On Wednesday night, the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames in preseason action in what was the Canucks’ second tune-up game as they prepare for the start of the regular season on October 9th. The final score was 3-1.

As noted in Instant Reaction, Filip Chytil looked a step above the rest as the visiting Flames sent an inexperienced group to Abbotsford for the game. Thatcher Demko looked sharp when he was tested. Victor Mancini turned in another strong preseason effort and scored his second goal in as many games. Tom Willander enjoyed the best effort we’ve seen from him in a Canucks uniform. All in all, it was a good night.

Unfortunately, Nils Höglander’s departure during the second period leaves a dark cloud over the game as a whole. Höglander left after a seemingly innocuous shift where he took a couple of bumps, but nothing that appeared too serious in the moment.

Höglander was seen leaving the arena in a walking boot after the game, according to TSN’s Farhan Lalji.

Post game, Canucks head coach Adam Foote didn’t have much of an update, but did confirm that it’s a lower-body injury for Höglander.

“Lower body. They’re going to evaluate it when we get back. We’ll find out [more] tomorrow or when the docs see him. Hopefully it’s not going to be too much [time missed].”

Foote also talked about the Canucks’ young defencemen, who were a big part of the story once again.

“They’re good. I mean, they’re all working hard. The two came from them tonight. Mancini made some good plays. You know, he’s got that explosiveness and he got those goals, but there’s little things that I think [assistant coach Kevin] Dean will really help him with, the little things that he’ll be able to clean up.”

On top of Mancini, Tom Willander stood out in a good way. His puck retrievals were as good as we’ve seen from him since camp started, and last night’s game felt like a major step in the right direction for the Canucks’ top defence prospect.

Finally, Foote commented on the performance of Thatcher Demko:

“He’s got good hands, but if you go back to last season, when he came back up from his injury, compared to now, he’s around these pucks. He was so solid with his decisions with the puck, but he also looked like he was getting around so that it wasn’t spinning on him, so it was even better. And then he didn’t have much action going on for a while, but then he had a barrage, we had a little bit of a breakdown, and you don’t want that as a coach, to see the breakdown, but love to see how square he was to pucks. Like he came out in two grade A’s, and just, he just knew what he was doing, and it hit him and dropped. It was good to see.”