The Vancouver Canucks didn’t play a perfect game against the Seattle Kraken, but they didn’t play a hopeless one either. A 4–3 shootout loss always leaves you standing in the dressing room afterward, wondering which side of the line you were really on. The Canucks trailed, but they also pushed back. They had chances to win it. Then the skills competition took over, and that was that.
Related: Beniers the Shootout Hero as Kraken Take Down Canucks 4-3
Some things are revealed in these sorts of games. They show you what’s working, what’s fragile, and how thin the margins really are right now. The Canucks feel like a fragile team. They’re not entirely broken, but they’re not where they hoped to be this season.
Three Positives for the Canucks
Here are three positives in last night’s shootout loss to the Kraken.
Canucks Positive One: They Didn’t Fold When the Game Got Hard
Down 3–1 late in the second, this could’ve gone sideways quickly. Instead, the Canucks pushed back. Jake DeBrusk finally got rewarded with a goal and two assists, Linus Karlsson tied the game early in the third, and Vancouver found its legs when the building needed it.
That pushback matters. This team has been accused—fairly at times—of sagging when momentum turns. On this night, they didn’t. They kept playing, even when Seattle looked comfortable. The Canucks don’t get a point without that push.
Canucks Positive Two: The Power Play Showed Some Life
It wasn’t flawless, but the Canucks’ power play generated momentum rather than draining it. Kiefer Sherwood’s goal came from staying with a rebound. DeBrusk’s late second-period marker gave the building energy it badly needed.
Related: Mueller and Bains Are Turning Heads in the Canucks System
Even the 4-on-3 in overtime, though it didn’t score, looked organized. There was movement. There were options. It didn’t feel rushed or panicked. That’s progress. No Canucks breakthrough yet, but progress is underway.
Canucks Positive Three: Karlsson Keeps Making His Case
Karlsson doesn’t look overwhelmed by the moment. He tied the game with a greasy goal in front of the net and played like someone who understands his role. He has now put up 10 goals and 17 points on the season and is becoming a valued part of the team’s bottom-six units.
Karlsson isn’t trying to be clever. He’s trying to be useful. Those players tend to stick around.
Three Negatives for the Canucks
Here are three negatives in last night’s shootout loss to the Kraken.
Canucks Negative One: There Were Too Many Missed Chances Early
The game could’ve tilted Vancouver’s way much earlier. The shorthanded 2-on-0 that produced no shot looms large. Those are the moments that decide tight games.
Related: 5 Vancouver Canucks Stories That Defined 2025
At this level, you don’t always get a second chance. Seattle took advantage of Vancouver’s missed opportunities, and the Canucks spent the rest of the night chasing the scoreboard. It helped put them in a hole they couldn’t quite climb out of.
Canucks Negative Two: Defensive Coverage Was Leaky at Bad Times
Seattle’s goals didn’t come from magic. They came because the Canucks missed assignments and lost track of the game in the middle of the ice.
Ben Meyers’ goal late in the second was a backbreaker at the time. That’s a play where structure has to win out over speed. It didn’t. When you’re a team fighting consistency, timing matters—and Vancouver’s timing wasn’t always there.
Canucks Negative Three: The Shootout Is Still a Coin Flip
Vancouver’s earlier shootout success this season didn’t help them here. Thatcher Demko gave them a chance, but one goal was all Seattle needed.
Shootouts are unfair, but they’re also part of the standings. Right now, they’re not something the Canucks can count on to bail them out. In the end, it cost them the extra point in the standings.
What’s Next for the Canucks?
The point helps. The Canucks overall record still doesn’t. For the past few weeks, even before the Quinn Hughes trade, the team has been working hard but lacking in production.
The Canucks are hovering in that uncomfortable space where effort is there, but execution isn’t consistent enough to turn nights like this into wins. The next stretch has to be about tightening details—finishing chances, managing the puck late, and making fewer mistakes that force long recoveries.
Related: Canucks May Get More From Liam Ohgren Than They Expected
The fight is there. Now the margin for error has to shrink. Because, when push comes to shove, moral victories don’t move the standings. Only points do, and the Canucks are collecting too few of them.
