Beleaguered Canucks show fight in loss to high-powered Hurricanes

Vancouver Canucks' Teddy Blueger (53) hits Carolina Hurricanes' Jalen Chatfield (5) during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

VANCOUVER — Patrik Allvin knows the Vancouver Canucks will lose more games this season.

As the team begins its rebuild, though, the general manager wants to see his players battle out on the ice.

“I want to see more fight in the group,” he said. “It’s their job, the players’ job, and our job to prepare every night for the fans and play for the crest. And you can lose games, but you’re going to play the right way, and you’re going to compete.”

The Canucks (18-36-7) responded to Allvin’s call against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night -- albeit in yet another defeat.

Despite sluggish stretches, Vancouver took a 2-1 lead in the first period, then rallied from a three-goal deficit to challenge the Eastern Conference’s top team in the final frame.

The Canucks ultimately fell 6-4 to the Canes, a result that marked the club’s seventh straight loss.

“The effort was there today. Pretty happy about that,” said Vancouver defenceman Filip Hronek. ”But we have to be consistent with this, and we have to have that effort for 60. Can’t have it for 35 or whatever minutes. Have to have it for 60.”

It’s been a difficult season for Vancouver.

The team came in with optimism about making a return to the playoffs, but stumbled early and made a blockbuster move in mid-December, dealing captain and star defenceman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in a move that sparked the rebuild.

Another veteran player followed on Wednesday when the Canucks dealt defenceman Tyler Myers to the Dallas Stars, leaving three defencemen, 23 years old and younger, in the lineup against the Hurricanes.

Head coach Adam Foote admitted that the youth is a challenge, but said he was happy with how the blue liners played.

“Love them all,” he said. “It is what it is. We’re going that way, and I’m aware of that.”

A series of odd-man rushes and defensive miscues gave Carolina a major boost on Wednesday.

Midway through the second period, Sebastian Aho knocked down a Seth Jarvis pass, drove into Vancouver territory and flicked a backhanded shot past starting goalie Kevin Lankinen to give the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead.

Foote responded by pulling Lankinen, who gave up four goals on 22 shots. Nikita Tolopilo came on in relief.

“I just wanted to change the energy,” he said of the move. ”We’ll go back and look. Maybe he could have had a couple of those. But mainly just to change the energy. It didn’t work at first, did it? But the guys, what I liked was the fight they had throughout.”

Just moments after taking over the net, Nikolaj Ehlers blasted a one-timer past Tolopilo’s short side. It was the first shot the big Belarusian goalie faced on the night.

Tolopilo should have made the stop, Foote said, but it’s also an experience he can build on.

“(The Hurricanes) were hungry there. That one can’t go in, but they were hungry knowing that a young goalie came in,” the coach said. ”We’ll learn from that.”

Ehlers excellence

Ehlers scored his third goal of the night into an empty net with 14 seconds left on the game clock.

It was his second hat trick since signing with the Hurricanes as a free agent on July 3, and the seventh of his NHL career.

“It’s always special when you score three goals, but at the same time, I’m not too happy about my performance tonight,” said the Danish winger, who has 19 goals and 29 assists over 61 games this season.

“I didn’t think I played a very good game. So it’s one of those where they just seem to go in, and obviously that’s great. We won, but I got to be a little bit better than that.”

Booming Bussi

Hurricanes goalie Brandon Bussi stopped 18 of the 22 shots he faced and improved to 25-3-1 in his rookie season.

The 27-year-old netminder said he still needs to improve.

“I think in this league, you’ve just got to find ways to win games. So I think I’ve got to be better, but it was good enough tonight,” Bussi said. ”So the team was really good in front of me offensively, putting up six (goals) is really nice, so we’ll take the positives out of it.”

This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press, was first published March 4, 2026.