a pad with colour on it made that save, but he can no longer stand in the way of progress. Highlight reel saves in Vancouver have never looked better with the combination of colors flashing by as that leg kicks out.

Fair to say that tracking the puck does not seem to be an issue for Kevin Lankinen.

Also fair to say you couldn’t have asked for a bigger save from your goalie with your team down two goals and being soundly outplayed for half of the game. This is the sort of goaltending that gives you a bubble-based nickname or, in this case, plants you firmly on a first name basis with the Vancouver market.

Best riding the wave of momentum

Suter could've revived the vibes with that one. #Canucks

— Brayden Fengler (@braydenfengler) October 29, 2024

The building came to life after that save, and the roof almost blew off of Rogers Arena when at the end of the penalty kill, Danton Heinen found Pew Pew all alone for the breakaway:

Perhaps in honour of his former teammate Ilya Mikheyev, he just fired it in the general direction of Pyotr Kochetkov, but the point remains that Kevin gave his team the chance to try and make Carolina bleed its own blood, which was incredible considering it felt like it should be 5-1 at this point.

But that’s just how Kevin rolls.

Best spin cycle

Quinn Hughes breaks ankles for shits & giggles @Canucks #Canucks

— Paul Le Comte Toitū Te Tiriti (@five15design) October 29, 2024

You know Vancouver is feeling it when Quinn Hughes is out here smashing the spin-o-rama button on his controller:

Keeping your team in it until Quinn Hughes can do something magical isn’t the worst strategy in the world, to be honest. It’s streets ahead of putting Jayson Megna on the powerplay; I think we can all agree on that.

Best Pew Pew Pfft

Suter has the worst offensive touch in the league ffs 🤦‍♂️ #Canucks

— buzzman (@buzzbiggly) October 29, 2024

Shout out to Arshdeep Bains for the timely forecheck that Daniel Sprong jumped all over, setting up a two on one pass over to Pew Pew:

Again, maybe he’s honouring Mark Mancari’s inability to get an NHL goal for Vancouver by not scoring there; who are we to judge?

The point is Kevin kept his team in the game and made a big enough save that clearly got the crowd absolutely jacked, a crowd that the team then fed off of to actually get some offensive momentum going.

Best caution flag

How the fuck did that not go in lol #Canucks

— Charlie Cole (@ChuckThaCanuck) October 29, 2024

The problem with Carolina is that when you smell blood in the water and push for offence, they can still murder you with a counter-attack, like Jackson Blake did to Vincent Desharnais:

I haven’t seen a Vincent get walked that badly since Pete Campbell found out his father used up his family inheritance. That’s a solid combination of bad defence and good offence, one where you find yourself unsure about which to credit more.

But you know who you don’t have to question? Kevin.

Also, Kiefer Sherwood for boxing out the crease and ensuring nobody tapped in the puck. Another taller, more chaotic gentleman may have thought to kick at the puck there, but not Kiefer. He knew to just let the puck pass on through the crease.

Best Lyft

COULD YOU IMAGINE IF GARLY HAD SCORED ON THAT!? 😩😭

Oml, that was almost beautiful. #Canucks

— kelsylroberts (@kelsylroberts) October 29, 2024

Since I have absolutely zero power play highlights to show you, instead, I will present to you a clip of Garland going end to end and almost scoring on the delayed penalty:

I have a Mt. Rushmore of “almost scored an incredible end to end goal” for the Canucks, and this one is right up there with Kyle Wellwood’s attempt against Edmonton.

Best Mr. Consistent

Is Sherwood gonna do this all by himself ? #Canucks

— Vett (@RVetts) October 29, 2024

Worry not, Kiefer Sherwood ended the night leading the league in hits once again. This time it was a nine-hit effort, punctuated by my favourite one of the night:

You know what a good way to slow down a hard skating team is? Beat them into the boards. Make their lives difficult. Make their legs heavy. Make their bodies sore.

It’s a 3-1 game, Vancouver has been outplayed and out-gunned, and here’s Kiefer ending his shift with a big hit on Andrei Svechnikov. That’s a guy you go to war with.

It also begs the question, who else from Nashville is going to end up being a core piece of this team next season?

Best under pressure

Desharnais needs to make better choices. #Canucks

— CrankyCanucksFan 😠 (@CrankyCanuckFan) October 29, 2024

This is a great example of Canucks defenders struggling to make good decisions with the puck. In this play, Carson Soucy sends it over to Desharnais to try to exit the zone. Vinnie bobbles the puck, though, and then panics and ends up blindly firing it to the point:

The end result was a basic shot on net, but it’s a play that ended up extending a shift in his own zone, and it’s the kind of play where if it happens often enough, eventually a good team like Carolina will make you pay.

Again, everyone makes mistakes. We saw Quinn Hughes bobble the puck earlier. But when we see it in volume from guys like Desharnais, or we see a guy like Soucy struggling to start the year, it presents a bit of a red flag to you.

Best this is where the big boys play

Millay so smooth with that carry and no look behind the back. Boesy heads up and Quinny what a shot. This is what we pay the big bucks for #Canucks

— Nicky Bullets (@nbrosef) October 29, 2024

Hey, remember that strategy of holding your team in the game until Quinn Hughes figures shit out? It works:

That’s also one of the main reasons JT Miller gets a pass for those thoughts and prayers passes or the lack of back-checking on some plays. The guy can come through and make a big play like this where he gains the zone with speed and backs a couple of defenders off with him, which allows the team to cycle the puck to an open Quinn Hughes for the absolute rocket of a shot.

Things we need to acknowledge on this play:

Fil Hronek sets this play in motion with an absolutely perfect bank pass off the boards, finding JT Miller in flight. If this feels like a set play, it’s because it surely is on.
I feel like all the great players continuously find ways to improve their game. Quinn Hughes had a weak shot when he entered the league, but he has found a way to up his game and turn it into a weapon.
Brock Boeser also does a good job of making defenders float towards him, opening up the room at the point for Quinn Hughes to unleash the dapper clapper slapper.

The Canucks best skaters found a way to drag their team to within one.

Best elephant in the room

I think Elias Pettersson has single-handedly caused 4 or 5 possessions to die on #Canucks power plays in this game

— Josh Elliott-Wolfe (@ElliottWolfeJ) October 29, 2024

I thought after getting that goal last game that Elias Pettersson might have found his groove. He had been playing better leading up to that goal but was still missing that little glimmer of confidence in his eye.

After he scored against the Penguins, it felt like a perfect time for him to get that shooting swagger back in his game.

Instead, Monday night ended up looking like your little bro showing up to play hockey before your beer league game started. It was a perfectly cromulent game were it not for the fact he is one of the highest-paid players on the team.

However, it was Garland who looked like the more complete player, and I have to agree; it felt like Elias was just a little bit off in this one. Whether it was making a bad pass or fumbling the puck, it just didn’t feel like a tight game from him. And yeah, if he’s just a random player, you probably don’t notice it too much. But when you’re one of the highest paid guys on the team, the spotlight is going to shine on any mistakes you make.

Even if that mistake is not being able to find a way to make an impact in a game that was in dire need of the top players finding a way to score.

So instead of an elite powerplay, the best chance once again ended up going to Carolina after EP40 threw a puck around the boards that Brock Boeser couldn’t cut off:

Kevin made the big save because that’s what Kevin does, but this felt like a game where Pettersson could have had a big moment, and he just couldn’t do it.

Best skating uphill

Brannstrom to Myers to Arshdeep to Garland

Erik Brännström continues to be a surprising player for Vancouver, one who looks like he’s earned some trust from his coach. He ended up with 15 minutes of ice time on the night, and my favourite play from him was one made in the third period where he body-blocked the puck and absorbed a hit to buy time for Tyler Myers:

Instead of blindly flinging the puck around the boards, he instead waits half a second and then eats the hit from behind so he can slide the puck over to Myers, which then sets up a fantastic scoring chance from Conor Garland.

Elias Pettersson followed up on the play and wasn’t able to score on the spinning shot, which for any other player, people groan and move on. But because the spotlight is on EP40, it just becomes more fuel for the fire of a star player not doing the things we’ve seen from him in the past.

Best pump the brakes

Is Debrusk the new Mikheyev? #Canucks

— Hockey Gal (@huggy2petey) October 29, 2024

The one thing Boston Bruins fans said about Jake DeBrusk was that he’s a streaky player, so I think it’s too soon to give him the Ilya Mikheyev label:

Instead of talking about Jake not being able to score on that rush, let’s instead talk about the absolutely insane bank pass Fil Hronek made to set up that chance in the first place. Go watch the clip again and watch Fil spin and thread the needle like Josh Allen decimating the Seahawks’ defence with ease. Hronek’s passing game has been next-level the past few games.

Best bang bang

PEW PEW SUTER!!!!!

Tie game, baby! #canucks

— Aliya (@aliya_2021) October 29, 2024

You know what the problem for Suter was? It’s much easier to score with no goalie in the net:

Daniel Sprong continues his “will he or won’t he” dance with the lineup, and while I don’t think he had anywhere near enough of a solid defensive game that would lock him into Wednesday’s game, offensively, he’s always going to give you some good looks.

From the two-on-one pass in the second period to his ability to wait out Pyotr Kochetkov and find Suter for the goal, Sprong’s passing is always a positive for this team. He straight-up lines up his shot like he’s in the final circle in Warzone and wants to end the game with a headshot. Dude slides that puck through four Hurricanes, one of which is the goalie — absurd stuff.

Best changing the narrative

If Pettersson had buried that roll out of the corner? Roof blown off

— Blake Price (@justBlakePrice) October 29, 2024

EP40 scores here, and everything changes:

Instead of talking about the misses or the bad powerplay, people are talking about two games with huge goals from EP40, none bigger than the one that won the game against the Hurricanes.

First off, let’s give credit to Corolla Garland, who as I stated weeks ago, is the perfect linemate for Elias. His board battle ability has been such a boon for Elias, who is able to sneak in and steal the puck at times like this. Conor, working away, holding up multiple bodies, allows Elias to dart in, grab the puck, and drag it towards the net.

Secondly, good on Elias for taking that puck hard to the net. Were it not for a fantastic stick lift from Andrei Svechnikov, Pettersson would have walked away a hero here.

Instead, EP40 has a stick in his path to the net, so he can’t cut towards the slot for a better in-tight angle to go high. He has to drag the puck around the stick, which leaves him real snug to Pyotr, who is taking away five hole by going low and wide to the ground. This means, yeah, EP40 tries to walk around the goalie to tuck the puck in.

I think it’s the right move to make, it just ends up with Ep40 falling over trying to get the shot off, which is not the optic he needs in his life right now.

Instead of almost being the hero, people are going to grumble and moan about him falling to the ice once again, a proud tradition the Sedins held for years before people pretended they never said anything like that.

Best all paths lead to pain

This is why I hate OT 😡, #Canucks

— Don (@EDDIE_TRECE) October 29, 2024

So instead of EP40 being the hero and starting his redemption arc era, we had Carolina ending the game quickly in overtime:

3-on-3 overtime is chaotic at the best of times, and possession is king in these scenarios. If the Canucks win the faceoff, then we’re probably talking about their incredible come-from-behind victory, so I won’t put too much stock into the loss.

I will point out that the Canucks defence was brutal in overtime, even for an OT situation. The Canucks just sort of skated in unison, allowing Sebastian Aho to rent out a condo in Coal Harbour behind the defence.

That being said, overtime is made for a team like Carolina, so credit to them as well.

All I know is Kevin did a great job and should not be blamed for this goal.

End result? Canucks grind out a point but leave a lot of questions for their coach to try and sift through.

The season continues, such is life.

See you Wednesday.

Best jersey Botch

Much respect to the fan in front of me who went deep into the vault to pull out the #WhiteSkate jersey. @TheStanchion #canucks pic.twitter.com/xZJTOvZWBS

— Dragon Was Slayed (@522IntoOvertime) October 29, 2024

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