TORONTO – When you are falling as fast as the Vancouver Canucks, who are at terminal velocity with 38 National Hockey League games to go, it’s hard to know precisely what the bottom will look like.
But it will probably be something like Saturday’s dispiriting 5-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada.
It will look like Thatcher Demko allowing three goals on six shots and leaving the game after the first period with what coach Adam Foote said is yet another injury for the goalie. It will look like 0-for-6 on the power play, while the Leafs finish 2-for-4.
It will look like a 3-0 deficit after 20 minutes despite four Vancouver power plays and a 15-6 advantage in shots, and it will look Marcus Pettersson getting beaten in a fight by Max Domi after answering the bell against the tough Maple Leaf because Pettersson, at least, was desperate to try to get the Canucks going.
In this game last year, when the Canucks shut out the Leafs 3-0 here on Jan. 11, teammates were shouting “Selke! Selke!” at Vancouver centre Elias Pettersson.
The call on Saturday could have been: “Where are you?”
Pettersson had one power-play shot on target and went 2-for-11 on faceoffs.
He was far from the only veteran Canuck missing.
“It’s unacceptable,” winger Kiefer Sherwood confirmed. “It's frustrating and, yeah, just unacceptable. We need to scrap and claw for every game right now, and we’ve got to take more pride in the little things: winning our battles, defending our net-front. The stuff in front (of our goalies) is unacceptable. They're the backbone of our team and we’re just giving up way too many Grade-As (scoring chances). We’ve got to be desperate from the get-go. We can't just keep getting behind in these games and trying to come back.”
Five games into 2026, the Canucks have yet to hold a lead in the New Year. They have lost six straight games, and eight of nine. Halfway through their longest road trip of the season, and now facing difficult back-to-back games in Montreal and Ottawa, starting Monday, Vancouver is 0-3 and been outscored 15-4.
“Yeah, it's really disappointing,” winger Drew O’Connor said. “I mean, I think we just have to be better all-around. I don't think we were good enough in any area tonight. We give them three Grade-As that they score on in the first. There’s nothing Demmer could have done. It's on us to be sharper.
“I mean, we have to show up every night and play. There's no way around it. Doesn't really matter the circumstances. This is the NHL. Everyone has something to play for, and we just haven't been good enough. And you know, we can say we had chances and things like that ... but we have to put the puck in the net, we have to defend hard and we have to stop making the same mistakes.”
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On a night when the Canuck power play was mostly inert during 12 scoreless minutes, the Maple Leafs’ power play needed just 36 seconds to make it 1-0 at 8:03 of the first period when Elias Pettersson was a step behind Matias Maccelli as the Maple Leaf tapped in William Nylander’s cross-ice pass.
Liam Ohgren’s failed reception on Filip Hronek’s breakout pass, as Canuck defenceman Elias Pettersson (Junior) was looking for a line change, left Domi completely open down left wing before he fooled Demko with a short-side shot at 16:31.
Vancouver’s power play was already 0-for-4 by the time Nylander got behind Marcus Pettersson and beat Demko on a patient deke at 19:40.
Demko finished the period with as many saves as goals against, and then was finished for the game.
“Thatcher went out with an injury,” Foote told reporters. “So he's going to be re-evaluated. He’ll be evaluated in the next couple days.”
The goalie has already missed a month of this season with what was believed to be a groin strain, although there has also been speculation about his knee. Foote said the latest injury is “lower body.”
Whatever it is, it will be the sixth injury in less than two years for the 2024 Vezina Trophy runner-up.
Demko’s replacement, Kevin Lankinen, was easily the best Canuck in Toronto. He stopped 16 of 18 shots and made a handful of five-star saves. He was beaten only by John Tavares on a breakaway from Zeev Buium’s turnover, and a last-minute power-play goal from the slot by Nick Robertson after another Canuck rookie, Tom Willander, fanned a clearance straight on to his stick.
The mistakes by Buium and Willander were a reminder how young the Canucks are, but that doesn’t explain all the mistakes by veteran players.
Since the bottom of the standings were never far from the Canucks, the six straight losses have provided separation from 30 of the 31 teams ahead of them. Their season has become painfully bleak.
“It's the NHL; you've got to (bleeping) bring it every night,” Sherwood said. “It doesn't matter who you are, where you're at (in the standings). If not, you're letting your teammates down. And it doesn't matter if we're young, it doesn't matter. We have to give ourselves a chance and dig in and – I say it all the time – put our work boots on and give ourselves a chance. The details and system stuff we can clean up. But to not be ready or to just get out-willed in certain areas, it's unacceptable.”
“It's the best league in the world, and we all want to play in this league,” Marcus Pettersson said. “So I don't think (motivation) should be an issue. And we ought to make sure it's not an issue. I think we deserve to give each other more than this.”
ICE CHIPS – Injured forwards Conor Garland and Teddy Blueger joined the team for the morning skate in Toronto, giving the Canucks a trio of players in non-contact jerseys. Filip Chytil has been on the trip from the start. Garland, who banged his head on the ice on an unpenalized slew foot by Philadelphia Flyer Noah Cates on Dec. 30, is the closest to returning.
