Canucks’ Losing Streak Hits Five After 3–2 Loss To The New York Islanders

The Vancouver Canucks’ losing streak has officially hit five games after their 3–2 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night. Max Sasson and Brock Boeser scored Vancouver’s two goals tonight, while Leevi Meriläinen was strong in net, making 35 stops on 38 shots faced. 

Vancouver actually didn’t look terrible during the first period, but a couple of quick goals on bad turnovers put them down 2–0 by the end of the frame. The Islanders’ first goal saw the puck go past a couple of Canucks before making its way towards the net, appearing to bounce off both Tom Willander and then Kyle Palmieri before beating Meriläinen. Zeev Buium, who played on Vancouver’s third-pairing tonight, coughed the puck up to Matthew Schaefer on New York’s second goal, with the Islanders defenceman threading it over to goal-scorer Matias Maccelli. 

The Canucks debuted a somewhat new-look power play unit tonight as well. Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who has been playing well throughout the start of the 2026–27 season, was bumped up to Vancouver’s top-unit and made an impact immediately. The forward was only a short distance away from scoring Vancouver’s first goal of the game as he ripped a shot past Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin, though the puck hit the crossbar and flew out of bounds.  

An overlapping penalty-kill put Vancouver down a player to start the second period. Despite killing the penalty, the Canucks found themselves contained within their own zone for the first half of their period. This resulted in long shifts, such as two-minute sequences for Willander and Jamie Oleksiak, due to Vancouver not being able to break the puck out. 

One break-out sequence started by the line of Lekkerimäki, Elias Pettersson, and Jake DeBrusk gave Vancouver some much-needed O-zone time. The break-in triggered a line change for both benches, which the oncoming Sasson and Arshdeep Bains capitalized on to give the Canucks their first goal. 

Things seemed to switch up after Sasson’s goal — and Vancouver’s second penalty kill of the night shortly after — as it was the Canucks’ turn to put together more O-zone time. They were able to utilize their momentum to get extended looks in the Islanders’ zone, one of which resulted in Liam Öhgren drawing a penalty on Palmieri. On the ensuing man-advantage, Boeser scored his 80th-career power-play goal to take sole-possession of fifth-all time in franchise history. 

Just like at the start of the second period, the Islanders made a strong push for offence to start the third, with this paying off in the form of a second goal for Palmieri. Once the final few minutes of the period emerged, Vancouver pressed to try and score the game-tying goal, but a hooking call on Buium put the Canucks down a player and ultimately neutralized their attempt at going 6-on-5.   

To give credit where credit is due, however, Vancouver kept things interesting right until the end. Even with Buium in the box, the Canucks killed the majority of their penalty before drawing a penalty themselves and playing 5-on-4 with Meriläinen on the bench. All in all, Vancouver put up a fair comeback effort but were unable to fully secure the win. 

1st Period: 

14:57 - NYI: Kyle Palmieri (1) from Matt Kessel and Bo Horvat 

15:50 - NYI: Matias Maccelli (1) from Matthew Schaefer 

2nd Period: 

7:52 - VAN: Max Sasson (2) from Arshdeep Bains and Jamie Oleksiak 

18:55 - VAN: Brock Boeser (2) from Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek (PPG) 

3rd Period: 

5:38 - NYI: Kyle Palmieri (2) from Matias Maccelli and Matthew Schaefer 

Up Next: 

Vancouver Canucks @ Florida Panthers, October 15, 4:00 pm PT 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

Latest From THN’s Vancouver Canucks Site:

Canucks’ Brock Boeser Enters Franchise Top-Five In Power-Play Goals

How Concerned Should The Canucks Be About Kevin Lankinen’s Start? 

Canucks Forward Filip Chytil Resumes Skating, Is 'Progressing Nicely' 

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.