In a stunning turn of events, the Vancouver Canucks piled five goals on the Tampa Bay Lightning to ultimately take a 6-2 victory today. Jake DeBrusk, Kiefer Sherwood, MacKenzie MacEachern (2), Drew O’Connor, and Marcus Pettersson scored for the Canucks, while Kevin Lankinen locked things down by making 28 saves on 30 shots against.
Both Vancouver and Tampa Bay welcomed players back from injury during today’s match, as Quinn Hughes returned for the Canucks and Brandon Hagel skated for the first time since Wednesday for the Lightning. However, in typical Canucks fashion, Vancouver found themselves down a player yet again during the game as Conor Garland left the game and did not return after Tampa Bay’s second goal of the game. The Lightning also faced concerns with Erik Cernak, who left the game at the end of the second period but returned for the third period.
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Speaking of Hughes, he was one of the biggest stories in tonight’s game, as he registered four points tonight and was noticeable throughout the game. Despite sitting out for a game on a day-to-day basis, the defenceman logged the most minutes played on his team with 23:48 as well as the most shots with four.
“Quinn’s a very special player,” MacEachern said post-game of the star defenceman. “I’ve obviously played against him, seen him a lot, but to be able to see him every day is pretty cool. It’s good to have a guy like that in your lineup. He changes the game, you can see that. I think on the fifth goal, he carries it in, takes it around, kind of sets up that whole play. So he kind of drives our offence when he’s going like that.”
Vancouver shook up their lines for today’s game, with Max Sasson being promoted to a line with Brock Boeser and Kiefer Sherwood and Lukas Reichel ending up on the fourth line alongside MacKenzie MacEachern and Linus Karlsson. With David Kämpf expected to join the team for their match against the Florida Panthers tomorrow and Garland’s status unknown, these lines likely won’t stick past today’s game.
It felt as though Vancouver had virtually nothing going for them within the first half of the first period, as they only registered one shot in this span of time while Tampa Bay put up eight. The positive from this was that Lankinen looked sharp off the bat, stopping all eight of these Lightning shots. The Canucks’ lone chance was a shot fired by Boeser from the faceoff dot. It took Tampa Bay just under a whole period and 12 shots to finally find the back of the net — by that time, the Canucks had still only registered one.
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Vancouver’s power play came up massively for the Canucks. During their first opportunity, Vancouver was unable to get set up properly and only managed one shot on goal from a bit of a distance, but their second man-advantage managed to cash-in thanks to DeBrusk. The forward potted yet another in-tight rebound after Elias Pettersson carried the puck into Tampa Bay’s zone past two Lightning players. On their third, it was Sherwood who flung the puck on the net, grabbing his 12th goal of the season after it bounced off Lightning player J.J. Moser.
Vancouver’s penalty kill has been a big story for the team throughout the 2025–26 season, but today, the Canucks managed to build off an offensively-inclined showing from their previous game by generating a near shorthanded chance in their second penalty kill of the match. They finished the game with two penalties killed, during which they limited the Lightning to two scoring chances.
Oct 15, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (21) passes the puck as Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson (40) defends during the first period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Despite the first-period thumping, it was the Canucks who put their best foot forward in the third period, scoring three goals in less than two minutes to take a commanding 4–2 lead. This was undoubtedly their best period of the game, as Vancouver managed to put 11 shots up on Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson throughout this stretch.
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Vancouver also had a very timely coach’s challenge today, with Head Coach Adam Foote challenging a potential missed whistle on a high-stick that occurred slightly before Tampa Bay’s potential third goal of the game. The challenge was deemed successful, bringing the score back to 4–2 for the Canucks with less than 10 minutes to go in the third period.
Stats and Facts:
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Evander Kane plays in his 950th career NHL game
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Conor Garland gets into the Canucks’ third fight this season, first by a forward
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Quinn Hughes passes Tony Tanti, taking sole possession of fifth in career power play points by a Canuck with 186
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Vancouver becomes the last team in the NHL to score an empty net goal during the 2025–26 season
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
19:25 – TBL: Nikita Kucherov (8) from Darren Raddysh and Brayden Point
2nd Period:
4:25 – TBL: Jake Guentzel (8) from Erik Cernak and Brandon Hagel
9:26 – VAN: Jake DeBrusk (7) from Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes (PPG)
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3rd Period:
4:11 – VAN: Kiefer Sherwood (12) from Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes (PPG)
4:54 – VAN: MacKenzie MacEachern (1)
5:51 – VAN: Drew O’Connor (5) from Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek
13:52 – VAN: MacKenzie MacEachern (2) from Filip Hronek and Quinn Hughes
16:57 – VAN: Marcus Pettersson (1) from Elias Pettersson and Tyler Myers (ENG)
Up Next:
The Canucks will take on Tampa Bay’s state rival, the Panthers, in the second-half of their back-to-back tomorrow. Newly-signed center Kämpf is expected to make his Canucks debut in this game, meaning Vancouver will have to make a roster move sometime before then in order to fit him into the lineup. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 pm PT.
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