we can't give petey a goal? not even as a treat NHL?
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The Stanchies: Canucks and Kings combine for three disallowed goals in 2-1 overtime win for LA
Photo credit: © Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Nov 30, 2025, 12:20 ESTUpdated: Nov 30, 2025, 12:21 EST
On Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in overtime, and you’d be forgiven for not paying much attention to it.
While that was going on, the Whitecaps won the MLS Western Conference Final 3-1 over San Diego FC, and they’ll face Lionel Messi and Inter Miami for the MLS Cup next Saturday. At the same time, the Vancouver Goldeneyes will be playing the New York Sirens in their first game at the Pacific Coliseum (or whatever it’s called by then) since opening night.
So it’s worth asking the question: do the Canucks really matter all that much in the local sports zeitgeist right now? The answer is ‘not really’.
Saturday’s game against the Kings didn’t do much to disprove that, in a low-event effort where neither Vancouver nor LA could do much of anything interesting, besides having three goals waved off the board in the first ten minutes.
This game was boring, defensive hockey at its finest. Nobody shone for either team, aside from maybe the goaltenders, and even they didn’t have to do much. This game was missing the kind of energy that Conor Garland usually provides, but he missed this game due to an injury.
In the end, the Canucks salvaged(?) a point out of a very miserable game and a 1-1-1 record out of their California road trip. To call this trip middling would be a little on the nose.
Let’s dive into this one, shall we?
Best almost goal
loved the shimmy on the sideboards and then the attack of the net. EP40 gets that puck 98.7% across the goal line
The Canucks almost got off to a rip-roaring start. Almost.
Moments into the game, Elias Pettersson got the puck near the circles and made a bee line for the front of the net. EP40 cuts around Anton Forsberg and tucks the puck between his skate blade and the post. 1-0 Vancouver, right?
There was just one problem: the puck only crossed the goal line 99.2% of the way. The other 0.08% was firmly planted in the red paint.
Surely this won’t become a theme of this game.
Best Groundhog’s Day
Let’s call it 1-1 and go from here #Canucks
This is more of a battle of who has a better video coach #Canucks
— Atinna Gunawan (@atinnag.bsky.social) 2025-11-30T03:30:46.797Z
It looked like the Kings were going to respond to the Pettersson no-goal quickly themselves, when one-time Canuck Andrei Kuzmenko took the puck away from his former linemate EP40 and set up Trevor Moore for a goal in the slot.
But Adam Foote’s bench calls for a coach’s challenge, and it turns out the Kings were offside. No goal again!
Look, neither of these teams is a club we can afford to be taking goals away from. Just let them both count, and everyone’s happy. Is that too much to ask?!
Best Stuck in a time loop
Matt Duchene needs to pay
Two minutes after Moore’s goal was called off, Aatu Räty got the puck in the Kings’ zone near the boards and scored off a deflection in front. Try calling that one back, refs!
And that’s exactly what they did. The Kings challenged that Jonathan Lekkerimäki was off side before the goal. With the Toronto War Room looking at the blue line like they’re investigating the JFK assasination, they waive off their third goal of the night.
I don’t know what exactly we all did as a collective to deserve this hockey themed reboot of Groundhog’s Day, but I’m checking the CanucksArmy books to see if we can fit an Etsy witch into the budget before Tuesday.
Best play that wasn’t a goal getting called back
Soooo we just watched a replay showing lankinen making 3 saves and yet they’ve only credited him with one save? Lol
It took the Kings half a period to get their first shot on goal. But when they did, they turned it into three shots extremely fast.
After Alex Turcotte got in behind the Canucks defense, he found Corey Perry on top of the crease. Perry got a couple whacks at the puck that Kevin Lankinen shut down before Jeff Malott got the final shot that Kevin held out with his blocker.
For Lankinen’s first night back in net after missing the last two games for personal reasons, it went pretty well. The Kings did a good job of easing him back into action with only 23 shots on goal all night. Very considerate of them!
Best rookie showing
Tom Willander seems to be improving game over game at the NHL level.
He’s still got a ways to go in terms of breaking through as a regular top four defender, but he’s making his presence known. Today Alex Laferriere was introduced to him when he tried to push his way past Willander towards the net.
Willander hounded him all the way to the corner and didn’t let up until Laferriere lost an edge and slid into the boards.
When you piss off a forward so much he tries to elbow you after getting back up, you know you’re doing something right.
Best Legend Status
#Canucks A one hour first period. Disapprove.
Before this year began, Anze Kopitar announced that 2025-26 would be his final NHL season. And what a career it’s been for the Slovenian. Two Stanley Cups, two Selke Trophies and four Lady Byngs are just the tip of the iceburg for a centre who came to define a generation of Kings hockey.
So it’s only fitting that he’d put the Kings on the board in this game for real this time, picking up the puck from Adrian Kempe with all five Canucks surrounding him. Somehow Kopitar managed to whip a slingshot through quintuple coverage and past Lankinen’s glove.
It’s almost a relief that anyone scored in this game, because it wasn’t looking good for a while.
Best #1 Team in Town
Remember Whitecaps are now Canada's team. You're a traitor to your country if you don't cheer for them.
The lack of relevant tweets about the Canucks game during the rest of this game really spoke to how much the Whitecaps have taken over the local sports cycle. And they absolutely deserve their moment in the sun.
Building a team that’s only aim is to win a championship and does it with methodical team construction built over years? What a novel concept.
Best Finding Common Ground
Messi vs Muller is going to be cinema next week. Full marks to the Vancouver Whitecaps, who continue to impress. Fun squad that just works their ass off.
Best ‘Try and take this goal away’
Can't disallow that one !! #Canucks tie it .
Kane puts #canucks on the board after sitting in the box again 🚨
— CZ 🇨🇦 💙 🇺🇦 (@choiceznewz.bsky.social) 2025-11-30T04:22:26.707Z
Evander Kane being in the penalty box is nothing new.
Evander Kane immediately getting out of the penalty box to contribute with a goal? That is new.
After getting called for hooking Joel Edmundson 43 seconds into the second period, Tyler Myers blocked Brandt Clarke’s last shot on the power play and the loose puck dribbled over to Drew O’Connor. Run-DOC spotted Kane jumping out of the box and put a perfect pass down Main Street.
All Kane had to do was snap it past Forsberg’s blocker. Tie game.
If those other three goals from the first period had counted, this game would’ve ended in a 3-2 Canucks victory with this goal as the game winner.
Instead, we didn’t get another goal until overtime. Or many prime scoring chances.
Best little victories
Lekkerimäki finds his way onto PP1 halfway through the second period. #Canucks
You don’t call Jonathan Lekkerimäki back up to the big club to not use him on your power play. And with the power play not having much success in the early going, they finally gave the people what they wanted in the second.
https://media.giphy.com/media/SWRKifsZmcwV2oTJAf/giphy.gif
Look at him taking directions from Quinn Hughes. He’s ready!
The Canucks still didn’t score with him out there, but progress isn’t linear!
Most confusing review
If reviewing three goals wasn’t enough, how about we add a botched penalty review in just for fun?
Marcus Pettersson took a beating on this play. One part was the puck glancing off the side of his face, and the other was Quinton Byfield high-sticking him at the exact same time.
The refs, in their infinite wisdom, decided that even though the Dragon was clearly hit in the face by a stick, since the puck cut him open that negates any penalty being called.
“But that doesn’t make any sense if he was still high-sticked.” Logic is rarely something that factors into these decisions.
Best short recap
#Canucks vs Kings are a bit ho hum viewing
I can’t say this wasn’t expected.
The Jim Hiller coached Kings have always played a less than entertaining brand of hockey. The Canucks under Adam Foote might not be as defensively structured as Rick Tocchet’s, but they still don’t have a lot of high-octane offence either.
The third period of this game was a slog, with very few scoring chances at either end. The Kings’ best opportunity for a winner was this Joel Armia half breakaway that Lankinen swallowed up.
The closest the Canucks came to a winner was Max Sasson taking a pass from Quinn Hughes and cutting through the slot for a backhander that Forsberg stopped and the Kings swept the rebound away before a Canuck could get to it.
With neither team seemingly interested in a regulation win, it was on to overtime.
Best Close Enough
Okay who's scoring the winner, correct answer makes the Stanchies
— Lachlan Irvine (@lachinthecrease.com) 2025-11-30T05:47:55.000Z
Best Team Player
Elias Pettersson did a little something for everyone today. He nearly scored a goal in the beginning of the game with the kind of confidence classic EP40 does. And just when his biggest haters were running out of reasons to complain, he blew a tire in the neutral zone and nearly gave Kevin Fiala a breakaway.
Lukcily for Petey, Brock Boeser put together one of his best defensive plays ever to bump Fiala off the puck, and then Lankinen finished off with a giant lunging poke check to Quinn Hughes.
The chaos finally showed up, it just took a while to get here.
Best no one’s happy here
I'm team tank but bummer
— Kyle Freyasfaðir (@kylekaybee.bsky.social) 2025-11-30T05:54:50.524Z
Overtime losses are the worst results for everyone, regardless of what direction you expect the Canucks to go. If you’re going to get this far, you might as well win. Instead, the Canucks played their usual passive overtime strategy and today it backfired on them.
After EP40 lost an edge in the Kings end (again) and Kiefer Sherwood pinched a little too far in, Fiala and Kempe got away on a 2-on-1 charging towards the net. As Sherwood slid in like Superman in desperation as Fiala cut into the slot, he opted to keep the puck and hit a trailing Quinton Byfield with a pass. Byfield tried to one-time the puck, but it perfectly glanced off the inside of his blade to Kempe circling the net.
With Lankinen swimming and EP40 doing his best Alex Edler impression, Kempe held onto the puck for long enough to change the shooting lane and hit the open net, mercifully bringing the game to an end.
Or maybe not, because everybody’s favourite game show ‘Is That A Legit Goal?” still had one last round to play. The Situation Room checked for goaltender interference, and for the first time all night, they decided to actually allow a goal to stand.
I think that decision could’ve gone either way, but letting the game end was easily the most merciful choice. No one needed more of this.
Best Canucks Out of Context
That face when the cashews are all gone.
Best Comparables
what if every team in vancouver wins a championship this year except
The Lions already lost this year, but at least they made the Western Final!
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