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The Stanchies: Kiefer Sherwood’s Thanksgiving party ruined by Blues in Canucks’ 5-2 loss
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Lachlan Irvine
Oct 14, 2025, 02:33 EDTUpdated: Oct 14, 2025, 13:47 EDT
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Gonna make you wonder why you even try
(Hard times)
Gonna take you down and laugh when you cry
(These lives)
And I still don’t know how I even survive
(Hard times, hard times)
And I gotta get to rock bottom!
(Ooh!)
The Canucks were supposed to bring the turkey to Canadian Thanksgiving. They’ve been bragging to everyone in the offseason about their expert carving skills, and after insisting for weeks that you could trust them, you relent, even though you remember the Christmas ham incident of 2022. Then they showed up hours late, long after the mashed potatoes had already cooled, holding a tray of very burnt bird.
It wasn’t simply that they lost to the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Monday night. It’s that they did it in such listless fashion, straight off the heels of an equally sauceless performance against the Oilers. The 4:30 pm start might not have helped matters, but the Canucks came out flat from the get-go and never looked dialled into the game. Except Kiefer Sherwood, who dragged his teammates kicking and screaming into a two-goal game (the last goal coming courtesy of a Jake Neighbours empty netter).
Once again, nobody came prepared. The top line of Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk managed just four shots on goal. The inexperience of Braeden Cootes’ line with Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Drew O’Connor got completely exposed by the Blues, getting hemmed in routinely and for long periods of time. The defence couldn’t win puck battles or handle the waves of odd-man rushes St. Louis threw at them. Even Quinn Hughes, the sturdy anchor he is, looked stressed – well, more than he does usually – and was making uncharacteristically poor choices at both ends.
Adam Foote’s only three games into his coaching tenure, so it’s hard to truly judge the small sample size of his work. But it’s fair to say his work is cut out for him. His biggest expectation of this team was that they would jump up into the rush more. And while they are doing that, it’s opened up a new can of worms; they can’t get back in time when the turns are tabled.
The Canucks talked about positive vibes in the locker room leading up to the season. We’re three games in, and that positivity train already looks like it’s leaving the station without them. They’re going to have to chase it down the tracks on the road, as an already seemingly make-or-break trip East awaits them.
Let’s hope they packed their running shoes.
Best 30-day free trial
I’ll say this about the Prime broadcasts: they are a breath of fresh air from the endless number of Sportsnet broadcasts that blend together in your head. I know they’re missing the key ingredient to a perfect broadcast – John Shorthouse – but I’ll take Amazon trying something different for a national stream over listening to an Edmonton regional broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada any day of the week.
The better camera quality is a nice plus. Starting the broadcast with a feature on the current Toronto Maple Leafs’ coach Craig Berube was less welcome.
Best Pew Pew
Today was an about-face for the Canucks in a couple of ways. Firstly, Pius Suter made his grand return to Rogers Arena.
There was no tribute video for Pew Pew, just an Al Murdoch announcement and a standing ovation. An understated celebration for a player who was probably more important to their team’s success than the Canucks realized.
While the Canucks were busy getting thumped in Edmonton, Suter scored a goal in just his second game with the Blues, reminding us of what we once had.
Tonight, he helped set up the Blues’ first goal of the game, just three minutes in.
Best Worst Case Scenario
Firstly, we have to acknowledge how the puck got into the Canucks zone in the first place. And that was a tragic whiff on a pass by Elias Pettersson that Cam Fowler immediately took away.
Pettersson could clearly tell what kind of Twitter/Bluesky discourse this was going to start, shaking his head in disbelief as he began to chase down Fowler.
The Blues have four players back and get a chance off the rush that goes wide, before Mathieu Joseph makes a long pass to Suter from the blue line. Pew Pew quickly back passes it to a waiting Jimmy Snuggerud, who buries the shot under Kevin Lankinen’s right arm.
Not sure anyone likes playing the Canucks quite like former Canucks. Hopefully no more are coming to Rogers Arena anytime soon! *checks the calendar* …ah, right.
Best signs of life
Pettersson was quick to try to redeem himself for the Snuggerud goal, as the game unfolded. And he nearly pulled it off, intercepting Jordan Binnington’s gift of a turnover and feeding a pass to Brock Boeser that the Blues goalie was barely able to get back for.
“But Lachlan, he should’ve shot it!”
No, he shouldn’t have. Nick Bjugstad had already slid into his shooting lane by the time he had the puck on his blade and left him no room to pick a corner. Boeser was the smartest option.
Best ‘just bring a dessert’
Quinn Hughes doesn’t need any help cooking Thanksgiving dinner. He’d rather you just stay in the living room, watch football and let the chef work.
Pavel Buchnevich tried to enter the kitchen and promptly dropped a spoon. He was exiled to the couch soon after.
Today, Jordan Binnington caught the bigger half of the turkey wishbone flying across the room. Usually, goalies aren’t so lucky.
Best red flags
A very common theme in this game was the Canucks’ endless struggles to clear the zone. Here are two different attempts by the Canucks to clear the zone about thirty seconds apart. They are both from the same shift.
The first is a miscommunication between Lankinen and his defender, DePetey. The second is due to a pass made by returning People’s Defender Victor Mancini to Evander Kane. Kane’s immediately pressured along the boards and turns the puck over.
Best fine, you can sit with us today 
Sometimes the opponents make a good point.
Best Groundhog’s Day

Hughes just iced the puck after Evander Kane flubbed the pass.

— Kyle Freyasfaðir (@kylekaybee.bsky.social) 2025-10-14T00:12:01.631Z

Evander Kane might’ve needed more than two preseason games (or zero, if you asked him) to shake off the rust.
Quinn Hughes tried to set him up for a breakout pass three times on the same shift, and they all ended in icing calls. The first one, Kane completely misreads that the puck is coming his way and cuts away from it.
The second one is right off the ensuing faceoff, when Kane couldn’t handle the hard pass from Hughes cleanly, and the puck sped to the other end of the ice.
The third one is pretty much the same, just along the wall instead of through the middle of the ice, and Kane’s only reached the St. Louis Blue line by the time the whistle blows.
All three of these icing calls were coming off a TV timeout, too, so it wasn’t for a lack of gas in the tank.
Maybe time will solve this! But right now it’s really gumming up the works and the Canucks’ ability to muster any extra offence.
Best Calling the Race
The Blues’ second goal, and the Canucks’ inability to prevent it, was a car crash you couldn’t look away from.
Vancouver’s inability to prevent shots in transition was already on display earlier, when Mathieu Joseph intercepts a missed cross-ice pass attempt by Kane and turns it into a great shot off the wing that the Canucks wish they could pull off.
Then the dagger, when Philip Broberg finds Jordan Kyrou on a long stretch pass. With Hughes draped all over him, Kyrou wheels back to try to find Brayden Schenn trailing, but Drew O’Connor gets his stick in the way!
O’Connor immediately loses the handle, and the puck lands right on Schenn’s tape anyway. Whoops.
As far as early second period goals go, that’s a real deflating one. The writing’s on the wall. The leftover stuffing and mash are going into the Tupperware. Thanks for coming out.
Best Drew Gooden vine

Kiefer $herwood

— Adam Kierszenblat (@adamkblat.bsky.social) 2025-10-14T00:44:43.341Z

‘Road work ahead’? I, Sherwood, hope it does.
It’s a little early to be crowning any team MVPs, but Kiefer Sherwood’s playing like he has the trophy case already built. And not just from Ikea, a really nice one from West Elm.
Sherwood had his fingerprints all over this game. His first big impact was the kind that only Sherwood can make – namely, the impact he made on Philip Broberg.
Credit for this goal also goes to Sherwood’s linemates. Arshdeep Bains wins a crucial board battle to force the puck to the net, and Aatu Räty gets his stick on it with two Blues all over him. Räty redirects it to the slot, and Sherwood just has to whack it in.
Whatever energy Sherwood is running on, the Canucks need to bottle it like Michael’s Secret Stuff and give it to the rest of the Toon Squad.
Best Torts reminder
First of all, this rocks for Bains, who’s absolutely risen to the challenge of playing a bigger role so far.
But John Tortorella once said after a Canucks loss that “our best forward was David Booth, which is good for him but not good for us”. It says a lot more about what’s going on with Bains’ teammates than him.
Best even worse case scenario

I cant imagine getting scored on by some guy named Snuggerud

— Sheldon Lee (@sgl10.bsky.social) 2025-10-14T00:12:14.359Z

The refs largely kept their whistles in their pockets for this game, so naturally EP40 would end up in the sin bin first for hooking Buchnevich, sending keyboards everywhere into a tizzy.
The Blues’ power play only needed 28 seconds and one Tyler Myers giveaway behind the net to get the puck in the net.
After Schenn knocked the puck off Myers’ stick, Buchnevich tried to take the puck from the goal line himself, but Lankinen wouldn’t give him the angle. But Snuggerud was off to the side, wide open for the tap in and his second of the night.
For Pettersson to be in the box when that puck went in only added gasoline to the grease fire.
Best honeymoon over
We’re only a third of the way through his tryout, but it’s looking more and more like Braeden Cootes will be heading back to junior when his nine games are up. It’s obvious he needs some time to work up to NHL pace, and right now, more veteran players are able to overwhelm Cootes and the younger players in the defensive end. There was one especially glaring shift in the second period when he, Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Drew O’Connor were run ragged by the Blues defense and ended up out for a 2+ minute(!!) shift.
The problem for the Canucks is that they don’t exactly have a better Plan B right now.
Best *dolphin noises*
With J.T. Miller gone, someone has to take up the role of being caught in 4K using ‘sentence enhancers’.
Today Fil Hronek took up the mantle, taking issue with the refs over an unjust high-sticking penalty.
I believe that was bad word #11. There’s seven for regular people, but 13 for sailors.
Best Pavel Bure cosplay
With Jimmy up to a pair of goals for St. Louis, Kiefer Sherwood wasn’t going to stand for that. He’s the heart and soul, and he’s gonna will his team back into this game whether they like it or not.
With Hronek in the box, Sherwood pounces on a pass missed by Cam Fowler and hits the rocket boosters. He breaks in, dekes Binnington out into another galaxy, and tucks the puck in between his pad and the post.
That goal is as close to a bar for bar remake of Pavel Bure’s triple deke as you can get, and it came from Chief Kief. One goal game again, and hope for a Happy Thanksgiving restored.
Best UNO reverse card
The joy from Sherwood’s second goal hadn’t even worn off before the Blues slammed the door shut. And it came courtesy of another terrible play by Evander Kane.
Off a Filip Chytil faceoff win and with Hronek pinching down low to keep the puck in, Kane takes his spot at the blue line and narrowly avoids passing it the puck over the line to Hughes, who’s forced to dangle around Alex Texier to keep in onside.
Hughes cuts to the net with his momentum carrying him for a shot, but that’s when Kane makes the galaxy brain decision to head for the net, even though Hughes is still there. When Binnington make the save and the Blues pick up the rebound, they’ve suddenly got three skaters up on the rush and only Hronek back to stop them. Kane hustles back to cut off Nick Bjugstad but he falls, taking out Bjugstad and his own goalie as Texier passes to Nathan Walker for the one timer.
Adam Foote wants his players to play up-tempo hockey, with numbers off the rush and guys going to the net. But the Blues not only showed them how to play that exact way, but how fast of a team you need to be to do it so the other team can’t just play an Uno reverse card on you.
The Canucks, through three games, do not have the wheels. And faster tires aren’t coming anytime soon.
Best trying everything
g
g
@wholegrainne
·Follow

if i publicly denounce elias pettersson will that work. will that do something karmically. elias pettersson i think you're beyond hope and none of the talent that you once showed exists in you anymore. i think you're bad at hockey forever.

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My idea to get Petey going: put a small rat under his helmet who can control all his limbs and help him make a really mean chicken parmesan.
Best living up to the branding

The good news is- the 3rd period is our best period! #Canucks #windaturd

— Optimistic Canuck (@optimisticcanuck.bsky.social) 2025-10-14T01:13:09.846Z

As optimistic as this fellow was, there was no comeback to be found. The Canucks mustered a few more shot opportunities, getting all the way up to 29, but even the quality of those attempts were poor. Natural Stat Trick credited them with nine high danger scoring chances at even strength to the Blues’ 15. As a viewer, I felt even that was being generous.
One announcement during Amazon’s broadcast caught my attention. It was during the warmups when Al Murdoch said something to the tune of, “if the Canucks get 20 shots on goal or more in today’s game, you win a discount from Uber Eats!”
Is that really where the bar is now?
Best Blender
There were a few adjustments made by Adam Foote compared to the last game. For one, Evander Kane’s ice time did drop significantly and his tendency for long shifts were nipped in the bud.
Elias Pettersson did not see a resurgence in ice time because of it. Instead, he played only 15:36 with five forwards playing more minutes than he did, led by 18:37 for Conor Garland.
You can’t keep asking “why is the guy who used to be a superstar struggling?” and then not give him 20 minutes a night to figure it out. Watching on the bench will not help, and neither will doling out ice time like he’s not your #1 centre regardless of his play.
Best ‘Four Krustys!’
This screenshot out of context looks like a Canucks slot machine you’d find at the Parq Vancouver across the street.
Wait, that’s actually genius. If the Parq makes the “Petters-Spin” real, everyone here needs to remember to tell me.
Best burnt pumpkin pie
This game ended the way many Canucks losses do: with Quinn Hughes ripping one timers from the blue line in vain.
This one gets blocked by Jake Neighbours and deposited all the way into the empty net at the other end.
This was also the moment the fans at Rogers Arena wondered why they told their family they couldn’t make it for Thanksgiving dinner, and ran home to see if all the turkey and gravy was gone.
Best Seat Reviews
It wouldn’t be the Stanchies if we didn’t have opinions about the brand new seats.
For years, Canucks fans and concert goers alike have been asking the team to replace the arena’s 30-year-old maroon seats, installed when the building opened in 1995. It’s a promise the Canucks made as many as six years ago – and teased many times since – but this offseason the shift from maroon to black finally arrived.
Section by section, the old chairs were ripped out and given to season ticket holders as the new seats took their places. While some Vancouverites were able to check them out early at concerts and sporting events throughout the summer, Friday’s preseason game against the Seattle Kraken was the majority of fans’ first time experiencing the new upgrades. And considering the team pulled out all the stops advertising the, during the offseason, a lot was riding on the first impressions of these new seats.
Back in September, I asked fans about the new seats. And as the Canucks would hope for in brand new chairs, the earliest reviews from fans seem to have reached the same conclusions: ‘comfortable’ and ‘cushy’ are the leading adjectives.
The Canucks had given us a preview of things to come when they installed the new President’s Club seats behind the benches back in 2023. While the regular seats aren’t as luxurious as the premium ones, they don’t appear to be far off.
One person provided us with a photo from the upper deck, which we’ve gotten a lot less visuals of. The seats are the same, of course, but one under acknowledged aspect of the seat colours changing has been the need for matching upper deck railings.
To accommodate Rogers Arena’s steep sight-lines, the upper deck railings prevent fans from tripping over the seat in front of them and taking a long fall. Those railings were originally painted maroon to blend in with the old chairs. Not anymore.
But the real MVPs of the new seating experience? The grand addition of cupholders.
While most of the seats were given standard movie theatre-esque cupholders, the removable seats on the ends are equipped with thinner, spring-loaded versions, making them easier to store when the sections aren’t being used. Some parts of the glass side row appear to have their cupholders in the armrests, so no more putting $18 beers on top of the boards (a mistake I’ve seen people make far too many times).
But while the majority of visitors love the changes, the reviews weren’t unanimous. A few fans, particularly those sat in the upper bowl, feel that the new seats have made the rows more cramped, with one person even showing just how close their legs now come to the edge of the row.
Whether this will become the consensus remains to be seen, but there is crucial precedent for such a scenario. In 2019, the Boston Bruins angered fans when they replaced TD Garden’s iconic yellow seats with similar cushy black ones that limited leg room in the balcony and added a chair in each row. After a number of public complaints, the Bruins changed them in 2020.
And sadly, not everyone has been able to experience the new chairs. Ten rows from 120 to 103 remain red, with Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston reporting that season ticket holders in those sections were told not to expect replacements until February.
It’s obviously hard to imagine a world where the Canucks wouldn’t get a resounding thumbs up from the fanbase for saying goodbye to the maroon chairs well past their expiry date. But it wasn’t a total guarantee they would be a success; just ask the Detroit Red Wings, who changed all the chairs at Little Caesars Arena from red to black just over a year after opening the building.
A lot of Canucks fans have yet to try the new seats out, and those complaints about leg room in the upper deck and cramped quarters might prove to be a bigger issue in the long run. Time will tell what the final public opinion will be, but for now, the fans seem happy.
Best Shot and Chaser
Taj
Taj
@taj1944
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Tocchet said one of his biggest regrets from Vancouver was trying to become too much of a rush team instead of sticking to what they were good at. Mentioned he listened a little to the outside noise instead of sticking to what he believed in. (Spittin Chiclets)

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Is this rush in the room with now?
Best Höpium
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