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I Watched This Game: Canucks cap off camp by capping the Kraken

Daniel Wagner
Daniel Wagner
|
Sep 27 2026, 5:38 am
I Watched This Game: Canucks cap off camp by capping the Kraken
Simon Fearn/Imagn Images

The Vancouver Canucks ended the preseason on a positive note.

For the first time in the Canucks’ preseason, the two sides actually resembled NHL lineups, giving fans a read on what the Canucks will actually look like this year.

For this one night, at least, the Canucks looked like a winner.

“It was the response that we were looking, for sure,” said head coach Manny Malhotra. “This was a very process-driven game. Obviously, you’re never wanting to fall behind by two, but not losing focus on playing the right way.”

The Canucks had to erase a couple of Kraken leads to get the win, which isn’t ideal, but it at least provided a demonstration to the players that what Malhotra wants from the team can be successful.

“I think tonight was just a good example of just sticking to what we know and what Manny preached on us throughout the entire camp,” said Zeev Buium. “It obviously worked pretty well.”

As much as the Canucks have made it clear that the success of this season is more about process than results, there’s something to be said for a good result to hammer home that the process is good too.

“A great way to cap off camp is they put it all together,” said Malhotra. “The process of it: defensively, we closed plays out quickly, which is one thing we talked about; our breakouts, from last game to tonight, were night-and-day cleaner, which allowed us to play on the offence a little bit more.

“And then offensively, some really good rotations, but our willingness to get to the inside and create havoc around the net.”

A coach can give a player all the praise in the world for doing the little things well and getting the details right, but that praise can start to land on deaf ears if those little things and details don’t occasionally lead to goals and wins.

The Canucks might not win many games this season, so it’s important to take advantage of those wins to cement the systems and culture for the future. It gives a coach a chance to say, “See? When you do X, Y, and Z, it works.”

I saw it work when I watched this game.

  • The Canucks still had some rust to shake off early in the game, and the Kraken owned the opening 20 minutes like they bought them off Craigslist. They outshot the Canucks by a 2-to-1 ratio and also outscored them by a 2-to-1 ratio: 2-to-1.
  • The Kraken cracked open the scoring on the power play with a bomb of a one-timer from the point by Brandon Montour. Paul Cotter wasn’t quite in Montour’s shooting lane, and the puck took a slight deflection off his stick to dip under Kevin Lankinen’s blocker.

  • It looked like the game was sliding away from the Canucks like a waterslide away from me that takes you further every day when the Kraken quickly made it a two-goal lead. No one picked up Bobby McMann in the middle of the ice, which wasn’t ideal because Kevin Lankinen kicked a huge rebound right to him for an easy goal.

  • Drew O’Connor, Max Sasson, and Linus Karlsson were a problem for the Kraken in this game. Karlsson was the only one of the three to get a point, and that was on the power play, but that line was aggressive on the forecheck, relentless in pursuing the puck in open ice, and seemingly won every board battle, leading to excellent puck possession and a few great scoring chances. Like sharp cheddar, pepper jack, and parmesan in mac and cheese, that’s a trio that should stick together.
  • The Canucks got on the board on a power play drawn by O’Connor. Marco Rossi set up Filip Hronek at the point, and his shot pinballed into the net on a double deflection: Jake DeBrusk tipped the puck in the bumper — appropriate for a pinball goal — and it careened off Boeser’s stick and in.

  • The top line of DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki was stuck in the defensive zone for most of the first period, but they came alive in the second. I’m not sure Lekkerimäki will be in the opening-night lineup, but this was a case study of how he can fit in a top-six role, as he focused on finding open ice with DeBrusk and Pettersson doing a bit more of the legwork.
  • “I didn’t like our first. I thought we played on pause,” said Pettersson. “The second and third, I thought we were more direct, more simple. Everybody was doing their job, getting to position, and helping each other out.”
  • The Canucks’ second goal was the definition of each player on the top line making like the Mobile Infantry and doing their part: DeBrusk won the puck with a superb forecheck and popped the puck out to Lekkerimäki, who slipped a cheeky pass through a defender’s legs to Pettersson. A quick deke to the backhand beat Joey Daccord to tie the game.

  • Pettersson looked sharp, particularly in the faceoff circle. He dominated the draws in his first preseason game, but that was against prospects and AHLers; on Saturday, he went 11-for-14 against legitimate NHL centres. Pettersson’s a career 46.1% on faceoffs; if he has turned that weakness into a strength during the offseason, that would be huge.
  • The Kraken regained the lead early in the third period when Filip Hronek got caught deep on a pinch and DeBrusk dove in after a puck instead of staying back to cover the blue line. Zeev Buium failed to take away the pass on the subsequent 2-on-1 and Berkly Catton beat Lankinen with a deke to the backhand.

  • The goal was probably offside, but the Canucks chose not to challenge. For the record, there are coach’s challenges in the preseason. Earlier in the day, the Canucks’ expansion cousins, the Buffalo Sabres, successfully overturned two goals with coach’s challenges against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
  • The Canucks poured on the pressure with strong shifts by every line, with Pettersson eventually drawing a penalty to put the Canucks back on the power play. This time, the second unit came through, as Tom Willander deftly protected the puck on a zone entry before finding Linus Karlsson, who set up an aggressive Zeev Buium at the backdoor. Like adding truffles to pasta, Buium elevated the dish, sending the puck over a sprawling Daccord to tie the game.

  • After the Canucks’ expansion draft way back in 1970, general manager Bud Poile said, “We may not win many games, but we should win a few fights.” With the way the Canucks have stood up for each other in the preseason, that may once again be the case. The Canucks were quick to each other’s aid all game, resulting in multiple post-whistle scrums as if this were the first game of the playoffs and not the last game of the preseason.
  • Elias “The Defenceman” Pettersson didn’t need anyone’s aid in the third period. Pettersson crushed Shane Wright in open ice and was challenged to fisticuffs by Ryan Winterton. With Luke Schenn looking on proudly, Pettersson dropped Winterton with a couple of quick jabs, and he even drew a roughing penalty — aka. “We don’t want to call an instigator” — that put the Canucks on a late power play.

  • The Canucks didn’t quite capitalize on the power play, scoring a mere second after the penalty expired. The key to the goal was how the first power play unit kept recovering the puck. Between the zone entry and the goal, there were seven occasions where a missed shot or deflected pass could have given the Kraken a chance to clear; all seven times, the Canucks recovered the puck and maintained possession.
  • The other key to the goal was DeBrusk’s butt. A couple of crisp passes by Hronek and Pettersson set up Boeser in the bumper, but his shot might have been stopped if it didn’t deflect off DeBrusk’s dumper, as bbno$ would call it.

  • “It nicked Jake’s butt,” said Boeser. “It’s a big one.”
  • That wraps up the preseason. The Canucks will need to finalize their opening-day roster by Monday at 2:00 p.m. PCT, so expect Nikita Tolopilo to hit the waiver wire and Chris Driedger to be released from his PTO on Sunday with the addition of Leevi Meriläinen.
  • Barring any more waiver claims, that leaves just one cut remaining. Will it be Lekkerimäki, who finally showed a more well-rounded game to end the preseason? Will the Canucks waive Arshdeep Bains, who has been extremely consistent throughout camp? Or will it be one of the defencemen: Guillaume Brisebois or Victor Mancini?
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