Jeff Misenti
In what has become a familiar outcome, the Vancouver Canucks lost again. This time, it was a 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the Rogers Arena.
The Canucks briefly held a first-period lead. Yet, Nikolaj Ehlers scored a hat trick for Carolina, including an empty-netter with 14 seconds left that concluded the win.
The Hurricanes came out flying and had Vancouver under pressure almost immediately, with Carolina outshooting the Canucks 12-1 over the first nine minutes. Yet, the Canucks at least initially answered, and to any fan looking for silver linings, that part matters.
Andrei Svechnikov opened the scoring on a Carolina power play at 1:17 into the game, but Marco Rossi tied it on the man advantage at 16:31, and Filip Hronek later put the Canucks ahead 2-1 before intermission.
Hronek finished with a goal and two assists, while Elias Pettersson added two assists in one of Vancouver’s better offensive nights in weeks.
When things went wrong
It fell apart in the second period. Again.
Sean Walker tied it 2-2 at 2:30, Ehlers made it 3-2 at 4:19, and Sebastian Aho pushed it to 4-2 at 11:53 on another rush chance.
NHL.com noted Kevin Lankinen was pulled after allowing four goals on 22 shots, and the switch did not settle things because Ehlers scored on the first shot Nikita Tolopilo faced less than a minute later for a 5-2 lead.
That blowout sequence was the killer. The Canucks pushed back, but the hole was already deep.
Brock Boeser scored on a 5-on-3 late in the second, then Nils Hoglander made it 5-4 at 6:45 of the third on a one-timer from Pettersson.
For a moment, it felt like the Canucks might steal some chaos back. Brandon Bussi made the saves Carolina needed late, and Ehlers finished the hat trick with an empty-net goal.
A thin bright spot for Canucks fans
There was one genuine positive, the power play. The Canucks scored twice with the man advantage, the first time the Canucks have done that since January 2 against Seattle.
Foote said the group has been working on it, and on a night with a lot of bad, that confidence boost is at least something to point to.
It also marked just the second 10-goal Canucks game this season, after that wild 8-5 loss in Florida back in November. It’s not exactly the kind of category Canucks fans want to revisit, but it underlines how loose the game became.
NHL Draft Lottery update
The Canucks sit at 43 points, and the NHL draft lottery conversation is no longer some background topic. It is front and center now.
The standings shifted Wednesday night, and with St. Louis beating Seattle 3-2, the Rangers moved to 31st with 54 points, while the Canucks remained buried in the high-pick mix.
With the March 7 trade deadline looming, this matters. A playoff push no longer looks realistic, and the conversation has clearly shifted toward what can be built from here.
