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Canucks Game Day: Tolopilo returns to the crease for road trip opener vs. Flames
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Mar 28, 2026, 15:00 EDT
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The Vancouver Canucks (21-42-8) open a four-game road trip tonight when they visit the Calgary Flames (30-34-8) at Scotiabank Saddledome. Tonight’s game is a 7 pm face-off PT and is the late game on Hockey Night in Canada.
It’s Game 72 for the Canucks and is their first – and only – trip to Calgary this season.

What we know

The Canucks skated at the Saddledome Saturday morning and will make a handful of line-up changes for tonight’s game against the Flames.
For the first time in two weeks, Nikita Tolopilo will get the start in goal. He has not played since a subpar performance in a 5-2 loss to Seattle on March 14th. Kevin Lankinen has started the past five Canucks games. Up front, Curtis Douglas returns to the lineup after sitting out Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Douglas will take Max Sasson’s spot on the wing in the bottom six. And on defence, Victor Mancini gets back in uniform after being a healthy scratch for the past two games. Mancini will draw in for Elias Pettersson meaning that P-O Joseph will likely slide across to play the left side on the third pair.
The Canucks have dropped four straight in regulation getting outscored 18-6 in those games. The club mustered just 19 shots against the Kings on Thursday. In three of the last eight outings, the Canucks shot total has finished in the teens (16 vs. Ottawa & 15 against St. Louis).
Thursday’s loss concluded an eight game homestand in which the Canucks went 2-6 with victories over Nashville and Florida. Tonight will be the club’s first road game since March 7th in Winnipeg.
Since the start of 2026, the Canucks have struggled mightily away from home. They are 1-9-1 in their last 11 games as the visitor getting outscored 49-22 in the process. The team’s power play is 14.3% and its penalty killing is 60.9% over that span. On the season, Elias Pettersson and Max Sasson share the team lead with nine road goals while Pettersson is the team’s top scorer with 19 road points.
Tonight is career game 999 for veteran winger Evander Kane who is targeting Monday in Vegas as his one thousandth game.

The Opponent

The Flames fell 3-2 in overtime to Anaheim on Thursday night. Mikael Granlund capped his hattrick with the game winner with one second remaining in OT. Blake Coleman and rookie Matvei Gridin had the Flames goals while Devin Cooley made 30 saves in net. The loss snapped Calgary’s four-game win streak, but the Flames have points in five straight (4-0-1) with four of those five requiring overtime including each of the past three.
Like the Canucks, the Flames are rebuilding after peddling veterans Nazem Kadri, MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson ahead of the trade deadline. Despite being gone for three weeks, Kadri still leads the NHL’s lowest scoring team with 41 points. Veteran captain Mikael Backlund leads the active roster with 39 points while Morgan Frost and Blake Coleman share the team lead with 17 goals.
A big part of Calgary’s offensive struggles is a 31st ranked power play that is operating at 15.9% for the season. The Flames also have the fewest points from defencemen in the league (113).
Dustin Wolf will make his 50th start of the season in goal. He has won his last two starts and is 21-25-3 on the season with a 2.95 GAA, a .898 save percentage and two shutouts. The Flames line-up will include Hunter Brzustewicz who was a third round Canucks draft pick in 2023. He has played 26 NHL games but tonight will be his first against the team that drafted him and dealt him to the Flames as part of the package that returned Elias Lindholm in January 2024.
A win in regulation tonight by the Flames will ensure that they will finish ahead of the Canucks in the overall league standings.

News and notes

The Canucks and Flames have split their first two meetings of the season. Vancouver posted a 5-1 win on home ice on opening night. The Flames responded with a 5-2 victory on November 23rd. On November 18th, the Canucks were seven points ahead of the Flames. Entering action tonight, they trail Calgary by 18 points.
The referees for tonight’s game are Graham Skilliter and Francois St. Laurent. With this assignment, Skilliter joins Tom Chmielewski at the top of the list with eight Canucks games worked this season.
Don’t forget to join Rink Wide Vancouver for full postgame coverage after this game – and every game. The livestream starts moments after the final buzzer. Rink Wide is the place for full postgame analysis and discussion. Contribute to the live YouTube conversation with your thoughts on the game and support our charity partner – the BC Mental Health Foundation – with a Superchat. 
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