The Vancouver Canucks wrapped up a perfect trip through the New York area on Friday night, beating the New York Islanders 4–1 for their third straight win. It caps a stretch that included wins over the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, all with Thatcher Demko in goal. Vancouver jumped out early, scoring three times in the first period, and never really let the Islanders back into it. Demko turned aside 22 shots, and Anders Lee spoiled the shutout late in the third.
The win comes after a rough 2–8–1 skid and continues a steadying stretch for a Canucks team still missing Elias Pettersson. It also happens to be three straight wins since the Quinn Hughes trade. However, as Demko made clear after the game, no one in the room is rushing to draw conclusions from that.
Related: Kiefer Sherwood’s Hat Trick Powers Canucks Past Islanders
What made the night interesting wasn’t just the score, but the threads it pulled together — who’s driving results right now, how the team is handling change, and what’s quietly developing beneath the surface. With that in mind, here are three things worth keeping an eye on as this road trip comes to a close.
Item One: Kiefer Sherwood Keeps Making Himself Hard to Ignore
If there’s one name that keeps popping up lately, it’s Kiefer Sherwood. Three goals Friday night gave him his second hat trick of the season and his third of his NHL career. Two of those goals came in the opening period, when the Canucks essentially put the game away before it ever had a chance to breathe. The empty-netter late just put a bow on it.
What’s interesting about Sherwood’s run is how his rise has happened. He’s not playing flashy hockey. He’s not padding numbers on the power play. He’s just getting to the net, finishing chances, and playing with an edge that fits exactly what this group has needed during a choppy season. Sixteen goals now lead the team, and that’s not something many people would’ve predicted back in October.
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Here’s the irony: Sherwood’s name has floated around trade chatter like he’s some expendable piece—fat chance. Players who score, play hard minutes, and don’t disappear when the team hits turbulence tend to earn trust fast — from coaches and teammates alike. Whatever Vancouver’s long-term plans are, Sherwood is doing everything he can to make himself part of them, not a footnote on a deadline list.
If this team moves him at the trade deadline, they’re missing the point.
Item Two: Thatcher Demko Shrugs Off Quinn Hughes Question
After the Canucks’ latest win, Demko was asked the question everyone seems eager to connect: Quinn Hughes gets traded, and Vancouver wins three straight. Is there something there? Demko didn’t hesitate, and he didn’t play along. He flat-out dismissed the idea that the recent wins say anything about Hughes, the locker room, or some weight being lifted.
Demko called it what it often is in hockey — timing. “Sports are weird,” he said, and left it at that. No hints at chemistry shifts. No talk of relief or reset buttons. Just a reminder that stretches as this show up, sometimes without a clear explanation, and trying to force one usually says more about the noise outside the room than what’s happening inside it.
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What stood out was the tone. Demko spoke about Hughes with respect and genuine appreciation, not distance. He made it clear that the wins aren’t about someone leaving, but about the players who are still there doing the work. For a team navigating change, it was a calm, grounded response — and maybe the most telling part of the interview.
Item Three: Riley Patterson Keeps Producing in Junior Hockey
Vancouver Canucks prospect Riley Patterson continues to light it up in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), scoring twice Thursday night for the Niagara IceDogs in a 5–2 loss to the Peterborough Petes. The result didn’t go Niagara’s way, but Patterson was all over the game, firing nine shots and once again carrying the offensive load for his club.
December has been especially strong for Patterson, who now has five goals and six assists in six games this month alone. On the season, the 19-year-old has piled up 17 goals and 37 points in 28 games, leading the IceDogs in scoring despite the team sitting in the middle of the OHL pack. He’s producing regardless of circumstance, which is often the clearest sign of a junior player starting to separate himself.
Related: Can Canucks’ Zeev Buium Replace Quinn Hughes?
For the Canucks, it’s another encouraging data point from a prospect quietly pushing toward a breakout year. Patterson is on pace for the best season of his junior career, and while he’s still a project, the consistency is starting to matter. On a team that doesn’t always give him much help, he’s finding ways to create offence anyway — and that’s usually the habit that carries forward.
What’s Next for the Canucks?
The challenge now is less about momentum and more about maintenance. Three wins on the road matter, but what matters more is whether the habits Demko keeps talking about travel home with the team. Shot suppression, structure without panic, and contributions coming from places other than the usual stars — those are things that can actually stabilize a season.
With Pettersson still out and the roster in a bit of flux, Vancouver doesn’t need to reinvent itself. It just needs to keep playing the kind of hockey that makes nights manageable for its goalie and uncomfortable for opponents. No grand conclusions required — just another honest week of work and a chance to see if this stretch can become something more than a footnote.
