In the Vancouver Canucks’ very first game of the 2024-25 season, they took a 3-0 lead in the first period. They coughed up that lead and needed a late game-tying goal just to get to overtime, where they subsequently lost.
A lot has changed since then — the two players who scored the first and last goals for the Canucks in that game, Daniel Sprong and J.T. Miller, aren’t even on the Canucks anymore — but the team somehow remains the same.
On Friday night, the Canucks took a 3-0 lead in the first period against the Columbus Blue Jackets in yet another must-win game to keep their playoff hopes at all realistic. But just like in game one of the season, the Canucks coughed up the lead. Then, for good measure, they coughed up another one.
The Blue Jackets scored three-straight goals to tie the game 3-3 but the Canucks bounced back to take a 5-3 lead in the third period. They couldn’t hold that multi-goal lead either, again giving up three-straight goals to fall behind 6-5.
But the game was not yet lost. Aatu Räty came through with his second goal of the game to tie things up 6-6 and give the Canucks a chance to win in overtime.
They couldn’t do it.
In a season where the Canucks have thrown away so many points, this one hurts just a little bit more, because the point was there to be grasped. But it’s also a sign that this Canucks team simply does not deserve to be in the playoffs.
Playoff teams can’t give up 3-0 leads after the first period. They can’t give up two-goal leads in the third period. They have to be able to close out games and this team can’t do it.
“That was a high emotion game,” said Brock Boeser. “We didn’t quit, but we let them score three goals straight twice. That’s obviously unacceptable. We’ve got to clean up whatever happened. I’m still trying to regroup and gather my thoughts right now.”
Let’s be clear: we’re talking about a Canucks team that has been hit hard by injuries — not just now but all season. With Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil out with injuries, the Canucks have had to dig into their centre depth and rely on Pius Suter as a first-line centre. They currently have four forwards — Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Linus Karlsson, Nils Åman, and Aatu Räty — who arguably should be in the AHL right now.
But the loss wasn’t on those call-ups. On the contrary, Lekkerimäki, Karlsson, and Åman were the only Canucks forwards who weren’t on the ice for a goal against, while Räty was on for a goal against but scored two goals himself.
Instead, it was the veterans. Filip Hronek was on the ice for four goals against, all at 5-on-5. Teddy Blueger was on the ice for zero goals for and three against. Conor Garland was outscored 3-to-1 in his minutes.
And then there’s Kevin Lankinen, who was the saviour of the season through the first few months when Thatcher Demko was injured. He bailed the Canucks out in so many low-scoring games, giving them a chance to win. Sometimes, they even took advantage of that chance.
On Friday night in Columbus, Lankinen was finally given some goal support. He used all of that support and more, giving up six goals on 38 shots. To be fair, that’s a lot of shots — tying the Canucks’ season high for shots against — and he made some great saves, but he gave up a couple of goals that he really should have stopped. And when the Canucks needed Lankinen to come up with a big save to close out the win, they didn’t get it.
The season wasn’t won or lost on Friday, of course, but whenever it does finally die, it will be by a thousand tiny cuts just like the ones I saw when I watched this game.
- There’s at least one thing you can say about this game that you haven’t been able to say about a lot of Canucks games this season: it was wildly entertaining. This was the highest-scoring game of the season. It featured multiple multi-goal comebacks and a sequence where three goals were scored in less than a minute. If it wasn’t for the dire consequences of the Canucks’ season possibly being done for if they lost, this game would’ve been both a hoot and a holler.
- So many goals, so little time: let’s get started.
- The Canucks kicked off the scoring on the power play with some whirling movement and crisp passing from the second unit. Conor Garland rotated to the top of the zone, while Kiefer Sherwood kicked off to the side. Garland whipped the puck down low to Sherwood, and he sent a one-touch pass for a tap-in to Linus Karlsson, who was parked on top of the crease like he had paid $1.7 million for the spot and by gum, he was going to get his money’s worth.
- Brock Boeser gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead when Dante Fabbro decided it was more important to crosscheck Quinn Hughes than close the gap on the Canucks’ best sniper. Hughes dropped the puck to Boeser before he was tackled to the ice by Fabbro, and Boeser had enough time to read some Tolkien — not any of the Lord of the Rings books, but at least Roverandom — before firing the puck seven-hole under Elvis Merzlikins’ glove.
- The power play struck again to make it 3-0. This time, the first unit made it happen with some smart puck and player movement, setting up a Boeser shot from the right faceoff circle. Merzilkins made the initial save, but Jake DeBrusk shoveled the rebound under his right pad. The puck was going wide but tipped off the toe of Boone Jenner’s stick and the puck went wobbledy wobbledy like a Big Sean lyric off the post and in.
- Lankinen was actually very good in the first period, stopping all 12 shots he faced, including some real doozies. It looked like he was locked in and the Canucks were cruising. Everything was totally fine.
- Except then the second period started and things were very much not totally fine. The Blue Jackets got on the board 34 seconds into the middle frame when Jenner deflected a Denton Mateychuk shot off his stick in between his gloves. You could maybe call out Lankinen for overplaying the initial shot but it was a really great tip.
- The Canucks got in trouble a few minutes later. Derek Forbort couldn’t move the puck out of the defensive zone and the Canucks got hemmed in, leading to an icing by Elias “Junior” Pettersson. The Canucks got a clear but only two forwards were able to change, so the tired team got caught running around. That gave Kirill Marchenko time to fire a shot past Lankinen’s glove as the goaltender lost his angle with Pettersson in his crease.
- Four minutes later, Fabbro tied up the game with a long shot from the point. While Lankinen had to contend with Aatu Räty battling with Dustin Danforth in front, that’s one he has to fight through to make the stop.
- The Blue Jackets then got a four-minute power play after a “Junior” Pettersson high stick but it was the Canucks penalty kill that cashed in. Pius Suter smartly painted Zach Werenski into a corner in the Canucks’ zone, then poked the puck out to a hard-skating Kiefer Sherwood. That’s when Tyler Myers seized the moment to gallop up ice. Sherwood sent the puck out front and Myers ever-so-gently flipped the puck over the sliding Merzlikins and in to make it 4-3.
- That’s the seventh shorthanded goal of Myers’ career, which makes him the active leader in the NHL among defencemen. He’s tied for 25th all-time with Phil Housley and Gerry Odrowski. Who’s Gerry Odrowski? He played 309 games in the NHL back in the sixties and early seventies with the Detroit Red Wings, Oakland Seals, and St. Louis Blues. He scored 12 career goals; seven of them were shorthanded.
- Things were too tense in the third period with just a one-goal lead, which is when Aatu Räty put the Canucks up 5-3 with a snipe from distance off the rush. It was, to be blunt, an awful goal for Merzlikins to give up. Like a tourist entering a country for pleasure, it had no business going in.
- That gave the Canucks a little bit of breathing room but perhaps they relaxed a little too much. 21 seconds later, the Blue Jackets responded to make it 5-4. It started with Teddy Blueger jumping in on a forecheck when both his linemates were already below the goal line, then Quinn Hughes pinched down the boards. That led to a 2-on-1 that was defended well by Filip Hronek but, in the ensuing confusion, Blueger was too slow getting into the shooting lane for Mateychuk. The defenceman blasted a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle and Lankinen whiffed on it.
- It looked like the Blue Jackets tied the game five minutes later. Drew O’Connor and Blueger both had opportunities to clear the defensive zone and both failed, leading to a Cole Sillenger shot. Lankinen made the first save but Danforth chipped in the rebound. Only, the Canucks challenged for goaltender interference and the replay showed that Lankinen’s attempted kick save ran right into Mathieu “Sir Laurence” Olivier in the crease, kicking him right in the shoes of the fisherman. That wiped out the goal, restoring the one-goal lead for the Canucks.
- Then Linus Karlsson took a terrible tripping penalty on Adam Fantilli, giving the Blue Jackets a power play at a crucial time. They immediately scored, which was really rude of them, to be honest. Think of Karlsson’s feelings, guys. He’s just a rookie.
- “We back up in the neutral zone and we take a penalty,” said Tocchet, sparing Karlsson’s feelings by using “we.” See, Blue Jackets, that’s how you do it. “When pressure hits, you’ve got to face it. I think sometimes, we’re sinking. But it’s a learning lesson. That’s why we’re learning. We’ve got some young guys in, they’re trying hard, but this is a good lesson for them.”
- 22 seconds later, it was 6-5. Fabbro wound up for a fake shot and sent a hard pass to Olivier as he cut in front. Lankinen bit hard on the fake, sliding too far to the right, while Hughes failed to tie up Olivier, who kicked the puck up to his stick and tucked it into the vacated net. The goal gave the Blue Jackets their first lead of the game with less than three minutes to go, so it was incredibly deflating.
- Then Räty reinflated the Canucks like they were Wayne Knight. Sherwood was tripped skating into the Blue Jackets’ zone and, on the delayed penalty, Dakota Joshua made a lovely pass to set up Räty on the doorstep for his second goal to tie the game 6-6. The Blue Jackets held the lead for just 23 seconds all game.
- “Just playing simple and very predictable,” said Räty when asked what worked well with linemates Joshua and Sherwood. “I think that’s when we can play fast and we know what the next play’s going to be: it’s going to be a simple play. I think everybody is good on the forecheck, everybody wants to hit, so I think we’re a line that not a lot of D want to play against, because every time it’s going behind them and we’re hitting.”
- The Canucks had multiple quality scoring chances in overtime but couldn’t find the back of the net. Sherwood managed to find Merzlikins’ skate, though, or rather, Merzlikins’ skate found him. Merzlikins subtly stuck his leg out as Sherwood swooped by, then flopped dramatically to the ice like he had been shot by a sniper, trying to draw a goaltender interference call. The referees instead blew the play down for incidental contact when really, they should have called an embellishment penalty on Merzlikins.
- Ultimately, the Blue Jackets held the lead when it really mattered: at the end of the shootout. DeBrusk, Garland, and Lekkerimäki couldn’t score; Kent Johnson could. Game, and possibly season, over.
- Maybe I’m being dramatic. There are still nine games left in the Canucks’ season and the St. Louis Blues or Minnesota Wild might fall apart down the stretch, opening the door for the Canucks to make the playoffs. But losing a point like this felt like a nail in the coffin.
