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The Stanchies: Canucks give fans something to smile about in loss to Devils
Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/stanch...-something-smile-about-loss-new-jersey-devils
There is always talk about what constitutes a perfect tank game when watching a season like the one the Vancouver Canucks are currently embroiled in. And no matter what ingredients you throw in there, the two you always need are one, a loss, because let’s face it, that’s the star of this dish. And two, you want hope in there as well. Need it, in fact. It’s vital you have hope in there for this recipe to work.
And a loss on its own? That always comes with a bit of hope — the hope of drafting high, the hope of selecting a foundational piece of the future. The entire process of a tank season is predicated on maintaining a good spot in the draft.
But you also want to believe in what you’re watching on the ice in front of you. Because as much pedigree as the Canucks first selection will have in the 2026 draft, you want pieces to build around them. Nobody is coming over that hill to save the day on their own; there is no Gavin the Grey riding on his Basant Motors-supplied horse coming over the viaduct to turn things around next season. We all know this process might take several years before it even hints at a proper turnaround. Which is why you want to believe that something you’re watching now kind of matters.
And for a lot of the veterans, the odds of them being a part of the turnaround are probably pretty slim. Which is why you look to the young players, you try to see which of them might be a part of the solution in Vancouver. It’s why Liam Öhgren has impressed in his time with Vancouver. He’s not piling up the points, but you see him putting in the effort. You see him being an effective big body on the ice, and you can see that being part of the solution.
It’s why when you watch Zeev Buium struggle during the season, enduring a healthy scratch along the way, only to score a highlight reel goal as he did on Friday, you find yourself remembering why he was such a highly touted prospect. Quinn Hughes surely spoiled this city on what a defensive prospect’s timeline should be, and Zeev’s goal tonight was a nice reminder of why he was the central component of the trade that made Vancouver choose to make the deal with Minnesota.
And another small part of the recipe they don’t tell you about is a small one, but a good one. Pride.
Pride from the team playing on the ice in front of you. And pride from the fans wearing the jerseys in the crowd. In a self-deprecating town like Vancouver, it’s easy to lose sight of what it feels like to enjoy things. “Expect the worst, never be disappointed” has been a mental shield in this city for a very long time. It’s the kind of thing you lean into when the team is on a long losing streak, looks dead inside, and has no answers for anything. It’s hard to believe in a team when they openly don’t seem to believe in themselves.
But when you see an effort like the one the Canucks put up in their 5-4 loss to the Devils on Friday night, and not to overblow this game, but it reminded you of what it felt like to enjoy hockey for the sake of hockey again, even if for a brief moment. The empty net sequence at the end of the third period was one of the most entertaining series of events this team has executed in over a year, and it was based purely on a team that simply did not want to lose. You watched the end of this game play out, and it just reminded you of the passion these fans have for the team; it’s not dead, it’s just been buried under poor leadership.
Obviously, bringing Teddy Blueger and Filip Chytil back into the lineup helps. Not only do they up the skill in the lineup, but they bring some of that veteran leadership Adam Foote alluded to about wanting around, so the young players don’t get mired in a depression over the losses and/or banging bench doors too loudly.
One of the main reasons for the turnaround, though? Fil Hronek. I have watched this team look dead inside for well over a year, with all of the off-ice drama following the team around like a black cloud. Some nights it’s been downright unwatchable hockey being put forth by the Canucks, the kind of hockey where if you were caught watching it on your laptop, you’d slam the lid shut and claim you weren’t watching the Canucks, you were watching an adult film. It just felt like the culture of this team had eroded into something they couldn’t come back from until they cut off all of the rot.
But somewhere during this last stretch, Hronek started stepping up. He’s always been the most consistent player for the team this season, but somewhere during the last handful of games, you just saw him battling his ass off on the ice, refusing to give up even during what looked to be an obvious loss. Hell, he even willingly did a media scrum at one point, and if that isn’t a sign that things have changed, I don’t know what is.
And I have to believe that resonates with a lot of the players on this team. We talk about the vacuum that gets created when star players leave, and right now, it feels like Hronek is evolving and stepping up his game across the board.
Now, I don’t know how long it will last. Maybe the team will spiral, and we will see some more low points as we go. But if the team wants to keep fan investment and keep ticket sales going, these are the types of games that do it. Keep building for the future, keep shipping out veterans with the wrong attitudes, and keep building up the culture. Build up a team that hates losing and doesn’t accept it. One that doesn’t derail when things don’t go their way. Continue to build up the talent of the team as you build towards a playoff-contending team in the future.
A lot of out-of-touch media made some snarky remarks a few weeks ago about how the dumb dumb fans in this city wanted a tank but were now bitching about the losses. Those media members were either willfully ignorant or willfully misinformed, but either way, a game like tonight shows you what fans want out of this season.
Fans want to see long-term planning. And fans want to see growth. That’s it.
It’s not a complicated system, but I guess when you half-ass your coverage of this team and its fanbase, you don’t quite understand it all.
The point is, a game like the one on Friday night? That’s all the people want. Give them more of that, and you’ll be surprised how much support this team gets.
Let’s dive into this one.
Lenni Hameenaho hadn’t scored a goal in his NHL career, which is why, of course, he scored his first goal of his career against Vancouver:
The good news is, at least he’s only played three NHL games to date, so it’s not like some guy coming in with 500 games under his belt and scoring against Vancouver. In fact, it was quite gentlemanly of Lenni to get it out of the way quickly.
It’s a bit of a blooper goal with a shot going wide that Tom Willander kind of gets boned on, to be honest. He ties up Lenni’s stick, keeps him outside of the crease, and everything is going well. He’s probably thinking, “hell yeah, I am the king of body position!” or whatever it is young defencemen praise themselves with. Maybe he’s picturing emojis in his head, I don’t know. But the puck bounces back hard off the boards, and now Hameenaho is giggling as he banks the puck in off of Kevin Lankinen.
I also don’t think Kevin Lankinen was ready for the puck to shoot off the end boards like that, so he’s a bit slow to try and recover on the play as well, which lets the puck bank in off of him.
But Lenni scoring was written in the stars, making it hard to blame much of anything on anyone. 500 career goals? Vancouver has you covered. Any Wayne Gretzky record? Vancouver is ready for it. First career goal? Just the price of doing business in Vancouver.
We are firmly in Tua Tagovailoa time with Filip Chytil, where we’re all “please don’t get hurt, please think of your health” and he’s all “I haven’t even been concussed as much as you think, I won’t give you a number, but it’s not that bad, relax” and we’re all “ok, sure, but like, try and be careful?” and he’s all “yeah yeah, I’m fine, geezus” and so we wait and pray everything works out.
And one of the things that Chytil excels at? Zone entries. It’s sort of his deal. The dude can dance and make moves and gain the zone, but that’s also where people like to try and murder you for having the audacity to enter their zone. Scott Stevens would be put in jail if he tried to do some of the things he used to do to prevent zone entries. And while that era is long gone, you still find yourself holding your breath a little bit every time Chytil does a little razzle-dazzle to gain the offensive blue line.
As we are but observers in how this plays out, all you can do is watch and at least enjoy the skill Filip brings to the lineup. Pairing him with your best forward in Drew O’Connor was a smart choice for Vancouver, as they almost tied the game up on a zone entry started from a no-look pass from Chytil to DOC:
Drew O’Connor can sometimes be too fast for his own good, which is sort of the deal with players of his ilk. They can skate like the wind, but when it comes to matching their hands to their feet, that’s when things can fall apart. But I will say that DOC has evolved his game this season and has been the creator of some very slick plays, such as the one above, where he cuts back to give himself a passing lane and feeds Chytil, who fires the puck just high and wide.
Hronek took the ceremonial faceoff, you say? Allan Walsh will be so excited.
I will say, there is something pleasant about a player wanting to stay with the team? Vancouver Canucks fans are hitting some serious abandonment issues the last few seasons, and part of that “pride” we talked about earlier, some of that comes from, well, players actually wanting to gut it out with the team and be part of the solution. And while I think ownership gave some of the former players plenty of reasons to quit, you can’t help but enjoy Hronek kind of going into a Fast and Furious mode with the team and refusing to entertain a trade of any sort. If there IS a turnaround and this team DOES get better, and Hronek is still around and still leading things from the back end? That’s how you end up becoming a legend around these parts.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though.
Speaking of veterans, Conor Garland was put on a line with Teddy Blueger and Liam Öhgren, and I feel what they’re putting down. Garland/Blueger/Joshua was an elite third line for Vancouver at one point, so putting big boy Liam with that duo hits a lot of the same notes, which feels like a promising situation for the team.
And while I have no idea if Blueger or Garland will be here in a year, I will enjoy watching them try to recreate the magic of 2023 as they play with the new kid. They didn’t score on the night, but you could see some flashes of chemistry, as their strong work along the boards led to a nice quick pass from Liam to Garland, who then tapped the puck back to Hronek for a wrist shot that almost found the back of the net:
Later in the period, Garland would then almost tip home a Blueger shot, who was set up with a cross ice pass from young master Liam:
We still have a lot of time to go before we can even call this trio a thing yet, but, as I said earlier, I understand the process behind it, and I agree it deserves a look.
We're ten minutes in, and the #Canucks have one shot on net.
— Dragon Was Slayed (@522IntoOvertime) January 24, 2026
The Canucks looked like they might have tied things up when a good forecheck from Drew O’Connor led to Jonas Siegenthaler turning the puck over right in the slot, giving Brock Boeser a glorious, delicious pizza to feast on:
Brock almost had too much time to plan his shot, and even dropped dramatically to one knee to unleash it, but he fired wide of Jacob Markstrom because he thinks you don’t deserve to be happy.
The period ended with a couple of good shots from the much beleaguered Marcus Pettersson, along with Drew O’Connor, aka the star forward of the team, but Markstrom had the answers every time:
I just think it’s wild that Drew O’Connor is in like every highlight package I do now. I literally wrote him off a month into the season, and that bastard has been ramming my words down my throat ever since.
He’s 28 and on a cheap contract, so he’s also very much one of those “will he be around for the good times?” veteran players who have decent trade value, and I will give him a glowing review for being one of the most consistent forwards on this team during the low points of this season. Guy never quits on a shift, and if he sticks around, I think he’s a very good “lead by example” type of player.
With New Jersey on the power play, they would make it 2-0 when Jack Hughes found Nico Hischier in the bumper spot:
The Canucks have run into trouble letting players slide into a soft part of the ice where nobody covers it, which is what happens here when Nico just sort of moonwalks into position for the one-timer. He walks in, flashes a fake ID, and before you know it, it’s 2-0.
I don’t know if Tyler Myers was even aware Nico was on the ice at any point during that shift, as he gets fully entranced by the puck and sort of just follows Jack Hughes, perhaps out of instinct of having followed Hughes for many seasons.
Jim Benning’s revenge game began in earnest when Cody Glass made it 3-0, this time tipping home a puck after everyone once again seemingly completely forgot about a player on the ice:
Now, initially, I saw Chytil leave Arseny Gritsyuk just before the point shot, which led to defensive Elias Pettersson moving over to cover him. Tyler Myers, at this point, is somewhere in Burnaby, possibly at Brentwood Mall, which allows Cody Glass to do some sort of Van Halen homage as he tips the puck by Lankinen.
I wonder to myself, “What is Chaos Giraffe doing??” and Daniel Wagner was like, “Well, hey, that’s technically man-on-man coverage” because I guess with nothing to do in front of the net, Tyler went looking for a man. Heated Rivarly is closer to on ice hockey strategy than you think. Which means Chytil is the main culprit on the goal because he releases his guy, which has the domino effect of taking D Petey away from Cody Glass.
So the question is, is the Adam Foote system bad, or is the team just not doing it very well?
I would argue that man-on-man coverage is a really tough system in today’s NHL because the skill level is so high. If one guy beats you, it feels like the coverage can fall apart in an instance. I also don’t think the Canucks have the speed or hockey IQ needed for such a system, as making on-the-fly adjustments hasn’t worked for this team all year, save for Fil Hronek, who seems to be the only guy who gets it.
I promise Allan Walsh didn’t pay me to praise Hronek this much; I just have really enjoyed his game this season.
I would also question a system that has a tall defenceman in front of his net decide he has to leave to find someone to cover, as Tyler Myers (and Marcus Pettersson for that matter) really do seem better suited at setting up in zones and swinging their large sticks at first-year students in a prestigious magic school.
All of which is to say that I do not enjoy how this team plays defence.
However, with nary a bench door being slammed shut in sight, the Canucks began to bear down for midterms. It started slowly with a Brock Boeser seeing-eye shot that hit the post, reminding us that Jacob Markstrom is mortal and can let in really bad goals at times:
And continued when Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson busted out a two-on-one that at least looked like it attempted a shot on net:
Before Linus Karlsson finally broke the shutout when he slammed home the rebound on a Nils Höglander curl drag shot:
Linus has been quiet as of late, but the guy has a good net-front game, which he displayed proudly on the Canucks’ first goal of the game. It’s also nice to see Nils pick up an assist, as he has gone from “scores on every shot he takes in 2023, and even on some shots he doesn’t take” to “Legally I am not even sure if he’s allowed to score a goal, much less a point” of 2025.
Also, we see you, Johnathan Kovacevic, that was terrible defence on that goal. We see you stop skating. We all see it.
Well that’s a surprise. Blueger gets a shorty! Goes under the arm. 3-2 devils.#canucks
— just a guy.(@jaycee24_) January 24, 2026
With the Canucks having some momentum, Conor Garland made Hischier bleed his own blood, giving the Devils a four-minute power play.
Now, normally, this would shut the game down for Vancouver. They’d give up a goal. Jake would slam his stick or something, making one of the young kids cry. Adam Foote would glower in his general direction as he tried to remember what it felt like to play with Joe Sakic. And everything would fall apart.
On this night, Vancouver pushed back and pushed back hard right away on the penalty kill. And who else but Drew O’Connor, utilizing his speed to set up an odd man rush that ended with a Blues Clues goal:
Teddy Blueger is a bona fide asset on the penalty kill; we all knew that, but we also knew Drew O’Connor can be lethal on it as well. So it’s kind of like having two of your favourite collaborators come together to drop a hot new track, and it’s everything you had hoped it would be, or at least until one of their political stances led to a dissolution of the band, leaving you pining for the good times.
The point is, Drew O’Connor has a mix tape that, should the Canucks explore a trade, have some decent value.
Also, I really enjoy Tyler Myers just sort of peacing out the second DOC passed it to Teddy Blueger, either because he knew Teddy was going to score, or because he was sad he didn’t get the pass. He almost does the Jake Gyllenhaal walking-into-smoke goodbye.
The Devils would get that goal back, however, when once again they’d utilize the bumper spot, this time finding Connor Brown:
Tyler Myers is straight up out on his feet at this point. Dude goes down to block a shot, and he just never recovers from that point. Eventually, the Devils move the puck around until once again the defensive structure just sort of parts and lets Brown slide into a dangerous spot, as is tradition.
The best play of the night? Well that belonged to Zeev Buium. And while I could describe the goal, I will simply let you watch it instead:
Kid just took the bull by the horns and took off. Drove to the net, did his dekes, followed up on his own rebound, that’s the kind of goal that gives a franchise hope for the progress of your 20-year-old offensive d-man.
Again, Quinn Hughes was unfair. He was too good, too fast. We have to get used to a more normal development path.
And while losing and tanking is for the greater good, there is something to be said about worrying about stunting the development of a young player if he is mired in sad losses. These are the moments you want to see, where you can see their confidence grow as they have big moments. Look at his goal celebration, which has the energy of a young Conor Garland. That’s the kind of goal celebration that belongs in a big game during the playoffs one day, damn it.
Hot off the momentum from the Zeev goal, Evander Kane almost tied it up to end the second period, were it not for those damn kids/posts:
All of which to say, it was entertaining to watch a Canucks team have a bit of swagger in a game. They fought hard to crawl back into the game, and we didn’t have to read about a 4-0 loss; that’s called a win in my books.
Who else but Drew O’Connor to work his ass off and draw a penalty from a guy who has had enough of his fast skating bullshit:
The Canucks didn’t score with the man advantage, but Zeev Buium got his promotion to the top unit, replacing Tom Willander, and got this beauty of a shot on net:
Nice spin pass from EP40 to boot.
Just an all-around good effort, you know?
Devils score against the flow of play. That’s where you need your goalie to make a big save. Fuck sakes. 5-3 them. #canucks
— just a guy.
With the Canucks really pushing the pace in the third period, the Devils made them pay for their aggressive play with a counterattack.
Tyler Myers pinches up and gets his zone entry denied, and then Brock Boeser, who is coming in cold off a line change, is slow to turn and get into position to cover for it.
The end result? Cody Glass wants Jim Benning to be right so bad:
There is obviously an element of luck to this, as New Jersey is just sort of chipping the puck around the ice and hoping it works, but it is aided by a pinch and poor coverage.
Which, to be honest, I’d rather that happen because the team is making a hard push to tie the game up. Go out on your shield and all that.
Unfortunately, that Adam Foote system had another breakdown, as this time Nils Höglander went to cover for a Fil Hronek rush before he realized he’s a forward and all forwards are liars, and they can never be trusted to cover the point:
DPetey also has to be aware that Nils is covering beside him, as I think he needs to be more passive on that, knowing that a dirty lying forward is his defensive partner in that scenario.
But that being said, giving a breakaway up for Kevin Lankinen might be the safest play in the league at this point, so maybe the risk/reward balance is fine.
With the goalie pulled, Vancouver then defended the net like its life depended upon it. Like George RR Martin himself had written out a glorious battle scene that hadn’t been ruined by HBO yet.
With just under three minutes left, Elias Pettersson stared down death and won when he went into a goalie stance to make a save on the empty net:
If that wasn’t good enough, the Devils had another chance to end the game, but were thwarted by Marcus Pettersson and Elias Pettersson teaming up to steal the puck at the blueline:
And just when you thought they couldn’t possibly keep getting away with it, Marcus Pettersson then chopped down a pass on another zone entry, and denied the Devils access to their net:
And if that didn’t get the crowd excited, Brock Boeser made sure to send the crowd into a fever when he scored with just over a minute left:
It’s been a long time since I have seen Vancouver fans just enjoy a moment for the moment. No thinking of the draft, no thinking of the implications, you just saw people get caught up watching a team bust its ass trying to tie the game up. It was about as pure a hockey moment as we have seen this season from Vancouver.
And while ultimately the team losing the game is better for the future, part of you couldn’t help but wish that Drew O’Connor tied the game up on the last shot of the game, just for the theatrics of it all:
You get your best forward in a position to tie the game up? What more can you ask for, really?
It was truly a chaotic end to a game, but an enjoyable one.
Again, if you’re going to lose, that’s the kind of way you want to go out.
Good game from a team that hasn’t given fans many reasons to smile. Enjoy these moments when they come, as the road ahead is still a long one.
See you Sunday.
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(@ApparentlyKelly) 
Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/stanch...-something-smile-about-loss-new-jersey-devils