Panthers 8, Canucks 5: A Wild One, and Maybe a Schedule Loss

Some games feel like track meets right from the drop of the puck, and this one had that smell in the first five minutes. The Vancouver Canucks came in on a back-to-back after outworking the Tampa Bay Lightning the night before, and for a while, they carried that leftover adrenaline into Sunrise. Up 2-0, moving the puck crisply, even making the Florida Panthers’ great goalie Sergei Bobrovsky look ordinary—it looked like they might steal another road win.

Then their legs started to go, just a shade, and the Panthers pounced. Florida’s a team that can turn a loose puck into a jailbreak, and when Vancouver’s pace dipped even slightly, everything turned into a scramble. Five goals later, the whole night had turned into one long chase.

Give the Canucks Credit, They Didn’t Quit

Still, give the Canucks credit: they didn’t fold. Down 5-2 on fatigued legs, they clawed back early in the third—Elias Pettersson snapping one, Filip Hronek tying it on the power play. For a heartbeat, it felt like Vancouver might gut out a game they probably had no business being in by that point.

But Florida had too much jump left, and the Canucks’ tank was running on fumes. Sam Bennett’s tip-in felt like the moment reality settled in. By the time Seth Jones buried his second power-play goal, the story was pretty straightforward. No happy ending for the Canucks. They didn’t have enough gas to match Florida’s wave after wave. This wasn’t a no-show. It wasn’t a collapse. It was a tired team getting caught by a rested one with teeth.

Three Canucks Key Points

Key Point One: Elias Pettersson did everything he could. Pettersson put up two goals on a night where he had to drag the offense back into the fight. He nearly willed them into a point. It wasn’t on him.

Key Point Two: Quinn Hughes still sees the ice differently. Hughes is an assist machine. Three assists—again—and he kept the Canucks alive after Florida tilted the rink. Even when the team is wobbling, he remains the calmest player on the ice.

Key Point Three: Jiri Patera battled in a tough spot. Welcome to the NHL (again). He faced 33 shots, five power-play goals against, and a defense that had trouble sorting out coverage. Hard to judge him too harshly. He made at least one miraculous save that I noticed.

Final Canucks Thought

There are losses you chalk up to effort or execution, and nights like this you chalk up to the schedule. The Canucks didn’t quit, and they didn’t look overwhelmed—they just looked tired. If anything, the pushback early in the third says more about their character than the final score does.