Yes, it happened again. The Vancouver Canucks lost yet another key player during their 4-3 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues tonight. This game was not entirely negative, however, as Kiefer Sherwood had himself a night — as he always does — by scoring his second career NHL hat trick. Jake DeBrusk ended the game for the Canucks by scoring the lone shootout goal. Kevin Lankinen had a very strong effort tonight against St. Louis, stopping 36 of 39 shots faced and stopping all three chances faced in the shootout. 

In typical 2025–26 Canucks fashion, fans got a massive scare early into the game when Brock Boeser blocked a shot from Elias Pettersson (D) and went down the tunnel as a result. This occurred only a day after forward MacKenzie MacEachern was recalled from the Abbotsford Canucks to slot into the lineup in place of Conor Garland, who got injured on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers. The forward was later ruled out for the remainder of the game, though Canucks head coach Adam Foote gave a positive update on his status postgame. 

"I can't even tell you what happened to him, but I think he should be back next game," he said with a chuckle.   

The Canucks ended up with two power plays during the first period, both of which came as the result of two penalties taken by Blues defenceman Logan Mailloux. With Boeser not present for either, Vancouver iced first-unit power plays made up of Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, Evander Kane, and one of Lukas Reichel and Sherwood at a time. It was Sherwood that found the back of the net, however, as he drove hard to the net during the team’s second chance to tie the game up at one apiece. This was not Sherwood’s only quality chance of the first period, however, as he also had a close shorthanded chance near the end of the frame. 

"Just taking one game at a time, the games are coming fast and furious, so just rinse and repeat," Sherwood said postgame to Dan Murphy of Sportsnet of his effort. "We've got to try to build something here and build along to Minnesota." 

"He's just playing with a lot of zip right now, a lot of confidence," Foote said of Sherwood's game. "When you're at that level, things happen that way." 

With Boeser out of the lineup for the rest of the night, the Canucks’ lines went through the blender yet again. Sherwood was elevated to Pettersson and DeBrusk’s line in Boeser’s stead, while DeBrusk also spent time alongside Reichel and Kane. It was Sherwood yet again who propelled the Canucks to a tie, scoring his second game-tying goal of the night off a breakaway opportunity set up by Drew O’Connor from deep inside Vancouver’s zone. 

Just when you thought he couldn’t possibly do more for his team, Sherwood proved people wrong by scoring Vancouver’s third goal of the night and giving the Canucks their first lead of the game. Offensively, he was a beast for the Canucks tonight, but defensively, he was still as solid as he typically is. He finished the game with the second-highest TOI on the Canucks with 24:21 played, 2:34 of which was spent on the power play and 4:21 of which was on the penalty kill. Sherwood also had five shots on net and four hits. 

While Sherwood was undoubtedly the Canucks’ best player tonight, another player also made an interesting impression. Coming off his NHL debut on Tuesday, Tom Willander played 19:09 minutes tonight and even earned himself two minutes on the power play. He also ended up getting some minutes during overtime. 

Vancouver nearly took the lead with less than three minutes to go in the third period after Kane appeared to have scored his first goal as a Canuck. However, goaltender interference was ruled on the play after MacEachern crowded the net prior to the goal, keeping it a 3–3 score through to overtime. 

Despite a hard-fought overtime period, the game ended in the shootout after DeBrusk scored for the Canucks, giving Vancouver their sixth win and bringing their points percentage back to .500. 

"It's pretty incredible for me as a coach, I've been here two and a half years, maybe almost three years, and it's the best team game, team win I've seen since I've been here as far as being resilient," Foote said. "What our leadership group has done to allow these young guys to come in and feel comfortable, play with confidence, not get upset at them when they make those young mistakes is impressive, because these young guys are giving us good minutes right now." 

Stats and Facts: 

• Pierre-Olivier Joseph skates in his 200th NHL game
• Canucks surrender the opening goal of the game for the sixth time this season 
• Kiefer Sherwood scores his second career NHL hat trick  
• Brock Boeser’s injury marks the third-straight time the Canucks have lost a player mid-game due to injury   

Scoring Summary: 

1st Period: 

3:23 - STL: Dylan Holloway (2) from Oskar Sundqvist and Pius Suter 

13:08 - VAN: Kiefer Sherwood (7) from Evander Kane (PPG) 

2nd Period: 

0:58 - STL: Jimmy Snuggerud (4) from Cam Fowler and Jordan Binnington (PPG) 

10:42 - VAN: Kiefer Sherwood (8) from Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson 

3rd Period: 

7:04 - VAN: Kiefer Sherwood (9) from Aatu Räty and Drew O’Connor 

10:48 - STL: Pius Suter (4) from Cam Fowler and Oskar Sundqvist (PPG) 

Overtime: 

No scoring. 

Shootout Winner: 

Jake DeBrusk 

Up Next: 

The next stop during Vancouver’s three-game road trip is Minnesota on Saturday, where they’ll take on the Minnesota Wild. This is the first of three matchups between the Canucks and the Wild during the 2025–26 regular season, with the next one occurring in December back at Rogers Arena. Puck drop for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 4:00 pm PT. 

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