3 Standouts From Game #9: Panthers 3, Canucks 2 (OT)

Welcome to this edition of the Vancouver Canucks “3 Standouts From The Game.” In this recurring series, The Hockey News’ Canucks team will do a deep dive into three standouts from Vancouver’s last game. This article will focus on the Canucks’ most recent 3–2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers. 

Leevi Meriläinen

Another game, another strong performance from Leevi Meriläinen. Thursday’s game marks the third consecutive matchup he’s played in that saw him face 30+ shots. He’s also, impressively, stopped 30+ shots in each of these three games. In Thursday’s effort, Meriläinen faced a total of 39 shots and stopped 36. 

While Vancouver did help him out during the second period, Meriläinen had to be sharp in the first period to help the Canucks build and keep their lead. He stopped all 15 shots faced from Florida during the opening frame, also turning away 10 high-danger chances for the Panthers. 

Defenceman Elias Pettersson 

Elias Pettersson has been the Canucks’ best defenceman to start the 2026–27 season. On Thursday, he continued to assert that idea. The defenceman scored his third goal of the season, tying himself with Jake DeBrusk and Marco Rossi for the second-most on the team. 

Away from the scoresheet, Pettersson has continued to make a positive impact on both sides of the ice. He’s become a staple on Vancouver’s main penalty-killing unit alongside Filip Hronek, also showing that he has developed a better sense for jumping up into the play when needed. It’s clear he has gained Canucks Head Coach Manny Malhotra’s trust, as he finished last night’s game with the second-highest minutes played for Vancouver with 22:35. 

Filip Chytil 

Regardless of how he played last night, all eyes were bound to be on Filip Chytil heading into his first matchup of the season. For a player that hasn’t seen a regular-season game situation since the beginning of February, he made a fair impact. Chytil flashed the speed he’s best known for to help his team try and generate some offence, utilizing this to battle for the puck along the boards and feed Pettersson for Vancouver’s second goal of the game. 

While there were some moments that saw Chytil cough the puck up or overcomplicate a play, as a whole, he had a strong season debut for Vancouver. His effort saw him log the third-most minutes of Vancouver’s forwards with 18:30, behind only Brock Boeser (22:18) and Elias Pettersson (21:36). 

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