The Vancouver Canucks went into the Olympic break with a whimper.
It’s somewhat startling that this sadsack team will see five of its number in the Olympics, competing alongside the best players in the world at the highest level of competition.
Elias Pettersson will play for Sweden, Filip Hronek and David Kämpf for Czechia, Teddy Blueger for Latvia, and Kevin Lankinen for Finland.
Along with the excitement of competing for their respective countries in the first Olympics to allow NHL players in 12 years, there has to be a certain amount of relief as well.
For two weeks, those five don’t have to play for the last-place Canucks. For two weeks, they get a fresh start with a new team (without having to be traded). For two weeks, they have a chance to play meaningful games again. For two weeks, they have legitimate hopes of winning.
All five have a chance to bring home a medal, even Blueger, whose Latvian side seems to have a knack for unexpected upsets and won bronze just three years ago at the 2023 IIHF World Championship largely thanks to then-Canuck Arturs Silovs. Obviously, Pettersson and Lankinen are playing for Swedish and Finnish teams with excellent odds at a medal, while Hronek and Kämpf shouldn’t be counted out with Czechia.
But before they could head to Milan, the Canucks’ Olympics-bound players — and their teammates — had to play one more game in the NHL.
It went poorly.
The top team in the Pacific Division, the Vegas Golden Knights, ran roughshod over the Canucks. After a fairly even opening period, it seemed like the Knights of Gold simply decided to win the game, then proceeded to do so. It was like the Canucks had no say in the matter.
I began to get a sneaking suspicion that the Canucks might not make the playoffs this season when I watched this game.
As long as you don’t look too closely at the underlying numbers, Elias Pettersson (D) had a really good game for the Canucks. He showed some edge to his game, getting involved in several post-whistle scrums and refusing to back down from a challenge. Sure, most of those scrums came after shots on the Canucks’ net when he was on the ice, but the edge! There was so much edge! You’ll pay for the whole defenceman, but you’ll only need the edge!
I’m being somewhat facetious because there was legitimately a lot to like about Pettersson’s game, including his edge. It just feels like the bar is extremely low for what constitutes a good game. To quote Eames, you mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.
In any case, Pettersson seemed to rile up the Golden Knights, as Keegan Kolesar took a run at him late in the first period, leaving his feet to deliver a high hit. Somehow, this wasn’t considered a penalty. For reasons.
This was a tough performance for Kevin Lankinen as he prepares to play for Finland at the Olympics. He gave up five goals on 31 shots, though the quality of the chances that beat him should be taken into consideration. At times, the Canucks’ coverage was like that of a student film: not nearly enough.
At least Lankinen made one fantastic save. He robbed Jeremy Lauzon after he came out of the penalty box for a 2-on-1, ensuring that Lauzon wouldn’t score his first goal since February 22, 2024. Since the NHL season doesn’t resume until February 25, Lankinen ensured that Lauzon will go at least two full calendar years between goals.
After a goalless first period, the Golden Knights cracked their egg five minutes into the second. Jack Eichel exploited the Canucks’ soft defensive zone coverage by simply skating into a soft spot, entirely unchecked by David Kämpf. Eichel took a pass and had all the time he needed to dust off the puck, polish out a few scuffs, add a dark walnut stain, and then give it a high-gloss finish past Lankinen’s blocker.
The Golden Knights’ second goal came off a neutral zone blunder by Tom Willander. Instead of staying central to defend against the rush, he went fishing for Cole Reinhardt’s pass ahead to Braeden Bowman. Reaching for the saucer pass took him right out of Reinhardt’s path, giving him a clear lane to the net, where he deked Lankinen out of his jockstrap.
The goal wasn’t a great moment for Jonathan Lekkerimäki either, who came back on the backcheck, but got swatted aside by Reinhardt and lost his stick. Willander needed to defend the rush better, but Lekkerimäki’s inability to battle through that contact didn’t help.
The line of Liam Öhgren, Teddy Blueger, and Conor Garland continues to play some quality hockey, even as the rest of the team around them struggles. That line outshot the Golden Knights 12-to-5 in the 14 or so minutes they were on the ice together at 5-on-5 and contributed to both of the Canucks’ goals.
“They’re a nice line. They’re working well together,” said head coach Adam Foote. “Bluegs has played with Garly for a long time. Liam’s a smart player, but I also think they’re working with him. It seems like they’ve got some chemistry, for sure.”
That line collaborated to create the Canucks’ first goal by Elias Pettersson (D). Garland and Blueger won the puck in the defensive zone, then Blueger sprung Öhgren up the right boards as Pettersson made a great read and jumped up to join him on the rush. Öhgren pulled up sharply at the right faceoff circle, creating a gap and a passing lane to the onrushing Pettersson, who took the pass and sent a lovely shot low along the ice by Akira Schmid’s left skate — a spot that’s become a popular target for goalscorers of late, as it’s not covered by the goal stick and requires the goaltender to drop very quickly into his butterfly to stop.
Unfortunately, the good vibes created by Pettersson’s goal (and the Canucks’ moms’ sparkly sweaters) did not last long. 28 seconds later (the prequel to 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, and 28 Years Later), Ivan Barbashev beat Lankinen 3-1 after Pierre-Olivier Joseph lost a battle down low.
Joseph seemed motivated to make up for the gaffe the rest of the game. Midway through the second period, he had an open net and seemed certain to score his first goal as a Canuck, but Schmid dove across to rob him, snagging the puck with a backhanded catch like he was at the hot corner.
It was such an unbelievable save that the referees insisted on reviewing to make sure it wasn’t a goal. Either they legitimately thought there was a chance the puck actually went into the net, or they just wanted to watch the replay a few times and geek out over how awesome it was.
Do not worry. Joseph eventually got his first goal as a Canuck later in the period. Much later, with just nine seconds left in the second. A strong shift by the Öhgren-Blueger-Garland line created the chance, as Garland set up Joseph for the one-timer. But Joseph smartly faked the shot, goading the Vegas forward into going down for a shot block, then stepped to the left for an open shooting lane, beating Schmid past a flyby screen by Garland.
Redemption! The best part about the goal is Joseph’s mom was on hand to see it as part of the Canucks’ Mom Trip. That’s only the eighth goal of Joseph’s career and his first since April 4, 2024, so his mom getting to see such a rare sight is pretty cool.
“Just trying to help the team win, if possible,” said Joseph. “To do it in front of [my mom] is special. We don’t get to see each other often. I guess it’s a good little end-of-the-trip gift to her.”
The Canucks were only down 3-2 going into the third period, with a major opportunity to battle back and head into the break on a high note. Instead, they went out on a note so low that it came awfully close to the brown note in their metaphorical bed. The Golden Knights outshot the Canucks 15-to-4 in the final frame and scored two goals a minute apart to take a commanding 5-2 lead and end any hopes of a comeback.
The 4-2 goal was agonizing. Mitch Marner stickhandled towards the net at such a slow pace that it felt unbelievable the Canucks couldn’t pokecheck him. “He’s moving really slowly, just step forward and poke the puck!” When Tyler Myers and Jake DeBrusk couldn’t get the puck off Marner, Joseph took a turn, but that meant leaving his man, Pavel Dorofeyev, open at the backdoor, and Marner set him up for the tap-in goal.
A minute later, Filip Hronek and Elias Pettersson (D) got trapped on one side of the net when they got crossed up defending a Vegas rush. As Kolesar circled behind the net, Conor Garland came down low to help, sliding to the ice, but couldn’t block the centring pass to Alex Holtz, who was open behind him in the slot. There wasn’t a lot Lankinen could do.
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