Vancouver Canucks aim to finish strong on home ice amid tough season

Vancouver Canucks center Marco Rossi, left, celebrates his game-winning overtime goal with defenseman Zeev Buium, center, in an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

VANCOUVER — Home ice has not been a haven for the Vancouver Canucks this season.

While the entire campaign has been a struggle for the NHL team, the trouble has been especially acute at Rogers Arena where the Canucks have gone 8-27-5.

Vancouver will aim to add one last victory to that tally Tuesday when they host the Los Angeles Kings.

“Obviously, we haven’t been great at home this whole year, and I think if we could at least go out on a high note and get a win for (the fans), that’d be awesome,” said winger Brock Boeser. ”So we’re going to try to keep this thing rolling and play as hard as we can.”

The Canucks (24-48-8) have not won two home games in a row all season. Their last win in Vancouver came on March 17 when the squad took a convincing 5-2 decision over the Florida Panthers.

The Canucks will finish the season at the very bottom of the NHL standings, about 30 points back of the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.

Finishing their home schedule with a win is still important, said forward Aatu Raty.

“We haven’t been able to take care of business at home and haven’t gotten the wins that we want,” he said. ”So definitely we’re going to give a really hard effort today, and got to give ourselves a good chance to get a win.”

Vancouver’s head coach, Adam Foote, won’t be changing his approach for the final home game of the season.

The former NHL defenceman said he’d prepare the same way if the team needed a win to clinch a playoff spot on Tuesday night.

“You’ve got to lock it in. And it’s a process for years of preparation,” he said. “And my brain doesn’t go to places where the noise is. I just stay focused on my task and my job and my role in this, and that’s all you can control.”

That noise includes rumours that Foote, currently in his first year as an NHL head coach, will soon be looking for a new job.

Several teams have fired their bench boss in recent weeks, including the New York Islanders who turfed Patrick Roy and hired Pete DeBoer on April 6.

The move came after the Vegas Golden Knights replaced Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella on March 29. Earlier in the month, D.J. Smith was elevated to head coach of the Kings after Jim Hiller was fired and, back in January, the Columbus Blue Jackets brought in Rick Bowness after letting go Dean Evason.

Foote said he isn’t paying any attention to the coaching carousel around the league.

“I don’t think about that. I think about the now. We’re playing hockey, we have L.A. tonight,” he said.

“That’s just noise that is not in my control. I control what I do here every day, and that’s how I played, that’s how I was raised, that’s how I come to work. So that kind of thing, I just kind of keep it away.”

The Canucks showed glimmers of hope last week’s California road swing, taking back-to-back victories over the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks on Saturday and Sunday.

“I think everyone’s just been trying to put in the work and finish on a good note,” Raty said of the stretch. “And I feel like the vibes in the room have been great, and everybody’s been working toward the same goal and working really hard. So I feel like that’s what we’re seeing out there.”

In a season where virtually everything that could go wrong has, morale is high behind the scenes — Boeser said that bodes well for the future.

“Vibes have been great,” he said. “Everyone’s showing up to the rink with the right mindset, and that’s a positive, that’s a step in the right direction. So we’ve just got to continue that and finish strong here.”

This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press, was first published April 14, 2026.