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The Stanchies: Red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins top Canucks 3-2
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Arielle Lalande
Jan 26, 2026, 11:30 ESTUpdated: Jan 26, 2026, 12:33 EST
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Well, this game was a great time, until the dying seconds put a damper on things.
If you thought you were getting a laid-back Sunday matinee between the Canucks and the Pittsburgh Penguins, you were likely caught off guard by the levels of absurdity displayed.
This game had EVERYTHING:
More homecoming narratives than a Marvel movie, multiple called-off goals, Teddy Blueger deciding he hates his former team with a vengeance, the return of Bubble Boy, an obsession with the aging Cosby-Letang-Malkin throuple, and a completely needless injury sustained in pursuit of a game that was essentially already finished. 
It was the platonic ideal of a Canucks rebuild game; they come out solid, have a horrendous second period, just to bounce back in the third and only lose by a minimal margin that it easily could have been their win…but not quite. After Sunday’s great, if not odd, first period, an abysmal second period, and a phenomenal comeback effort in the final frame, this Canucks team is looking less pathetic and more deliberately mediocre. This is perhaps the first time the Canucks have acted remotely deliberate about anything in about six years.
Like it or not, the Canucks are exactly where they need to be right now; losing games, but maintaining some semblance of dignity. Dignity and respect, it would seem, have been hard to come by with this franchise in recent years. Can that be built back up from scratch, too?
Down with the Sickness
Lineup notes: Kampf, Raty, Willander out, Sasson and Joseph in. 
While David Kampf and Aatu Raty were healthy scratches, Tom Willander was most definitely an unhealthy scratch, as he is still sick. 
Oh, okay, great. The Canucks team tank is going well, and its entire locker room is probably harbouring some yet undiscovered disease about to be named Spanish Flu 2: Reloaded.
Best “He’s Beauty, He’s Grace”
None other than our very own chaos giraffe, Tyler Myers, set the tone for this game when he came crashing into Kevin Lankinen’s net like the stock market in 1929.
Granted, this ends up being an early save for Lankinen in this game, which is integral to building his confidence and setting him up for the next two and a half hours. 
Tyler Myers is trying to help by defending (hey, that’s the name of the position!) and intercepting Tommy Novak’s shot before it can reach Evgeni Malkin on the other side of the crease. What Myers fails to account for, however, is that he is skating backwards while Lankinen is about to make a lateral movement to make the damn save on Malkin himself. Unstoppable force meets immovable object. A minor collision ensues. Quick, someone call ICBC.
Baby, You’ve Got a Stu Going
There is a strong argument to be made that Stuart Skinner won this game for Pittsburgh, especially in the eleventh hour during the final frame. But we’ll get to this. For now, those of us who survived the 2024 playoff series with the Edmonton Oilers now have to experience flashbacks of Stuart Skinner. He may be out of the division, but he’ll never leave us. You’ll never get away from the sound of the goaltender from your nightmares, or whatever Stevie Nicks said.

Take this excellent scoring chance early on from Conor Garland. He picks up a nifty between-the-legs pass from Kane and heads right up in the greasy areas around the net where he often makes his home. Stuart blocks his attempt with a poke check and stands tall for the ensuing rebound. Oh, and some guy named Sidney Crosby made sure he was there to collect a breakout pass and redirect the action away from Skinner and towards the Canucks zone. Who does he think he is? 
Garland is still fairly fresh off an injury and had a handful of great looks throughout this game, but Skinner continually denied him. This was not even the only poke check Skinner made on Garland in this game. It’s cruel to do this to Vancouver’s resident attack dog/Scrappy Doo hybrid forward.
Best Return of the Prodigal Son
Although he would not get the start in net in this game, former beloved Canuck, bringer of the Arty Party, Artūrs Šilovs made his return to Vancouver. Šilovs, who was traded to the Penguins this past summer, won the Calder Cup with the Abbotsford Canucks last spring. While in town, he picked up his Cup ring, and also received a very well-deserved standing ovation at Rogers Arena.
Artūrs Šilovs balanced the pressure of the Vancouver market with being a young, developing goaltender so well, like the time he backstopped the Canucks through a multi-round playoff run when both Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith were injured. Remember that time? It might as well be eons ago…2024!
Second Best Return of an Entirely Separate Prodigal Son
You couldn’t blink without a mention of Penguins rookie Ben Kindel in this game, whether on the broadcast, online, or through the hyper-focused autonomous section of your brain that’s only attuned to following Vancouver-grown prospects.
Coquitlam’s own Ben Kindel, just 18 years old and drafted at 11th overall this past summer, made his hometown debut in Vancouver with the Penguins. He had over 100 family and friends in a suite at Rogers Arena, and he did not disappoint. He would end up scoring twice in the second period – more on this later – but Kindel came out strong from the very start of this game.
Easily shaking multiple players at a time and protecting the puck with your life like it’s the nuclear codes? There are shades of Quinn Hughes in so many young players who have come up in Vancouver area hockey. It’s just so strange that they are now in the league, too.
Now, it would appear that the Canucks did not take very kindly to being upstaged by the hometown kid. He may be a rookie, but the Canucks couldn’t care less. Later in the first period, Elias Pettersson laid a massive reverse hit on Kindel to stop him in his tracks and force him to the bench to catch his breath.
A moment for Pettersson, if we will. He was very quietly laying hits all over the ice and doing defensive Pettersson how he knows best. More of this, please – but also, find him linemates who will facilitate his offence. Whether those linemates will come while he is still on the Canucks or not…well, let’s not speculate.
Best First Goal…Sike!
Evgeni Malkin, in no way letting age or contract rumours dull his sparkle, and Tommy Novak feed the puck to Egor Chinakhov to open the scoring, and, unfortunately, Novak took out rookie Canucks defenceman Zeev Buium with the puck in the process. Buium went down the tunnel, and to avenge their injured comrade, the Canucks…challenged the goal for being offside.
Now, I was about to say that “What is a Canucks game at this point if not a humiliation ritual,” but the offside challenge was successful and the score returned to zero, so I take it back…much like that Penguins goal.
Worst Network Connectivity Issues
Garland gets a great opportunity on a rush. He opts to pass to Liam Ohgren instead, so Ohgren can get an opportunity where Skinner is open on his glove side. Ohgren, much like the WiFi on a WestJet flight, can’t connect.
Best Second First Goal…Sike!
For one shining moment, it seemed as if Conor Garland had scored his hard-fought and sought-after goal. Alas, no, it is called off for goaltender interference because Teddy Blueger was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their live exasperated reactions say it all.
If you’re keeping count, that’s two goals, one apiece for each team, both called back. The scoresheet stayed balanced at 0.
Best Bubble Boy Buium
Heading into the second period, Zeev Buium had rejoined the Canucks with the fishbowl get-up, ready to go, and ready to power through his puck injury. And to that I just say:
I’m kidding. Mostly.
If the running theme of this game was homecomings and hauntings, we were all reminded once again of the resemblance between Zeev Buium and Rick Tocchet during his Penguins heyday. You can take the man out of Pennsylvania, but you can never take the Pennsylvania out of the man…just don’t put him back in Vancouver again, please. No hard feelings.
Worst Bubble Boy Buium
Buium makes a risky decision on coverage and facilitates a 2-on-1 rush…against Vancouver. Evgeni Malkin scores, and it’s 1-0. I’m starting to think the bubble might be talking to Buium like the Green Goblin mask.

I Am Become Penguin, Destroyer of Cameras
Later on in the second period, Ben Kindel had already scored once.  That’s not the most interesting story, however; on Ben Kindel’s second goal of the period, he literally shattered the net camera lens. I can’t think of a better metaphor for how this year is going for the Canucks. They can’t even have a camera that doesn’t break. 
Jake Shakes the Monkey Off His Back
I actually can think of a more fitting metaphor for the Canucks season as a whole. It’s Jake DeBrusk’s messy, confusing goal – but damn, it still counts!
For several months, it has looked as if the inevitable heat death of the universe was going to come sooner than an even-strength Jake DeBrusk goal. To be clear, this goal was just his second 5-on-5 goal this season. 11 out of his 13 goals this season are power play goals. I do not even have a joke for that. I sincerely do not understand how this is happening to him. Jake DeBrusk is in the special teams torture nexus, despite him actively trying to score at even strength. It might just be an ultra-specific curse from a really vindictive Etsy witch. 
Best Sunday Serendipity 
And just like that, I wondered…how were the Canucks somehow back in this game?
The Canucks cut the deficit thanks to a Conor Garland pass to Filip Hronek, who showed off his powerhouse shot. Liam Ohgren got a piece of it, as did Teddy Blueger, and we had a good goal. In the immortal words of Bob Ross, a “happy accident.” This goal getting credited as a Blueger goal is like when you do absolutely no work for a group project, but the group includes you in the credits and you get an A regardless.
Despite this goal being a true gift from the hands of fate, you have to commend the Canucks for upping the pressure in the last minutes of this game and creating multiple scoring chances. They identified that the Penguins got a little too comfortable in their lead and took advantage of that. They weren’t so successful in that as to come off as bona fide underdogs, but enough to show they do have a pulse, after all. 
I Demand a Trial by Combat
In the dying moments of this game, with chaos and confusion around the net, a goaltender on the bench, and six Canucks skaters on the ice, Brock Boeser took an elbow right to the head from Penguins forward Bryan Rust. Boeser was able to get up and skate away gingerly. To give credit where even a smidge of credit is due, Rust himself seemed quite concerned, and both teams gathered around where the scrum had dispersed. The game was done, but for a second, you wouldn’t have even known it. 
I am no player safety expert, but it certainly looks as if there is an upward motion made there as Rust makes contact with Boeser. Then again, I am not entirely certain if the Department of Player Safety are player safety experts, either, given their track record.
Is Brock Boeser’s potential injury really worth losing a pointless game in a fruitless season for the team? Not really. At this time, there have been no updates on Boeser’s condition, although Adam Foote and a few select teammates had some choice words about the incident in their postgame comments.
It was an exceptionally depressing way to finish what was overall a solid, exciting, and engaging game. A full team tank – my apologies, a “strategic team rebuild” – does not warrant the intensity of a buzzer-beater battle in a playoff game. The Penguins had all but won that game already, and this was entirely unnecessary. Bryan Rust might need to attend whatever elbow safety school they put Jacob Trouba in this year.
Best jersey Botch
I’m continuing in the beloved tradition around here, but I have to say, this is some astute jersey science. This is a jersey beauty. It’s very avant-garde, very modern. Plus, it’s the perfect way to show you don’t play favourites when it comes to siblings – even though we all know you secretly do.

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