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Arshdeep Bains gets lots of love from Vancouver Canucks after memorable night

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Oct 10 2025, 1:00 pm
Arshdeep Bains gets lots of love from Vancouver Canucks after memorable night
Bob Frid/Imagn Images

Matt Coronato is going to have nightmares about Arshdeep Bains.

Bains drew one of the loudest cheers from Rogers Arena on Thursday night during a 5-1 Vancouver Canucks win over the Calgary Flames.

It didn’t come from a goal or a slick deke. It came from a shift on the penalty kill.

Bains had two huge blocks during a second-period penalty kill, both off shots from Coronato.

“Yeah, those are big boy blocks,” Thatcher Demko said postgame.

He was then left to defend a two-on-one all alone in front of the net on the kill, but Bains bested Coronato for the third time, picking off his pass to Joel Farabee, which neutralized the Calgary Flames’ power play.

Oh, that was also Bains’ first penalty killing shift in the NHL. Ever.

“I loved his game,” Adam Foote said. “What I liked is he sacrificed himself for the team.”

“We had to change up some matchups, and I kept telling him, ‘You’re playing,’ and he kept going with a motor. He played so well.”

At the time of Bains’ monster PK shift, the Canucks had a 1-0 lead. A perfect kill, along with a four-goal outburst in the third period, led Vancouver to victory.

Demko shut the door, Quinn Hughes was pirouetting on the ice as per usual, and yes, Elias Pettersson looked dangerous as well.

If the Canucks want to prove the doubters wrong, they’ll need all three of those guys to be elite. They’ll also need players like Filip Chytil and Bains to play above their potential.

“I think just finding a role on this team is the first step,” Bains said after the win. “Just being somebody that they can trust to be out there in an important time.”

“It’s a good feeling to be part of a family like this on the penalty kill.”

Not only did Bains excel on the penalty kill, but he also recorded his first NHL assist on a beautiful outlet pass to Chytil.

“I was playing low and I just saw [Chytil] take off,” Bains said. “He’s a smart guy. He knows when there’s an opportunity, and he’s not going to miss that. It was kind of a gift for me.”

“I’m very happy for him,” Chytil said when asked about his linemate. “He had a good training camp, he played very well tonight as well… that was a nice pass.”

The goal was poetic justice for Chytil. He scored his first of the season earlier in the third period, but only because Dustin Wolf was caught looking at his fallen teammate, Kevin Bahl, who took Chytil’s initial shot off the back of his head.

Even though the Flames’ sophomore stud was distracted, the goal still counted on the scoresheet.

Just two shifts later, Chytil doubled his career goal total with the Canucks. He now has four career goals for the franchise, after registering two in 15 games with Vancouver last season.

If Chytil can emerge as a true second-line centre for this franchise, not only will it bolster the team’s chances of true success this season, but it will make Canucks management look patient and savvy for holding onto young assets instead of trading them for a guy like Marco Rossi.

But don’t tell that to Chytil, who isn’t concerned about where he slots into the depth chart.

“I don’t care about that, honestly,” Chytil said. “I just want to enjoy my game, and whatever people are saying outside, I’m not paying attention to that. I just let people talk.”

“I will just do my thing on the ice, and I will try to do my best to be the best version of myself and help the team as much as I can.”

The Canucks passed test No. 1 in the first of 82 games, but a bigger challenge awaits against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

“We have until midnight to be happy,” Chytil said.

A short celebration, indeed, but the Canucks gave fans hope on Thursday night that bigger celebrations are on the horizon in 2025-26.

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