Canucks Gameday Preview: Homestand Continues vs. Flames

The Vancouver Canucks have started this season with a lot of offence and not much defence, throwing themselves back into the 80s with a 6-5 win and a 9-7 loss – both against the Edmonton Oilers.

Now, the Canucks move on to another familiar Pacific Division rival, the Calgary Flames, who are in a similar position in their lifecycle. They are coming off a 6-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, opening their final season at the Saddledome on the wrong foot.

Canucks Gameday Preview: Canucks vs. Flames

The Canucks meet the Flames for the first of four matchups this season. In 2025-26, they dropped two of the three games and were outscored 13-10. Their lone win came on opening night, as Filip Chytil notched two goals in a 5-1 victory.

The Canucks trail the all-time season series 122-151-33-4. Elias Pettersson leads the way with 34 points in 32 career games, including his first NHL goal on this day in 2018.

Last Game: Near Comeback vs. Oilers

As mentioned off the top, the Canucks and Oilers treated fans to some old-school hockey in their first two games. First, the Canucks prevailed 6-5 at Rogers Place with Paul Cotter scoring the winner in overtime, and then the Oilers blitzed the Canucks at Rogers Arena, building an 8-2 lead and eventually holding on for a 9-7 win.

Despite looking like men against boys early on, the Canucks valiantly fought back in the third period, making it 8-6 at one point. Even though they lost, fans saw a much different team than last season, where too many home games ended with little to no pushback. Instead of rolling over and losing 8-2 (or worse), they gave the Oilers all they could handle and showed everyone across the league that wins won’t come easy against them this season.

On top of that, Pettersson looked like his old 2023-24 self again, uncorking his vintage one-timer on Devon Levi and finishing with a goal and two assists. Marco Rossi also had another solid game, with two goals and three points, and Cotter continued to impress with his third of the season already. All in all, while, yes, it was an ugly number in the goals-against column, there were a surprising number of positives that came from this loss.

Projected Lineup vs. Flames (Subject to Change)

Marco Rossi – Elias Pettersson – Linus Karlsson
Liam Ohgren – Paul Cotter – Brock Boeser
Arshdeep Bains – Max Sasson – Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Drew O’Connor – Aatu Raty – Brendan Gallagher

Zeev Buium – Filip Hronek
Jamie Oleksiak – Tom Willander
Elias Pettersson – Luke Schenn

Leevi Merilainen (0-0-0)
Kevin Lankinen (1-1-0)

Head coach Manny Malhotra shuffled up his lines at practice on Friday, with Jake DeBrusk skating away from the main lineup. After the team’s optional skate this morning, Malhotra confirmed he would sit out tonight with an illness. Aatu Raty will come in and play his first game of the season after being a healthy scratch in the home-at-home against the Oilers.

Merilainen was seen going through the starter’s routine, so he will most likely get the start, leaving Lankinen to face the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow. He will be sporting a Canucks-themed helmet after his first appearance wearing his old Ottawa Senators one.

Canucks’ Team Leaders

• Goals: Rossi, Cotter (3)
• Assists: Hronek (four)
• Points: Rossi, Cotter, Pettersson, and Hronek (four)
• Goals-Against Average: Merilainen (1.96)
• Save Percentage: Merilainen (.909)
• Wins: Lankinen (one)

Canucks Storylines

Can Elias Pettersson Continue His Renaissance?

It’s only two games against the same opponent, so I could be jumping the gun a bit on this. But it looks like Pettersson is back. Not only that, but he’s having fun again, and that alone is a step in the right direction. He’s smiling and showing excitement after goals, along with renewed confidence in his ability to generate offence – something we haven’t seen a lot of over the last two seasons.

Pettersson has four points in two games, and both his goals have come on the power play, a situation that has not been his strong suit lately. He’s already halfway to his total from 2025-26, and both tallies were showcases of skill – first a deft tip and then his patented one-timer. He’s also surprisingly throwing his weight around, perhaps taking note of his namesake’s style of game on the blue line.

Pettersson was credited with eight hits on Thursday, ahead of more familiar names like Schenn, Cotter, and Oleksiak. If he can add that to his game more consistently and put points on the board, he becomes even more valuable to this team and the rebuild.

Tightening Up the Defence, But Keeping the Offence

After putting up 13 goals in two games, it’s clear the Canucks can score. That’s the good news. The bad news is, they have allowed 14 as well. The challenge facing Malhotra now is keeping the offence while tightening up the defence.

It’s easy to point to the goaltending alongside that, but I don’t know if you can blame Lankinen all too much. In the 73:39 he’s been in the crease, the Canucks have been out-chanced 40-21, with 13 being the high-danger variety. He’s also made several highlight-reel saves, arguably stealing the 6-5 win on opening night. So, despite his ugly numbers, he is not the problem; it’s the team defence in front of him.

The Canucks won’t have to face Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and former Canuck Vasily Podkolzin in this game, so they should have an easier time defending. But the fact remains, they have to start limiting the number of quality chances on their goaltender. Having a better start would help too, as they have been on the back foot early in both games so far, even though they scored first on Tuesday.

How to Watch

Puck drops at 7 pm Pacific Time. You can listen on Kiss Radio and watch on Sportsnet.