Canucks Suffer 7–3 Loss To Seattle In Game 1 Of 2026 Prospect Showcase

Vancouver Canucks hockey is back. 

Well, kind of. 

The Canucks prospects took centre stage tonight in Game 1 of the 2026 Prospect Showcase, taking a 7–3 loss against the Seattle Kraken prospects in their first bit of pre-season action. Vilmer Alriksson, Adam Novotný, and Sawyer Mynio scored for Vancouver, while Aleksei Medvedev stopped 26 of 33 shots faced. 

Seattle ended up on the board first after Vancouver dumped the puck into the O-zone on an attempted break, only for the Kraken to collect it along the boards. A lengthy feed from Kraken defenceman Caden Price sprang forward Justin Janicke on a breakaway, with the forward flipping a back-hander past Medvedev and into the net. 

A strong sequence of passes up the rush between Braeden Cootes and Ilya Safonov resulted in the latter sustaining a slash, sending Vancouver onto the power play late in the first. 

Entering the second period with 1:53 minutes worth of power play time, the Canucks sent their first unit of Cootes, Safonov, Novotný, Brooks Rogowski, and Kirill Kudryavtsev out, with the group generating chances but not quite finding the back of the net. Amidst a change in personnel, it was Riley Patterson who set Vancouver's first goal of the game up, with Alriksson firing the puck home from between the hashmarks. 

Despite the strong power play, it didn’t take long for Seattle to retake the lead. After setting up the Kraken’s first goal of the game, Price scored the 2–1 goal for Seattle, doing so by advancing into Vancouver’s zone and flinging the puck into the net from the faceoff dot. 

The floodgates opened soon after that. A scrambly play in front of Medvedev put Seattle up 3–1, before Novotný sniped his first goal as a Canuck to cut the deficit to one. 

“I came from the bench and then I saw my teammate with the puck, so I was just screaming for the puck,” the forward said post-game. “I was wide open, and then I said, ‘As soon as I get the puck, I’m gonna shoot,' and [it] worked out.”

The Kraken prospects regained their two-goal lead less than two minutes later, with Seattle forward David Goyette passing the puck from behind Vancouver’s net for Andrei Loshko to fire in. Later, it was Mynio’s turn to score, tucking the puck home after receiving a pass from Ty Mueller. Seattle emerged from the high-scoring second period with the 4–3 lead, though it was Vancouver who led in shots with 24–21.  

Tonight’s game also featured two fights between the Canucks and Kraken prospects. In the first period, it was Abbotsford Canucks forward Austin Brimmer who dropped the gloves with Nathan Villeneuve, followed by Joe Arntsen and Kraken defenceman Finn Kearns. 

Seattle netted three more goals in the third period thanks to Loshko, Goyette, and Janicke, with Goyette scoring on the power play after the puck took a bounce off of Canucks defenceman Arseni Anisimov and landed on the Kraken forward’s stick. 

Post-game, Abbotsford Head Coach Ryan Papaioannou spoke to the media about the team’s performance. 

“Systematically pretty sloppy, which is expected. I think competitively, we had to be happy with the group,” he said. “[The game] got away from them in the third a little bit, but I think individually when we look at some of the performances, I thought there were some bright spots, and overall what it does for us is gives us some things to watch tomorrow morning and hopefully prepare these guys for tomorrow.” 

While the scoreboard shared a very different story, there were still some positives to take away from the Canucks prospects’ performance tonight. Novotný started to find his footing after a slow first period and looked much more confident as the game progressed. ‘Veterans’ Kudryavtsev and Mueller, both of whom wore an ‘A’ for Vancouver tonight, made their presences known offensively speaking, with the defenceman quarterbacking the Canucks’ top power-play unit and the forward assisting on two of Vancouver’s three goals.

The next step will be for the prospects to take what they’ve learned tonight and apply it to their rematch against the Kraken tomorrow afternoon.  

1st Period: 

14:51 - SEA: Justin Janicke from Caden Price 

2nd Period: 

1:05 - VAN: Vilmer Alriksson from Riley Patterson (PPG) 

3:00 - SEA: Caden Price from Kaden Hammell and Ryden Evers 

10:40 - SEA: Finn Kearns from Jagger Firkus 

11:43 - VAN: Adam Novotný from Ty Mueller 

12:14 - SEA: Andrei Loshko from David Goyette

15:41 - VAN: Sawyer Mynio from Ty Mueller and Gabriel Chiarot 

3rd Period: 

6:11 - SEA: Andrei Loshko from Ty Nelson and Tyson Jugnauth

8:43 - SEA: David Goyette from Jani Nyman and Ty Nelson (PPG) 

15:08 - SEA: Justin Janicke

Up Next: 

The Canucks prospects are back in action tomorrow afternoon, returning to Rogers Forum for Game 2 of the Prospect Showcase against the Kraken. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:00 pm PT. 

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