The Vancouver Canucks started the first-half of their final back-to-back of 2025 with a 3–2 shootout win against the Seattle Kraken. Linus Karlsson scored for the ninth time this season, Elias Pettersson found the back of the net, and Liam Öhgren netted his second shootout winner of the season. Kevin Lankinen stopped 37 of 39 shots faced and engaged in more shootout heroics, saving all three of Seattle’s opportunities to bring his season total up to 17 straight saves. Vancouver had a hard time breaking into Seattle’s zone early on. Most chances that went up-ice ended up being turned around part of the way. The Kraken were able to break up any passes between oncoming Canucks, limiting them to five high-danger chances-for by the end of the first period. Overall, the first period was a sloppy one for Vancouver, whose late changes resulted in a too-many-men call with a player already in the penalty box early on, and later a goal-against to end the period. With the changes in the lineup came new line combinations. Karlsson, who has now scored four goals in the past four games, found himself on a line with Nils Höglander and Max Sasson to start the game. After Conor Garland dropped the gloves with Jared McCann, Karlsson ended up with Marco Rossi and Liam Öhgren, a line on which he scored Vancouver’s opening goal. The forward also spent some time on the Canucks’ first power play unit in place of Jake DeBrusk, who was notably healthy-scratched for tonight’s game. As for Höglander, the forward skated in his first game since December 19 against the New York Islanders. Given sheltered minutes alongside Karlsson and Sasson, the forward didn’t end up playing too much due to the Canucks’ limited 5-on-5 play as a result of being shorthanded five times in regulation. He didn’t end up on the scoresheet but did engage in some physical play along the boards and made some cycling plays in the O-zone. This was Pettersson’s second game back from injury, as he missed eight games prior to Saturday’s matchup against the San Jose Sharks. The forward made his mark tonight by tying the game up at two goals apiece, firing a shot at Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord from the high-slot. The forward played much harder tonight, skating hard, making skilled plays in the O-zone, and even diving out to try and block shots when needed. Despite not having David Kämpf in the lineup tonight, Vancouver actually fared better than Seattle in the faceoff dot, winning a total of 53.1%. The only Canucks center to register a faceoff winning percentage of higher than 50% was Aatu Räty, who won 64.7%. Interestingly, 10 different Canucks forwards took at least one faceoff tonight. One player who made himself noticeable early on was Tom Willander, who made a big — but painful — block to stop the Kraken from finding the back of the net earlier than they did. He also made the play to break Vancouver into Seattle’s zone on their second goal of the game, passing it up-ice to Evander Kane. Willander also nearly found himself in a sticky situation with Kraken forward Ryan Winterton pursuing the puck, but managed to tangle him up and negate the scoring chance while coming back into his own zone. Tonight was a strong performance for Lankinen, who held the fort down early on for Vancouver and continued to keep them in the game throughout the second and third period. He faced 14 shots solely in the first period and 16 in the third. A strategy that the Canucks have tried to employ throughout their overtimes this season has been maintaining keep-away, doing-so by maintaining possession off the opening faceoff and holding onto the puck until the end of the extra frame. Part of the reason why this could be the case is the fact that Lankinen’s career record in shootouts has been phenomenal. Despite having to kill a penalty, during which Filip Hronek made a timely block, Vancouver’s strategy succeeded long enough for the game to move to the shootout, where Lankinen did what he’s consistently done throughout the season and stopped every chance faced. Dec 29, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen (32) stops a shot by Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen (20) during a shoot out at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/365367fb-b4c1-4103-927e-98a9c8508c2b.jpeg] Dec 29, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen (32) stops a shot by Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen (20) during a shoot out at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images STATS AND FACTS: * Conor Garland registers his second fight of the 2025–26 season and second career fight against a member of the Seattle Kraken * Elias Pettersson scores his 194th career NHL goal, passing Alex Burrows for 11th-most in Canucks history * Kevin Lankinen extends his shootout record to 17/17 shots stopped SCORING SUMMARY: 1st Period: 8:50 - SEA: Jared McCann (6) from Vince Dunn and Jordan Eberle (PPG) 15:20 - VAN: Linus Karlsson (9) from Liam Öhgren 19:40 - SEA: Ryan Winterton (3) from Jacob Melanson and Joey Daccord 2nd Period: 5:23 - VAN: Elias Pettersson (9) from Evander Kane and Tom Willander 3rd Period: No Scoring. Overtime: No Scoring. Shootout Winner: VAN - Liam Öhgren Up Next: The Canucks head back home to Vancouver to take on the Philadelphia Flyers in the second-half of their current back-to-back. Since Lankinen played tonight, Thatcher Demko is expected to start tomorrow, taking on the Flyers less than a week after facing them in a 5–2 loss. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwr-DfCA?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen] 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 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks]. 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