The Stanchies: Sherwood goes hat trick-or-treating in Canucks’ win over Blues
Photo credit: © Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Oct 31, 2025, 07:25 EDTUpdated: Oct 31, 2025, 08:47 EDT
Let me tell you a scary Halloween story. Get your favourite candy out as I light a campfire and turn on my flashlight.
It’s about a demon that the hockey gods send to torture NHL teams, taking different players’ legs. Their arms. Even their souls!!
They call it… the Injury Bug. And the Vancouver Canucks have endured its wretched curse all October.
There was only one man impervious to its powers. A man so powerful, he could will an entire hockey team to a victory they probably had no business getting. His name was Kiefer Sherwood, but that part’s just a legend… or is it?
The way this game in St. Louis was progressing, it sure looked like the Canucks were about to be on the wrong end of another steamrolling at the hands of the Blues, their second in as many weeks. They lost Brock Boeser right out of the gate and gave up a goal four minutes in — the usual Canucks experience we all know and tolerate. Then the new NHL goals leader put the entire Vancouver roster on his shoulders and carried them to an eventual shootout victory by scoring all three Vancouver goals.
Even some recent underperformers made their presences known. Drew O’Connor picked up a pair of assists on the night. Even Evander Kane almost scored! And Kevin Lankinen, who started by allowing a pair of goals a polite person would call ‘suspect’, ended up a bona fide hero with a 36-save night and shutting down all three Blues shootout attempts (it was more like two, but don’t worry about it).
This game had to be seen to be believed. And that’s what we’re here for, because some spooky stories have a happy(ish) ending.
Worst Curse
Bruh 30 seconds in and we lost Boeser #Canucks
Boeser injured and now off ice. We are CURSED #Canucks
This game could not have started any worse for the Canucks and everybody watching.
The starting lineups had barely started flashing across the screen when Brock Boeser took a D-Petey clapper right to the Boesers and crumpled to the floor.
It’s been an extremely hard go for Boeser of late, and his night ended just 33 seconds in. Adam Foote said postgame that Boeser should be back for Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild, but past us didn’t know that.
For all we knew, they were wheeling in another bed at Sami Salo General.
Best the murderer is in the house!
Every thirty seconds, a Canuck gets injured. Please adopt a Canuck today
Raty down the tunnel🏳️ suffering #Canucks
— Optimistic Canuck (@optimisticcanuck.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T00:45:27.850Z
Boeser wasn’t even the only Canuck who couldn’t avoid danger today. The others were just fortunate enough to keep going.
The Canucks’ first power play of the night was due to Logan Mailloux high-sticking Drew O’Connor under the visor near the eye. O’Connor thankfully wasn’t cut, but it looked bad in the moment.
Fast-forwarding to the end of the first period, when Aatu Räty blocked a Blues one-timer and came up wincing.
He left for the locker room early, but came back for the second period, letting everyone breathe a small sigh of relief.
Best Sopel Opera
at this point why trade for Pavel Zacha when he's going to get injured simply by bending over to pick up a cracker as a member of this #Canucks roster
Best Spooked
.500 save % isn’t going to do it Kevin#canucks
*tries to flip to World Series* oh right, that’s tomorrow
It didn’t take long for bad times to get worse.
The Blues’ third line of Pew Pew Suter, Oskar Sundqvist and Dylan Holloway went to work, hemming in the remnants of the EP40 line in the corner. Holloway was able to find some open space right as Sundqvist won the puck battle and fed him the pass. D-Petey left Holloway a little too much shooting room and screened Lankinen long enough for the puck to go right through the wickets.
Even with the screen in front, this goal was definitely not the way Lankinen wanted to start his night. And there’s few people under more pressure to find their A-game again. Wonder if he will!
Best Superman costume
Imagine the Canucks without*checks notes*Kiefer Sherwood
— Patrick Johnston 🇨🇦 (@risingaction.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T01:19:44.884Z
Yes Sherwood ppg #canucks tie game!!!! 💙💚💙
— CZ 🇨🇦 💙 🇺🇦 (@choiceznewz.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T00:33:42.672Z
Kiefer Sherwood didn’t ask to become a superhero. He just puts on his cape and flies to wherever he needs to be to save the day.
This goal is largely the work of Evander Kane, which is a positive change of pace. Kane barrels into the Blues’ end after the puck and jams it on goal when Jordan Binnington was expecting a wraparound. As the puck bounces out in front of the net, Sherwood is there to whack it in before nearly sucker punching Alexey Toropchenko in celebration.
It’s a good thing he didn’t, because Sherwood’s more powerful than a locomotive. And that penalty would’ve been annoying to deal with.
Best Villain
Sherwood’s amazing night to come might not have played out that way if Logan Mailloux had gotten his way.
Mailloux tried to take Sherwood out of the game early with one of the most reckless trips I’ve ever seen, sticking his skate blade directly out towards Sherwood’s leg to make contact during a dump-in.
If you knew anything about Mailloux coming into this game, you’d know that the well being and safety of others isn’t exactly something he considers important. This is par for the course.
Best rock bottom?
Snuggerud has 4 on the season. 3 of 'em vs #Canucks
Kevin Tankinen
Jimmy Snuggerud is more than just an incredibly fun name to say. He’s also turning into something of a Canucks killer. When he shows up to Halloween parties, he’s dressed as Milan Hejduk.
Just before a Marcus Pettersson penalty from the first period comes to an end, Snuggerud is sprung by Cam Fowler on a break in the second. Despite shooting from a bad angle and distance, it’s still enough for Snuggerud to pick the far corner beat Lankinen’s blocker cleanly. 2-1 Blues.
Lankinen seemed to take this goal extremely personally, because from this point on the switch flipped.
Best Legacy Game Redux
Sherwood a one man team. Tie game #canucks
Keeefer – Sherrrrwood!#Canucks
— John Jacobsen 🇨🇦 (@johnj24.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T01:19:43.625Z
It’s not often we get to see the reverse Milan Hejduk show up in a Canucks uniform. But like Snuggerud has been a problem for Vancouver, Sherwood is doing the exact same thing to the Blues. Four Vancouver goals in two meetings to this point, all of them his.
This one was largely the result of St. Louis’ defensive strategy, which can only be described as “if you’re here, who’s flying the plane?!” None of the five Blues on the ice realizes Sherwood is wide open in the neutral zone until Drew O’Connor has already made the lead pass.
Sherwood fakes the initial shot, Binnington bites, then Sherwood tucks the puck in on his backhand like he’s Connor freakin’ McDavid.
Heck, at this point, Connor McDavid wishes he was Kiefer Sherwood.
Best Metaphor
lmao that sasson breakaway is pretty much the epitome of #canucks luck.
Shorthouse saying Sasson #Canucks
Max Sasson got off to a hot start after being called up to the Canucks, but he’s cooled off a little of late. So when he blocked Tyler Tucker’s shot from the blue line and took off on a breakaway, it looked like he was about to be rewarded for his efforts and give his team a surprising lead.
Then his stick snapped in half on the shot, like a cheap fake sword you bought from Spirit Halloween.
Yes, his stick likely broke when he blocked the initial Tucker shot, but it still wasn’t a banner moment for the CCM JetSpeed FT8. (#notsponsored)
Best Witch Hunt
At this point I would like lankinen to serve his own penalty #canucks
It’s always easy to blame the goalie when things aren’t going right for your team. And Lankinen has definitely earned some of the fault for the results this year. This tripping penalty didn’t endear him to anybody, especially Brayden Schenn.
HOWEVER. In my admittedly slightly biased opinion, this is an unfair penalty. You can literally see Schenn cutting through the blue paint — Lankinen’s space he’s entitled to — and taking the goalie stick with him. Schenn just lifts his right leg to make it look like he’s not getting in the way. If your leg is hovering over someone else’s doorstep, you’re still on their property.
Either way, Lankinen came up huge the rest of the way. Some of his biggest stops of the night came in the final 30 minutes, starting with this odd-man rush that Pius Suter decided not to pass on.
But his biggest stop of the night came early in the third period, when he robbed Nathan Walker point-blank with a sliding save. The Blues were swarming the Canucks at this point, and if not for saves like these when it mattered, the game would’ve been over a lot earlier.
The Blues thought they were leaving this game with a lot of treats. Lanks gave them nothing but tricks when it mattered.
Best HE IS HIM
🧢🧢🧢 Sherwood!!!#Canucks
— Rhonda Cates (@rhondacates.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T02:08:19.737Z
Two games ago, a certain Canuck scored two goals against the Edmonton Oilers, including the OT winner. Wyatt dubbed it the Kiefer Sherwood game.
It turns out that was just the preview. THIS was the full movie.
Drew O’Connor plays the role of the facilitator again, in a quietly great game for him. Run-DOC enters the zone off the rush and makes a crisp drop pass to Aatu Räty, who gets stick checked at the right faceoff dot by Pavel Buchnevich.
With Buch and Cam Fowler covering Binnington’s sight of the now bouncing puck, Sherwood steps in behind them all and fires a shot that rings off the corner of the crossbar and into the net. Sherwood has himself a hat trick, the Canucks have their first lead of the night, and legend has it, Binnington is still searching for that puck behind him.
With all the garbage the Canucks have dealt with already in this young season, this moment felt amazing. If I had told you before the season started that Kiefer Sherwood would be tied for the NHL lead in goals at the end of October, would you have believed it? Of course you would have, because Sherwood IS the Vancouver Canucks.
And, equally importantly, now I have something to hold over Wyatt as the only Stanchies writer with a Sherwood goals-per-game average above 1.00.
Best I say he does it
Kiefer Sherwood is now on pace for 62 goals. Like...what? #Canucks
Only four Canucks have reached 50 or more goals in a season. Those players are Pavel Bure, Pavel Bure, Alex Mogilny, and Pavel Bure.
If Kiefer changes his last name to Sherwoodov, the fifth player might be a lock.
Best Revenge Pew
Suter scores on the PP. Canucks PK misses, uh, Suter.
Why why why didn’t they resign Pew Pew??! #Canucks
Look. It was only a matter of time. You knew it, I knew it, the Canucks knew it. Pius Suter was always going to score a goal against the Canucks this season.
He didn’t wait long to pop the balloons from Sherwood’s hat trick goal. Reaching the dying moments of another Marcus Pettersson penalty (not a great night for him), the Blues took advantage of the Canucks’ inability to clear the zone and crashed the net as Fowler took a shot from distance. Lankinen is able to fight off the traffic on the initial shot, but the rebound bounces perfectly to Suter, who’s able to get inside positioning on P-O Joseph to knock the puck in.
For him to show up clutch for the Blues, right at a point when the Canucks could really use a Pius Suter type player, was just rubbing salt in the wound.
Best call the FBI!
evander cane ALMOST did something right for once #canucks
how many times do u think a goal has been called for goaltender interference meanwhile the goalie afterward is like “phew, i was never gonna have that either way”
The Canucks very nearly won in regulation, until controversy popped up. And what player is as familiar with controversy as Evander Kane?
Vancouver’s go-to strategy for shots from the blue line has continuously been to shoot towards a player near the hashmarks and get a deflection in front. And that’s exactly how P-O Joseph’s shot got deflected by Kane initially before he gets his own rebound past Binnington for his supposed first goal as a Canuck.
But the Blues saw something to challenge; namely, goalie interference caused by former Blue MacKenzie MacEachern bumping into Binnington and Justin Faulk at the same time.
Now, as funny as it is that this happened to Kane of all players, I do think this goal should’ve stood. For one, Kane’s shot comes long after the initial contact and, maybe more crucially, Binnington doesn’t react to MacEachern. No complaints to the refs, no look of anger — he’s just resigned to the fact that the score’s 4-3.
But don’t worry, I’m sure Kane has already called in a favour from his most recent dinner guest to get this goal overturned after the fact.
Anyways, off to extra time we go!!
Best turn of events
Honestly, being down half our roster and being outshot by 20 and getting to OT is not bad... #Canucks
Overtime solved nothing, but the fact that they got there at all was a minor miracle. And just to prove the tides were turning, Lankinen shut the door on his former teammate Pew Pew.
Time for a shootout.
Best curse breakers
#CANUCKS FOUND A WAY!
— Erin Butler (@eleighbutler.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T02:54:09.561Z
That was a character win. #Canucks.
The shootout had two heroes for the Canucks. Three, if you count Brayden Schenn doing them a solid.
First and foremost, there’s Lanks, who stopped Jordan Kyrou and Snuggerud, before getting to witness Schenn completely lose the handle on the final attempt shot.
Players and fans call that ‘bad luck’. Us goalies call it ‘aura farming’.
The second hero was Jake DeBrusk. It had been a quiet evening for Jake n’ Bake, but he rose to the occasion at the perfect time.
This is a gorgeous little shootout move, where DeBrusk pump fakes at the hashmarks to get Binnington to drop early, opening up all the room on the blocker side DeBrusk needs to casually lift the puck over the tendy’s arm.
And just like that, the curse of the backup Stanchies writer is over. Exhale, British Columbia.
Best Funk of 40,000 years
This Halloween I'm going as The Curse of the Vancouver #Canucks.
— Steve Burgess (@steveburgess53.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T01:34:26.696Z
Honestly would make for a terrifying costume. My pitch is dressing as the post that Nathan Lafayette hit.
PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS
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