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The Stanchies: Liam and Linus hand Bruins the L in Canucks’ 5-4 shootout win
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Photo credit: © Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
Lachlan Irvine
Dec 21, 2025, 04:25 EST
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There’s no greater guarantee in life than the Vancouver Canucks going on a tear at the craziest possible time.
So naturally, what makes more sense than the Canucks trading the greatest defenceman in franchise history while sitting in last place, then immediately rattling off four straight wins on the road? Nothing, that’s what.
Their 5-4 shootout win on Saturday night against the Boston Bruins was, dare I say, their gutsiest.
The misconception about tanking is that any win is bad. That couldn’t be further from the truth. As long as your young players are the ones stepping up and leading the charge, you take those victories every single time. It also helps when the other teams you’re fighting for last with keep winning too, but I digress.
Tonight, the Canucks were undoubtedly led by the young’ins. Liam Öhgren took centre stage at the Gahhden, with a goal, an assist and a nasty, nasty shootout winner. Linus Karlsson keeps reaching new levels of elite talent, culminating in a pair of goals and a helper.
And for all the expectations that a different goalie in net might tip the scales back to normalcy, Kevin Lankinen had one of his better nights of the season, putting the team on his back for large stretches of the night, much I like I did by saying yes to doing the Stanchies last minute (Wyatt doesn’t do Saturdays, so here I am).
Let’s rock and roll.
Best Cruisin’ for a Bruinsin’
After all the highs of the New York-New Jersey portion of the road trip, it sure seemed like the Canucks were going to come back down to Earth at the beginning of this game. Boston’s currently out of a playoff spot in the East, but the talent discrepancy between them and the Canucks looked pronounced in the first period, with the B’s racking up 13 shots to Vancouver’s four.
Their speed and pressure forced Tyler Myers into hooking Pavel Zacha, and the Bruins’ power play got to work quickly. Even after Elias “Gone but not forgotten” Lindholm bobbled a David Pastrnak pass in the slot, he still managed to push it over to Charlie McAvoy with little resistance.
McAvoy used his fishbowl lens to scan the ice and found Morgan Geekie wide open on the wings for a one-timer and his 25th goal of the season.
Yes, you read that correctly. Morgan Geekie has TWENTY. FIVE. GOALS. After tonight, he’s three behind Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead.
The simulation we’re living in is showing a few cracks.
Best Sass-afras

Gooooooaaaaallllll!!!!!!! Maximum Sasson with a late'er! #Canucks

— Ryan avgtraveller (@viewfromtherog.bsky.social) 2025-12-21T00:52:16.731Z

Before we get back to the game, did you know the Sassafras is a type of aromatic tree? And the use of it as a word in the popular zeitgeist peaked in the early 1920s? I didn’t before I started writing this article.
Anyways, the Canucks scoring a goal before the end of the first period was something any veteran fan saw coming a mile away. And it was thanks to some great forechecking by the Max Sasson line.
Linus Karlsson jumped all over Hampus Lindholm along the boards, making his life miserable just long enough for Lindholm to cough up the puck. Linus poked the puck to Öhgren and swept it to an open A-Sasson in the slot, who put the puck under the arm of an unsuspecting Jeremy Swayman.
It’s almost like giving young developing talent the chances to spread their wings is… a good way to build a competitive team? Who could’ve known?
Best Son of Karl
The former AHL guys and new arrivals have had such a positive impact on the Canucks that it only makes sense to give them power play time. Lo and behold, after Mikey Eyssimont was whistled for high-sticking Zeev Buium, the new look power play forces Jeremy Swayman into a big ol’ error.
Swayman tries to stop the dump in attempt by Fil Hronek, but doesn’t get there in time, merely slowing it down. Doing so inadvertently just makes it a whole lot easier for Evander Kane to throw a quick pass at the net for Linus Karlsson to deflect right into a yawning cage.
The moral of the story: sometimes it’s better to not try.
Best Zacha Tack
Even with the Canucks somehow carrying a lead off only 10 shots, the Bruins were still firmly in the driver’s seat. And it felt like only a matter of time before they took over again.
The Bruins would eventually catch the Canucks flatfooted on an odd-man rush, and it took three different (kind of) Canucks connections to pull it off. The first is Casey Middlestadt, who’s been a rumoured Canucks trade target a billion times in his career, including as recently as August.
Middlestadt enters the zone and sauces a pass to the trailing Nikita Zadorov, whose beloved Zaddy energy would really come in handy on the Canucks right now. With all the patience of Bobby Orr, Zadorov outwaits the rookie Buium and Lankinen long enough to slip a cross-ice pass over to Pavel Zacha, beelining for the net.
Remember last month when the Canucks were considering trading for Zacha? Well, if they had, they would’ve prevented this goal from happening through the butterfly effect. They sure must feel silly now!
Best Here Comes the Curtain

lol imagine giving up a spinning backhand pass for a goal to jeannot from kastelic. #canucks

— (@jbearz.bsky.social) 2025-12-21T01:38:10.856Z

If the Bruins’ second goal didn’t imply some luck might be running out, the third goal seemed to put a stamp on it.
The goal started in a very similar way to the last one, with Boston catching Vancouver on a three-on-two and both defenders, Myers and EP25, collapsing towards the puck carriers. Myers successfully poked the puck off of Tanner Jeannot’s stick, but it landed on the stick of Victor Soderstrom at the blue line. Soderstrom fed Fraser Minten near the left circle, then the Bruins put together a tic-tac-toe play executed with cold precision that ended with Jeannot ripping the puck past a helpless Lankinen.
That goal looked a little too much like the Canucks’ turning a team’s third line into looking like the Harlem Globetrotters for my liking. And everyone else’s.
Best Dragon Wing
The Canucks appeared to tie the game with another late period goal, after Fil Hronek blasted a puck with so much force it broke Eyssimont’s stick and bounced up into the air above Swayman’s head. Marcus Pettersson, in the middle of a very aggressive pinch, somehow managed to track the ricochet and gave the puck a little chicken wing kiss with his glove to deflect it into the net.
Unfortunately, using your hand to hit the puck into the net is – and this is true – not allowed by NHL rules. Shocking, I know.
Still, points for creativity.
Best King Linus

What a shot by Karlsson.#Canucks tie it at 3

— LesnielBC 🇨🇦 (@lesnielbc.bsky.social) 2025-12-21T02:14:33.619Z

Linus Karlsson IS the moment.
Karlsson’s evolution from a decent AHL regular to a certified NHL scorer has been one of the most shocking parts of this Canucks’ season. But it’s not just that he’s scoring goals, it’s that he’s doing it with such confidence and precision.
After the Bruins couldn’t connect on a zone exit outside their blue line thanks to Marco Rossi, there was Karlsson to scoop up the loose puck. That’s when the Bruins, while sealing off his passing lanes, made a fatal mistake. They dared Karlsson to shoot.
They did not live to tell the tale, as Karlsson’s shot handcuffed Swayman and landed in the net. And got Rossi his first Canucks point to boot!
This goal was so lethal, it brought out the Bronx cheers for Swayman on his next save from the TD Garden crowd. That’s a full team KO right there. You’ve broken the Bruins and their fans; it’s time to twist the knife.
Best Öhhhhhhhh Yeah
When the Hughes trade was announced, Liam Öhgren was almost cast aside as a throw-in, between his struggles to score any points in a Wild jersey and the way most people were hyped about Buium and Rossi. But he’s proven to be just as important an acquisition as his fellow Minny arrivals, and today he made the Bruins the next stop on his revenge tour.
Right off the faceoff, Öhgren got inside positioning on Hampus Lindholm and was so determined to score, he knocked Hampus over with his backside right as MPetey was getting a shot away at the blue line. Öhgren waved his stick in front of Swayman at the perfect time to deflect the puck back towards his blocker side.
With the way all the new Canucks have been playing, I’ve already forgotten about… what was his name again? I wanna say Quill?
Best East-West Conspiracy
Whenever two teams from separate conferences play each other, you can safely assume the fix is in. Neither team has a direct impact on each other’s season, so why not make everyone else mad by guaranteeing the full number of points possible?
That’s probably why the Bruins were able to gain the Canucks’ zone so easily, and why Andrew Peeke’s shot from distance “surprised” Lankinen and “accidentally” banked back into the net to tie the game late and send it to OT.
Don’t listen to authority; only you and I know the truth!
Best Almosts
Overtime solved nothing, but that doesn’t mean neither team came close.
Boston’s best chance came right at the start of OT, when a flubbed Brock Boeser pass ended up on the stick of Geekie behind the net. Geekie found Charlie McAvoy streaking to the net, but Brock caused enough of a chaotic slide for Lankinen to seal McAvoy off.
Then on the very next shift, Kiefer Sherwood linked up with Evander Kane for a rush chance that Swayman swallowed up.
Onto the shootout!
Best Ö T winner
Dave really likes Liam Öhgren. It’s easy to tell why.
Fourteen shooters stepped up to the plate in the shootout. Every single one of them could not score on Lankinen or Swayman.
That is, except one.
Öhgren’s shootout winner wasn’t a lucky bounce or a run-of-the-mill deke and shoot. It was as nasty as they get, drawing Swayman out looking like he was about to shoot before going to the backhand like a league vet.
Not even league scoring runner-up Morgan Geekie could replicate Öhgren’s success, and that’s how the Canucks won their fourth straight game.
Hockey makes zero sense, but we love it that way.
Best Tank Consolation Prize
If you were worried that the Canucks winning would affect the race for Gavin McKenna, I have great news for you.
All three of the teams the Canucks needed to win today – the Preds, Flames and Kraken – did their job, so Vancouver didn’t lose any ground in the lottery standings.
Now that’s what I call a win-win situation. Literally.
Best Christmas Wish List
Santa’s for sure bringing this kid a new bag.
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