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The Stanchies: Canucks lose seventh straight with 6-3 loss in Montreal
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Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
The Stanchion
Jan 13, 2026, 00:08 ESTUpdated: Jan 13, 2026, 00:47 EST
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After one of the most listless performances of the season last Saturday, under the bright lights of Hockey Night in Canada against the Toronto Maple Leafs no less, it felt like a boiling point had been reached surrounding the Vancouver Canucks. Yes, the tanking/beatings would continue until morale improves, but a lack of trust in management/ownership still had some fans unable to fully embrace the direction of the team. The dagger of a “hybrid retool” hangs like a dark cloud over this franchaise, as over a decade of experiencing how this team has been run does tend to lend itself to being worried about where the next “win now” move is lurking.
It led to what I can only hope is a feigned ignorance about why people could possibly be upset about the team after all of the losing they’ve been doing, as if the current tank the team finds itself in was simply the plan all along. That after fighting against using the word “rebuild” as if life on this planet depended upon it, they should be celebrated for kind of acknowledging that yeah, hey, maybe they can do with a bit of building for the future. For now. For a short time at least.
So for those in the back, you absolutely do not need to celebrate this team finally, after being stuck in a bed with a high fever for weeks, bleeding out of their eyes and ears, finally agreeing to go to a walk in clinic after falling down the stairs.
To give the benefit of the doubt to this owner and this management team would be asinine. It would be akin to trying to pet the tiger at the zoo because “his eyes promised me he wasn’t going to bite me this time.”
And as much as Francesco Aquilini would seemingly want you to believe, paying to support the Vancouver Canucks is not a privilege. How else do you explain a group of people seemingly more thin skinned than your chemistry teacher when you ask them why they didn’t do something with their degree. How else do you explain their level of arrogance when questioned about their process, one that has resulted in a couple of playoff runs and not much more? They deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don’t have to. They have people skills. They are good at dealing with people. Can’t you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?
So yes, put me in the group of people that thinks after over 10 years of watching the same story play out time and time again, that I will need a little bit more from the Canucks to believe they are committed to a long term vision. Being forced at gun point to focus on the draft for once isn’t exactly the selling point they think it is. I’ve seen the “heavy lifting is done” declared once too many times to push all my chips in on a true rebuild.
Which means we will watch how this season plays out in terms of shipping veterans out and seeing what draft picks they can start piling up. If anything came from the loss against the Leafs, it was management seemingly doubling down that yes, they are looking to rebuild this season, even if it might not involve shipping out as many veterans as you’d hoped. I do think they are going to make smart moves for the future this season, it’s more about the year after that where I wonder how much fortitude they have for the long haul.
And for what it’s worth, the Canucks’ 6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens was much better than the contest on Saturday. For two periods the Canucks stayed in the game, and although the speed of Montreal clearly demoralized and destroyed any semblance of a defensive system the Canucks claim to have, there was at least effort there from Vancouver. The fact the game was tied 3-3 after two periods is a testament to their work ethic in trying to make their offensive zone forays matter, even if ultimately Montreal won the third period easily.
If anything, it was a great tank game. Show some spirit, keep up in the race, then watch as The Freeze races by you to win it easily. Gives you a bit of entertainment as the ship sinks, watching the band play on as the water starts spilling in.
Which is about as good as it’s going to get as we wait and see how the next few months play out.
Best before we begin
Kiefer Sherwood joined Thatcher Demko on the newly anointed walking wounded list, with Demko getting the “hey maybe we’ll see you again one day?” outlook and Kiefer getting the “1-3 weeks sure lines up with trying to trade him” timeline.
You also had Zeev Buium sitting this game out, and while I understand people want to see the kid play because why the hell not at this point, I also don’t think sitting out a game is going to hurt anything, either. Like I said in an earlier article, you could healthy scratch any single Canuck player and I would be like “sure sounds good why not” because honestly, why not. Adam Foote could announce he scratched Drew O’Connor because he didn’t like the pants he wore to the rink and I’d be on board, who cares right now.
The Canucks don’t need Buium to help them swarm a player and leave a guy open, lots of people can fill that role, that’s all I’m saying.
Best lets get it started in here
Nikita Tolopilo got the start for Vancouver, and he remains my favourite Canucks goaltender to watch over the last few years.
I’m not saying he’s the best, I’m not saying he is a bona fide starter, but from a purely aesthetic style, I like how he plays. He has this athletic, chaotic style that lends itself to highlight reel saves at times, even if it can lead to goals against at times. I just think he has the spirit of a 1980s goalie, and I am positive had he been born for that decade, he would have been out there matching Grant Fuhr pad stack for pad stack, wild glove save for wild glove save. In today’s world of almost robotic goaltending, I just like some of the “how the eff did he come up with that technique” he can bring to the table.
And while he ultimately got torched in this game, he started off making some fun saves? On the first shift where Vancouver let everyone know they were going to swarm the puck all night long, Tolopilo had to make a big save before he was even warmed up:
And speaking of new to the lineup additions, Vittorio Mancini made an appearance for the Canucks after being called up to the big club, making a slick backcheck to prevent a breakaway chance:
And then you had young Tom Willander shutting down a Cole Caulfield rush with a good physical check, followed up by Fil Hronek stopping a Lane Hutson move in its tracks with good positioning:
Now to be clear, this was the height of the Canucks defensive prowess on the night. I just wanted to point out that they came out of the gates looking engaged and trying to play smart hockey, even if it all fell apart by night’s end. This way when you talk about the game at work you can be like “hey the boys started out strong at least?” before going for a coffee and trying to remember what 2011 felt like.
Best against the tank operative
Taking Rutherford at his word about keeping some veterans around to guide the young players, I would put Conor Garland and Fil Hronek at the top of my “to keep” list. I just think they can perform even in the worst of seasons and always seem to keep a level head about them. On a human level, I want nothing more than for them to break free and enjoy a winning environment, as both men have now endured two losing franchises, but we can’t White Fang every player as much as we want to.
I will say that keeping Garland around does hurt Team Tank, as he automatically becomes a glue guy on any line he plays, to the point that he set up Brock Boeser for one of his best looks on net in weeks a few shifts into the game:
He is one of the few Canucks players who can handle the puck on their stick for a long period of time and doesn’t panic with it, slowing the game down until he can find an open passing lane. Here he enters the zone and instead of punting the puck in deep, he pulls up and finds Tom Willander streaking into the zone for a shot:
Does it feel bad when that’s one of the few rushing chances the Canucks generated on the night after watching Montreal generate approximately 47 rush chances on their first three shifts alone? Of course it does. But that’s just more proof that the right answer is team tank, as the Canucks simply do not have the depth of talent to keep up with most of the teams in the NHL.
Garland also garnered a handful of Selke votes for a reason, as he will do whatever it takes to make a defensive play, such as diving at the puck to make sure he can get a zone exit:
I think the market dictates which veterans you keep, i.e. if you get the right return you want, anyone is on the table, but all things being equal? Yeah, Garland and Hronek would be the guys I’d try and keep around to guide the younguns.
Best Raffi knows
There was a time when we all believed Tolopilo would get a shutout, partly due to Raffi revitalizing our childhood innocence in the belief that our parents would never get divorced, Dad just really likes sleeping on the couch. How else do you explain this ridiculous save on Ivan Demidov?
A couple of things to point out on this play.
  • That’s why I love watching Nikita play in net. Reaching back with his stick to make a paddle save? Low percentage play, a high percentage play of me squealing with delight and clapping my hands like I just saw a magic trick for the very first time.
  • I really, really enjoy watching Ivan Demidov play hockey. Super skilled player with speed that matches his hands and brains, which tends to happen more with top five picks. Right Vancouver? Right?
  • I really, really hate watching Evander Kane in the defensive zone. And the neutral zone if the puck is heading towards Vancouver’s side of the ice. Offensively? Dude turns on his Pavel Bure rockets. He sees a loose puck in the offensive zone that could lead to a high-danger shot on net? Nobody works harder. He turns into Aragorn on a quest to save the world, there is nobody you’d rather have on your side. But back the other way? Holy hell is he a train wreck. That lack of effort on Demidov would have gotten Planet Ice benched in beer league, let alone most of the teams in the NHL. Absolutely brutal optics from a veteran that is, whether he likes it or not, firmly stuck in a mentor role.
As the game progressed, however, you started to see a couple of things forming. You saw Tolopilo struggling to deal with screens in front of the net, and you saw Vancouver going full Jurassic Park as they started traveling in herds, overstuffing sides of the ice, allowing more and more open looks on net. Kaiden Ghule almost made it 1-0 Montreal when he found himself wide open in the slot after Vancouver drifted away from defensive coverage, only to hit the post behind a screen Nikita:
Was it a sign of things to come? Of course it was, you read the score, you know how this went down.
Best sike
Believe it or not, Vancouver opened the scoring in this game! Off the back of some strong board work from Linus Karlsson, Elias Pettersson was able to find Fil Hronek at the point for a shot, leading to EP40 finessing home the rebound:
The difference between this game and the Toronto game? That will to fight through traffic. Karlsson does a fantastic job of boxing out his check, and Elias Pettersson follows that up by fighting through his check to make sure he can get his shot on net.
Not a pretty goal, but the greasy kind of goal this team is going to rely on for most of the year. It might not be much, but it’s honest work.
Best playing with fire
While this game was entertaining, you just watched Montreal’s speed and knew Vancouver was going to struggle with it. The system Adam Foote uses seems to rely on a lot of man-to-man, where quick decisions need to be made on the spot, which we have seen lead to a lot of breakdowns with this roster. When Montreal applies speed to that scenario, it just seemed to overwhelm Vancouver at times, leading to the “swarm swarm swarm!” moments we’ve all grown so fond of.
And Montreal almost made Vancouver pay for it near the end of the period, when Vittorio Mancini moved down to cover Demidov after Linus Karlsson lost the foot race, leaving Oliver Kapanen wide open, where he just missed out on tapping a puck into an empty net:
Marcus Pettersson is slow to get back to make a play on Kapanen, as I assume he thought Mancini had the middle covered, but the end result is a shot that could very easily been a goal. And don’t get me wrong, breakdowns in defensive coverage happen on all teams, but with Vancouver, it’s the rate at which it happens, and the high level of chances they give up that leads you to last place in the league.
Best from bad to worse
Brock Boeser’s struggles continued on this night, as he was called for a hooking penalty after getting his stick into the hands of Philip Danault. And while I don’t love the amount of penalties they call for stick on stick crime, it’s something they call all the time in today’s NHL, and if you’re not fleet of foot like Boeser, it’s going to look even worse if you’re not moving your feet and leaning forward tugging your stick. Basically you’re giving the ref all the room in the world to make that call, which they did in this instance.
At least the Habs were good hosts and didn’t make Brock sit in the box too long, as they would score almost immediately on the following faceoff off a Noah Dobson shot into traffic:
Much like the Canucks’ earlier goal, it’s not much, but it’s honest work. Juraj Slafkovský literally just skates to the crease off the draw and sets up shop, as Marcus Pettersson chooses to remain a neutral observer rather than box out the Canadiens forward. Tolopilo is caught trying to peer around the screen and Dobson finds the back of the net.
To the Canucks’ credit, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, they at least pushed back in this contest. With the period coming to a close, Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson both did a fantastic job of drawing in multiple Montreal skaters, freeing up a lot of time and space for Hronek to unleash a nice clap bomb attempt:
It was a bit of older brother, younger brother vibe in this game, with Vancouver wanting to play with the big boys before ultimately being told to go to bed in the third period.
Still, it was entertaining to watch.
Best feel the need for speed
Noah Dobson was the next contestant on “oh that’s what a fast team looks like”, as he would skate right around PO Jospeh to start the second period, forcing Tolopilo into making a huge save:
You see the Canucks kind of squish together in the middle of the ice on that play, which causes PO to be caught flat footed when Noah Dobson makes his move around him.
That being said, Vancouver would be the team to score next, as Evander Kane would rush the net to cash in the rebound off of a Aatu Räty shot:
Again, we know Evander can skate hard and work hard. You can see him hustle his ass off on the forecheck, hurrying the pass, and causing the turnover that leads to the goal.
It’s just defensively, that is nowhere to be found.
Best fun while it lasted
If you thought Montreal was going to be stunned into a loss after that second goal from Vancouver, it only took under 10 minutes for them to forge ahead.
First up was Cole Caulfield getting denied by Tolopilo, only to see Vancouver struggle to get the puck out of the zone, leading to Nick Suzuki finding Alexandre Carrier for the Habs second goal of the night:
Mancini plays the resulting goal pretty poorly, as he ends up kind of standing around, covering nobody, before ultimately making a play on Suzuki and getting beaten with the pass. Ultimately it would help if a winger had covered Carrier moving in from the point, as I think Conor Garland was cheating a bit on the play, hoping for a zone exit to go his way.
Either way, it was a tie game.
Best make it quick
Montreal would the make it 3-2 before the goal announcement from the previous goal had even completed, as Tom Willander is caught playing high, leading to who else, Ivan Demidov, finding Slavosfky behind the young Canucks d-man, leading to a tap in for Carrier’s second of the night:
Long gone are defending the guts of the ice. All hail whatever the opposite of that is, but it probably involves metaphors about pooping that wouldn’t get by the editor.
Best believe in Mike
The Canucks were undeterred by this blown lead, however, as Elias Pettersson quickly generated a two-on-one rush where he looked off Linus Karlsson and took the shot instead:
Look, I’m just glad we live in a world in which EP40 took that shot there. In months past, he would have forced a pass through that would lead to a giant heavy sigh from me, so I thank him for just going for it. He still generated an odd man rush, so add that to the video resume they may or may not be sending out to teams looking into the possibility of a trade.
Never doubt MD White, though, as Drew O’Connor, the 5-on-5 stud himself, turn into Todd Bertuzzi to set up the the Canucks third and final goal of the night:
That pass from PO Joseph to set this play in motion is one of the best passes on the year from any Vancouver Canuck. Just an absolutely filthy piece of business on that play.
And DOC bursting through the Montreal defensive pairing of Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj to set up Max Sasson for the finish is the kind of shining light we need to help us get through these dark times. It also marked the third goal that Montreal defensive pairing was on the ice for, as the Canucks made the Canadiens pay anytime they deployed their third pairing.
Best enjoy it when we can
The reason I like Conor Garland is I feel like he would find any trick he possibly can to win a game of hockey. Size won’t hold him back because he is willing to ninja kick your stick away to keep possession of the puck:
I don’t have the stats to back this up, but I reckon he leads the Canucks in “are you sh!tting me” groans of annoyance from the opposition over the stunts he pulls. Garland is the guy who hides in the bathroom in Warzone with double shotguns, camping and waiting for you to walk through the door in the final circle.
Speaking of slick players, here is Demidov skating right around David Kämpf and unleashing a shot that almost trickles its way in:
Montreal is a fun team. When you add in their crowd atmosphere sounding like the sound of glass just hit the arena and Steve Austin is starting to walk out, and you can’t help but enjoy the game.
Best this is the end, my friend
We don’t have many more highlights to get to in the third period, as it is essentially Montreal scoring three goals and then locking it down.
Mike Matherson got the fourth goal of the night for Montreal, after four Vancouver skaters collapsed below the net, leading to Matheson getting off a near perfect shot over Elias Pettersson’s leg:
Tolopilo couldn’t track the shot, and it was a tricky one to boot, so I give him some leeway, but the Canucks goalie was definitely at fault on the Canadiens fifth goal:
At this point, I assume fatigue is kicking in, both mental and physical, as the young netminder faced over 40 shots on the night. When you add in a defensive coverage in front of you that is, at best, confusingly charming, I think as a goalie it just becomes a situation where you start second guessing everything you’re doing. Slafkovský shouldn’t score from that angle, but Nikita is caught moving to his right, leaving the top of the net open, and now Bob is your uncle.
Tolopilo would follow that up by making a huge save, though, as his 1980s spirit animal wasn’t about to be deterred by letting in five goals:
Oliver Kapanen is absolutely robbed, leading to him giving up on the game of hockey, because if you don’t score there, where else are you going to score, what’s the point of playing this game any longer, and oh wait no Kapanen scored a shift later:
Just another example of the Foote system at play, that high-level system that pedestrians who haven’t played in the NHL could not possibly comprehend.
From where I’m sitting, however, having Karlsson and DeBrusk chase Demidov, and then Hronek and Willander collapsing on Slafkovský leaving Kapanen wide open, seems less than ideal. At one point all four Canuck skaters (one was off on a line change) overload the left side of the ice, and Montreal makes them pay by moving the puck to the open side of the ice for the one timer.
Best at least we had fun
Vancouver would finish the night pushing for a goal, which I did honestly appreciate. At this point, you’re getting in reps and cardio during a tank like this, so it’s nice to see if Nils Höglander could finally get a goal:
He did not, but Elias Pettersson would then get a nice point shot on net that almost went in:
But ultimately didn’t go in either.
With the Canucks playing their second game of a back-to-back on Tuesday it doesn’t get any easier for the team. At this point, I am just hoping Höglander or Boeser get a goal if for no other reason I think mentally they could really use it.
Which is what a tank season is all about my friends. Hoping for small wins on the path to a top draft pick.
Even if one of those small wins is hearing the word “rebuild” from the top of the organization.

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