Canucks Losing Streak Hits Six After 3-1 Defeat To The Flyers

The Vancouver Canucks extended their losing streak to six games after falling 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night. Jonathan Lekkerimäki scored the only goal for Vancouver, which came in the third period on the power play. As for Leevi Meriläinen, he stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced in the loss. 

Another night, another frustrating performance by the Canucks. Despite facing a tired Flyers team that blew a lead on Sunday before losing in overtime, Vancouver failed to generate any form of offence through the first two periods. By the second intermission, the Canucks had registered just six shots, which was the same total Philadelphia had in the second period alone. 

"I think the level of frustration is high," said Drew O'Connor post-game. "No one's happy with losing. No one's happy with how we're playing. I think over the last little stretch, there's probably been some games that we've played pretty well. And then, you know, look at Winnipeg. We were really bad in Winnipeg. We have a decent response. Played pretty good in Edmonton, and then kind of more the same tonight. Just not good enough."

Poor effort and lack of compete has been a common theme for Vancouver this year. For whatever reason, the team has struggled to put forth a full 60-minute effort, which has contributed to their losses in 16 of their last 17 games. Post-game, Head Coach Manny Malhotra once again sounded frustrated as he explained some of the problems from Monday's loss. 

"The most frustrating part was our start," said Malhotra. "When you know the topic of discussion for the game is you want to stress a team early that's coming in on a back to back, and the message is we have to have that same level of intensity that we played with the other night. And to come out as flat as we did, and make the same mistakes, and take dumb penalties, it's concerning. It's frustrating. It's becoming a problem." 

The Canucks deserve credit for how they played in the third. After allowing a goal that was called back for offside at the start of the period (shoutout Video Coaches Ian Beckenstein and Andrew Shaw), Vancouver controlled play the rest of the way and outshot the Flyers 13-2. Unfortunately, the Canucks could not find an equalizer on a late power play as instead, they surrounded an empty net goal late in the period. 

"There's a number of things that go into that," said Malhotra when asked about the third-period push. "Obviously, they did do a good job of pushing back. Yes, they were a tired team on the other side. Give our group some credit for applying that pressure, but again, the lesson being we wait so long. Those are the types of efforts and mentality we need out of the gate. And when we discuss it prior to going out on the ice, and we don't see it, it's extremely frustrating."

While long losing streaks during rebuilds are expected, Vancouver's nightly effort level is shocking. Everyone sounds frustrated, but as Malhotra mentioned in his post-game, the same mistakes are happening night after night. With just three wins through their first 20 games, the Canucks need to find a way to become a cohesive unit; otherwise, they could find themselves on the wrong side of NHL history. 

1st Period: 

2:03- PHI: Michael Bunting (1) from Christian Dvorak and Nick Seeler

2nd Period: 

3:05- PHI: Travis Konecny (2) from Matvei Michkov and Christian Dvorak (PPG)

3rd Period: 

12:44- VAN: Jonathan Lekkerimäki (7) from Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson (PPG)

19:01- PHI: Travis Sanheim (2) (ENG) (SHG)

Up Next: 

Vancouver Canucks vs New York Rangers, November 13, 2026, 7:00 pm PCT

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