The Canucks left Rogers Arena with effort to spare, but not the result they wanted, falling 3-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the second half of a weekend back-to-back.
Vancouver got goals from Paul Cotter and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, and Kevin Lankinen turned aside 25 of 28 shots. Still, Vegas did enough at five-on-five and on the power play to keep the Canucks from building on an early lead.
The night started with special teams driving the action. Vancouver made a tweak to its first power-play unit, moving Cotter into the spot Drew O’Connor had occupied before. The Canucks got an early look after Elias Pettersson drew a slashing call on Vegas captain Mark Stone, but back-to-back penalties on Jamie Oleksiak and Aatu Räty swung the momentum toward the visitors and let the Golden Knights spend more time in Vancouver’s zone.
That pressure nearly produced the opening goal when the puck bounced around Lankinen and ended up on top of the Canucks’ net. Zeev Buium got to it in time and knocked it away before Vegas could cash in.
Vancouver answered with a clean transition look of its own. Lekkerimäki and Arshdeep Bains, set up-ice by Max Sasson, turned the rush into a hooking call on Tomáš Hertl and sent the Canucks back to the power play. On that chance, Paul Cotter buried the finish from Filip Hronek for his 300th NHL game.
The penalty kill was one of Vancouver’s better areas on the night. The Canucks used forward pairings of Bains and Cotter, Pettersson and Liam Öhgren, and Sasson and O’Connor, and finished around five kills at an 80% success rate. Sasson and O’Connor also created two shorthanded 2-on-1 chances, but couldn’t convert either one.
The problem was how often Vancouver had to defend down a man. After Vegas tied it at 5-on-5 on a play by Mitch Marner, Tom Willander’s tripping penalty gave the Golden Knights their fourth power play, and that one helped tilt the game back in their favor.
Willander also had a scary second-period moment after taking a big hit from Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb. He was slow getting up and headed straight to the Canucks’ dressing room, then returned for the third period.
Vancouver tried to shake things up after falling behind, as it has in recent games. Öhgren moved up with Pettersson and Linus Karlsson, while Marco Rossi slid in with Cotter and Brock Boeser. O’Connor joined Sasson and Bains, and Lekkerimäki skated with Räty and Brendan Gallagher.
The Canucks have leaned on strong third periods early in the 2026-27 season, but this time the push came up short. Vegas protected its 3-2 lead the rest of the way and closed out the win.
There were a few other notable details from the night. Two former members of the Canucks organization, Marc Gatcomb and Nic Dowd, recorded points.
Pettersson logged 20:29, Buium 20:07, Willander 21:02, and Hronek 26:25, all topping 20 minutes. Marco Rossi led Vancouver with four hits.
After three games at home, the Canucks now turn to Thursday, October 8, when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes.
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