Canucks Takeaways: One other blown lead salvaged with shootout win

Kevin Lankinen is the participant of the yr to this point for the Vancouver Canucks. Apart from injured defenceman Quinn Hughes, Lankinen can also be the Nationwide Hockey League group’s participant of the season.

Pressured to come back in chilly Thursday for re-injured beginning goalie Thatcher Demko, Lankinen instantly made a few five-star saves within the second interval, stopped a breakaway in additional time after which stared down all three Seattle Kraken shooters because the Canucks survived one other erratic evening to win 4-3 in a shootout at Local weather Pledge Area.

5 days after collapsing within the last 5 minutes and blowing a three-goal lead in an additional time loss to the Kraken, the Canucks blew a 3-1 benefit over the ultimate 11 minutes on Thursday. 

However they barely improved the narrative — and monumentally improved the ambiance across the group — by gathering their first shootout win of the season when J.T. Miller dragged the puck throughout the slot and shot over the left pad of Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer for the one objective of the tie-breaker.

Miller’s final precise objective was Nov. 16, two days earlier than he started his 10-game private depart of absence.

Within the shootout, Lankinen outwaited Kraken shooters Kaapo Kakko and Oliver Bjorkstrand, who was additionally stuffed on an additional time breakaway, after which obtained his left glove and pad on Matty Beniers’ shot to present Vancouver simply its fourth win in 12 post-regulation video games.

It’s onerous to understand how a lot salvaging a win and avoiding one other catastrophe to open 2025 would possibly raise Canuck spirits after the blown lead and losses of their final 4 additional time or shootout video games. We could get an thought Friday when the Canucks play the Nashville Predators at residence within the second of back-to-back video games to begin the yr.

Nevertheless it positive felt like there was a couple of bonus level driving on Thursday’s consequence.

The Canucks’ “course of” within the third interval was really fairly good.

After Tyler Myers beat Grubauer from Miller’s go to the excessive slot to make it 3-1 at 5:35 of the third interval, Beniers scored on a five-on-four energy play at 9:05 earlier than Vince Dunn tied it with 52.5 seconds remaining on a hopeful wrist shot via a jungle of site visitors as Seattle skated six-on-five.

The Canucks surrendered solely eight pictures within the last 25 minutes, and five-on-five scoring probabilities within the third interval have been 7-1 for Vancouver, based on naturalstattrick.com.

After one other leaden begin to the sport by the Canucks, who fell behind 1-0 when Chandler Stephenson’s unscreened shot from the left-wing boards rattled via Demko at 1:52, the Canucks progressively took over the sport at even power.

Max Sasson tied it 1-1 at 13:17 when Nils Hoglander’s deflected shot bounced to him on the prime of the crease from teammate Danton Heinen’s skate. And Conor Garland superbly beat Grubauer on a breakaway at 7:49 of the second interval after Phil DiGiuseppe’s go caught the Kraken because the Canucks countered via the impartial zone.

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet mentioned Demko left the sport resulting from again spasms and hoped the damage was not critical. The goalie’s mid-game departure is the state of affairs everybody within the group feared after final season’s Vezina Trophy runner-up lastly made his season debut on Dec. 10 after lacking practically eight months with a torn popliteus muscle in his knee.

Demko practised with the group for practically a month earlier than taking part in, and talked about the necessity to put his knee “via hell” so it might stand up to the pains of the NHL season and goalie’s return from damage could be one-way transit.

However after seven begins, the 29-year-old skated off the ice within the stoppage that adopted Garland’s go-ahead objective.

Demko was tripped and fell closely backwards shortly earlier than the objective when the Kraken’s Brandon Tanev skated into the crease with Canucks defenceman Noah Juulsen.

Even when the damage proves to be minor, it’s the continuation of a season-long collection of challenges to Vancouver’s core gamers. Hughes and Elias Pettersson missed their third straight video games on Thursday, and No. 2 defenceman Filip Hronek has been out since Nov. 27 and will miss one other month.

Third-string goalie Arturs Silovs, projected to be the starter throughout Demko’s preliminary absence, has struggled mightily this season, posting an .847 save fee on the NHL, and is making an attempt to rebuild his kind within the American Hockey League.

Lankinen — and the schedule — might purchase the Canucks a while. After Friday’s sport towards Nashville at Rogers Area, the Canucks embark on a five-game japanese street journey. As troublesome as it’s, the journey is just not overly compacted. There may be one set of back-to-back video games, subsequent weekend in Carolina and Toronto, but in addition additional relaxation days earlier than the journey opens Monday in Montreal and closes Jan. 14 in Winnipeg.

We wrote on this house after Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames that Garland was one of many worst Canucks. In Seattle, he was most likely one of the best.

Garland and linemates DiGiuseppe and Pius Suter pulled the Canucks into the sport and drove possession all evening. Shot makes an attempt have been 16-6 for the Canucks when the trio was on the ice at five-on-five. Garland had 4 pictures on objective and posted expected-goals-for of 86 per cent.

Canuck winger Dakota Joshua additionally had one in every of his finest video games of the season on a highly-effective line with Teddy Blueger and Kiefer Sherwood as Vancouver was pushed by its middle-six forwards.

The highest line of Miller, DeBrusk and Brock Boeser generated Myers’ objective within the third interval, however mixed for simply two pictures on track and logged lower than 16 minutes of ice time.

It’s straightforward to miss the importance of the return of defenceman Guillaume Brisebois, who made his season debut for the Canucks after 23 video games (and one level) this season within the AHL and completed Thursday with a blue-line low of 15:31 of ice time.

However don’t overlook that the 27-year-old thought his profession could be over when he missed practically all of final season with a concussion and its after-effects. Brisebois’ complete skilled profession has been spent with the Canucks group, and he was projected to lastly make the opening-night NHL roster earlier than he was injured on a harmful hit by the Kraken’s Tanev throughout the pre-season.

Thursday was Brisebois’ first NHL sport since March 31, 2023. It was yet one more NHL sport than lots of people thought he would get after final season’s wrestle for well being. 

Photographs have been 6-5 for Seattle when Brisebois was on the ice, however the left-side defenceman from Montreal posted expected-goals-for of 59 per cent at five-on-five, blocked one shot and appeared composed with the puck whereas ending plus-one.

It was an excellent day for him.