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The Stanchies: Canucks fall 6-2 to Mammoth as they crawl toward NHL Olympic break finish line
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Photo credit: © Rob Gray-Imagn Images
The Stanchion
Feb 3, 2026, 02:17 ESTUpdated: Feb 3, 2026, 02:46 EST
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After suffering a 6-2 loss at the hands of the Utah Mammoth, it’s safe to say both Vancouver Canucks players and fans alike are looking at that Olympic break finish line with a desperate longing in their eyes. It was a night that Annie Wilkes would have felt was a bit much, in which nothing much went right for Vancouver.
Not that there can be many letdowns in a season where you’re drowning in last place, it’s a bit like complaining about the menu options on the Titanic while it’s sinking. Sure, you’re going to drown, but was mashed potatoes too much to ask for? But it still felt like a bit of a stumble for a team that had put together two solid defensive games in a row.
We walk away from this loss with no new talking points. The veterans remain untraded, and with a trade freeze staring them down on February 4th, it doesn’t leave much time on that front. The Canucks lost, which was ultimately the right result, and we’ve already talked about that angle to death. Coach hurt young player development? Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick.
My biggest takeaway from this night of hockey in the NHL is just watching the games around the league and seeing so many exciting highlights, from Tage Thompson spinning his way to a spectacular goal, to old friend Quinn Hughes putting up three assists even if Brendan Gallagher did walk him like a poodle, to watching young BC born superstars Macklin Celebrini and Conor Bedard facing off in a showdown of both the future and the now.
And I didn’t even talk about the absolute filth that Mikko Rantanen unleashed on the Jets (RIP Luke Schenn’s soul).
The point is, I yearn for the day when the Canucks are exciting again because right now, they are downright unwatchable. Which, yes, comes with the process of rebuilding, I get that. But you just see all the talent around the league, and you wonder if maybe a 2-3 year rebuild is aiming a little too high for Vancouver. As much as a silver lining the play of Liam Öhgren has been for Vancouver, it pales in comparison to the rosters half the teams in the league are trotting out.
And no offence to Evander Kane, but I yearn for the day when you could watch someone fight Liam O’Brien, and it felt like it mattered, like it was for a greater purpose. Tell me Evander Kane isn’t oozing with the “hired mercenary who always turns on people but you have no other choice but to work with them, and oops, yep, they betrayed you” trope energy.
It’s just a team without absolutely zero aura right now, which makes some of these nights feel extra long, you know?
There wasn’t too much from Vancouver in this game, but a job’s a job, damn it, so let’s dive into it so we can file this game away under the “Hey remember that season Vancouver ended up picking third because they dropped two spots in the lottery?” folder.
Best careful what you wish for
I was initially disappointed that Nikita Tolopilo didn’t get the start in this game, as he earned it after his showing against Toronto, but after seeing the result, I am somewhat relieved he didn’t have to go suffer. Kevin Lankinen is a veteran; he knows not to get too angry when Tom Willander has two choices to make and surprises you with a third by covering nobody on an odd man rush:
To be fair to Tom Willander, maybe he saw Evander Kane covering Jack McBain in the middle and was worried Kane would let up on coverage (he did), but by doing so, he let Nick Schmaltz get his first of three goals on the night. Honestly, McBain almost tapped the puck in anyway, so in a lot of ways Willander’s instincts were right.
That being said, it was a bad defensive breakdown pretty early into the game, which kind of set the tone for the night. It wasn’t as bad as some nights have been; there was definitely an element of bad bounces working against the Canucks, but it also felt very much like a “you earn your good luck” night from Utah as well.
I just miss the days when Rick Tocchet had the Mammoth’s old city struggling to score a goal a game, you know? Everything was so much simpler back then.
Best shimmering moment amongst the gloom
Like crying while eating a frozen burrito eaten in the middle of the night as you decompress from the day, sometimes it’s the little things in life that get you through life. And on this night, Liam Öhgren was once again a bright spot on a season in which there have been oh so few of them.
As an added bonus, Conor Garland broke his 13-game pointless streak, sending the puck up so Liam could skate into it with speed, ending with a clinical shot for the finish:
A tip of the hat to Teddy Blueger for pulling the puck back to open up the passing lane to Garland in the first place, as the chemistry between Ted and Conor continues to spark here and there, reminding us of a time long gone. We talked about it during the homestand, but I really enjoy this trio as a line. I don’t think much of anything will put up wins on this season, but just in terms of watching a competent line doing competent things, these three will probably be near the top of the list for Vancouver.
And because life is about to get much, much harder for Kevin Lankinen in this article, here he is making a great side-to-side stop on Clayton Keller:
And in case you want to see the exact same shot, except a few minutes later, here is Clayton Keller once again sliding into open space and cranking another one timer like a young Chev Chelios:
Should Keller be able to continuously get open like this? Of course not. But as noted Canadian poet laureate Avril once said, sometimes life’s like this, uh-huh, uh-hugh, that’s the way it is.
Ohh, la-la-la-la.
Best chill out, whatcha yelling for?
Hey man, lay back, it’s all been done before.
Goals, that is.
Sean Durzi would quickly take care of that whole pesky “tie game” situation Vancouver found themselves in when he set up Nick Schmaltz for his second goal of the night off of a faceoff:
The worst part is that Schmaltz didn’t even have to do anything to get open like that, Filip Chytil just sort of “later homies” his way out of frame, while Tyler Myers had a decision to make, cover the middle or run to the corner to cover a dude, and you know our Chaos Giraffe can’t resist the pull of the corner.
And to be clear, that’s Chytil’s guy. Myers did nothing intrinsically wrong on the play; he released his guy off the draw and went to the net, and then assumed Chytil had Nick. If Myers jumps up to cover, he leaves Durzi all alone in the corner, which arguably isn’t the worst thing in the world, but this also kind of shows the zero-sum game the Canucks defensive strategies utilize most nights.
Lankinen probably also wishes he didn’t slide so far to his right, but honestly, this was a night in which everything was going against him. He should be happy a car didn’t run through the boards and hit him.
Best High Danger Fallacy
Sportsnet reminded us of a quaint January stat for Vancouver in which, you know what? They might be the most dangerous team in the NHL. By the numbers. Kind of.
Anyone who has watched this team knows they are not generating good-quality, high-danger chances. There is a difference between what Colorado creates and what Vancouver creates. The Canucks are very much in their ‘Nailed It!’ phase of their life in which nothing looks like the picture in the recipe book, despite their best efforts.
Aside from their first goal of the night, it was more of the usual from Vancouver, in which they flung the puck towards the net and tried to get a piece of it:
Again, that’s not the worst play from Tyler Myers and Evander Kane, but when that’s a high point of your offence, you know you’re in a bit of trouble.
Best slowly sinking
As the game wore on, you just felt like it was a night that was getting away from Vancouver. Cracks started appearing, and the chances began piling up for Utah, many of them self-inflicted wounds from Vancouver’s side of things.
Dylan Guenther almost made it 3-1 at one point when Marcus Pettersson inexplicably decided that a no-look backhand pass into the middle of the ice on the penalty kill was just the strategy needed at the moment:
That’s a bold play from the veteran Canuck who has struggled as much as anyone on the backend this season. I swear to God, Adam Foote’s system is slowly killing all of the defencemen on this team aside from Uncle Fil.
Zone exits just seemed to be a hill too high to climb for Vancouver, though, as Linus Karlsson would find out when he sent a pass that Chytil blew the zone on, and Defensive Oriented Elias Pettersson looked upon with sadness, before Uncle Fil had to save the day and block the shot:
This is life when you don’t have Quinn Hughes auto-generating 85% of your zone exits all by himself, a point further hammered home by PO Joseph, who couldn’t get the puck out of his zone even when he was within a few feet of it:
The only time PO Joseph should be fancy is when Spotify steps up and leans into his Iggy Azalea listening habits.
Or for the truly cultured people amongst us: Reba McEntire’s listening habits.
Best going for two
The good news is that Jonathan Lekkerimäki didn’t finish dead last on the team in even-strength ice time.
He finished the night second last in even-strength ice time with 8:28 minutes.
He finished just ahead of Filip Chytil, who didn’t return to the game after the second period due to injury.
Look, when you’re down in a game, you need your veterans out there to make sure it doesn’t turn into a 10-2 game; you have to keep it to a respectable six goals against. The kids don’t know that yet.
Best go get ’em kid
I feel like it’s a safe bet to say that Liam Öhgren could be a very useful roster player for a good team one day. He just has a high-end work rate that couples nicely with his natural skill, which shines especially bright on a team filled with veterans who can’t stop watching YouTube highlights of their playoff run from a couple of seasons back, wondering how it all ended up like this.
So, while there is something deflating about lifting Liam up like a young Lion King and presenting him to the crowd every time he has a competent shift, that’s sort of where we are right now: figuring out who might be part of the building blocks of the next regime.
Which is why we will enjoy moments like this, where he rushes in and takes on two Utah players and prevents them from making a zone exit, leading to an extended shift in the offensive zone:
Not the sexiest highlight…wait, you know what? Sometimes fundamentals are sexy, damn it. Sometimes being able to quickly count up your Cribbage score before anyone else is the height of sexuality, and I am tired of pretending it isn’t.
You had the nobs, Elizabeth. You forgot the nobs again.
Best adventure time with Evander
Planet Ice both giveth and taketh, mostly depending on which zone he’s in.
Offensive zone? Hell yeah, Kane is going to get his scoring chances, and heck, he might even hit a post after Garland saves Willander’s bacon on a back check:
But then, when you get into the defensive zone, the power of the ring becomes too much to bear, and Gollum Kane comes out, and now he’s lazily sweeping his stick in the general direction of someone, taking them down by shoving his stick betwixt their feet:
And while Planet Ice is in the box muttering about dirty hobbitses, here’s Mikhail Sergachev one-timing a puck off the leg of Marcus Pettersson, right past Lankinen:
The Canucks are kind of stationary on the penalty kill, but they’re still ok as a point shot shouldn’t be that scary. Except when it deflects off your leg as your season from hell continues.
Then, to add insult to injury, Mikhail Sergachev waves in the general direction of someone and absolutely no sells it:
Was it at Evander? Was it the players’ mothers who made the trip? Was it a genuine wave? Was it dripping in mockery?
We might never know.
Best defenseman see defenseman do
Clayton Keller saw Sergachev score by banking the puck in off a Canuck, and he was probably all “hell yeah, that looks awesome, I wanna do that”, so here he is banking a puck in off the skate of Defensive Guru Elias Pettersson:
The important thing to note is how much time Keller has to decide what he wants to do in life. Be a doctor? Be an actor? Score a goal? Anything was possible in that moment; Clayton never felt lighter in his life. Suddenly, the weight of the world was off his shoulders, and the only decision he had to make was who to fist-bump in celebration first.
Best here comes the pain
Utah did not relent in the second period, as Teddy Blueger got absolutely dog-walked by Schmaltz after PO Jospeh and DP25 took turns trying to out-polite each other on a line change.
“No, you go on.” No, no, you go off.” “No, no, I insist, you change first.” “My good man, I couldn’t possibly intrude upon your day like that.”
All of which led to Lawson Crouse narrowly missing a Schmaltz centring pass for a tap-in:
This was a night in which Schmaltz probably could have had eight points, so you do, in a way, feel lucky he only got the four.
Best that’s saying it lightly
JJ Peterka would then make it five for the Mammoth after Marcus Pettersson once again failed to clear the zone, leading to an extended shift for Utah ending in a goal:
The Canucks were chasing the puck the entire shift, and honestly, I just felt bad for Lankinen at the end of it all. He’s basically swimming in his net, praying the loud buzzer doesn’t go off again. There was something dystopian about watching him in net during the second period.
Best are you sure about that?
The good news for trade deadline enthusiasts is that Teddy Blueger notched his fifth goal in nine games after Conor Garland found him in the slot with a pass from the corner:
Garland and Blue Blue would lead the team in points with two each, which, hey, sure, sounds good. Nothing seems to matter this year, so I don’t know if this increases their trade value or if they are staying here forever. Who knows.
All I know is they still have some chemistry, as they would almost score later in the third period when Garland again set up Blueger in the slot from the corner:
There was once a time in which Blue Blue and Corolla were part of an elite third line unit that wasn’t relied upon to be the best trio on the ice.
Remember the Lotto Line?
Remember when Tyler Toffoli was a sign of things to come?
Good times, good times.
Best exactly as stated
After keeping Utah hemmed in their own zone and getting the dreaded “shift length” chevron, Vancouver would promptly feed the puck across the blueline and lose the offensive zone:
Weeeeeeee!
Best story time with Evander again
OK, let’s get back to Planet Ice. It’s the third period, and his team is losing badly. He’s been chirping the other team all night, but it doesn’t quite land the same when you don’t have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl around to back your sh!t talking up. It’s hard to “Scoreboard!” someone when David Kämpf is out there trying to go end to end.
So what do you do? You get angry and throw a big hit, as Evander did on Durzi in the third:
Sean Durzi left the game after this hit, so if you’re selling at the deadline, you lean into that. What a physical presence Planet Ice brings to a lineup, what a nice boost of offensive skill as well. No, no, don’t ask about defence, look at the hit, always the hit.
Kane then even went so far as to draw a penalty by going full Planet Ice and tripping Jack McBain off the faceoff and garnering a reaction worthy of sitting in the penalty box:
There is a level of Jarkko Ruutu in that that I can’t help but respect.
Unfortunately, the Mammoth killed off the penalty, and then we ended up right back at the start again, with Nick Schmaltz scoring his third goal of the night on a setup from Keller:
Uncle Fil goes for a pinch and gets beat, and then Utah executes the two-on-one perfectly.
That being said, Tolopilo totally stops that one, right? I am not saying he wins the game; I am not saying he doesn’t let in a lot of goals in this game if he started, but I am positive he stops this one particular play.
All of which brings us back to Evander Kane and him getting saved by the officials when they broke up Liam O’Brien trying to fight him:
Nikita Zadorov would have taken off his own skate and beaten the officials in order to get at O’Brien there, that’s all I am saying.
Still, you package some of these highlights from Kane, add some star wipes, and you can probably get a decent return at the deadline.
Best those were the days
Back when the Canucks had swagger.
Best new outlook
By the time the end of the game rolled around, Utah was straight stunting on the Canucks, pushing hard for the seventh goal:
Utah was just flat out the better team on the night. There is no other spin to put on it. We don’t need to dive into “what does this all mean??”
It’s just a simple fact that Utah was the better team on the night, and Vancouver had no answers.
And onwards we march.
Biggest worrying news
The question on everyone’s mind, is it concussion related?
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