The Vancouver Canucks’ losing streak has reached eight, and the mood in the room is starting to reflect it.
A 6-3 loss to the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday kept the skid rolling, leaving Vancouver with nine losses in its first 11 games of the 2026-27 season. The slide started at home on October 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights, then stretched through a six-game Eastern road trip that produced no wins.
The Canucks came home hoping for a reset. Instead, they walked right back into the same result.
Elias Pettersson didn’t hide how much the latest defeat was wearing on him when he spoke with the media afterward. He paused, shook his head at times, and struggled to find much to say about another night that ended the same way.
“It was a good result coming into the third, but … it just sucks,” Pettersson said with a lengthy pause. “Same story again; don’t come out on top.”
Pettersson also singled out his own costly penalty, one that came when he threw his stick and sent Sebastian Aho to a penalty shot in the second period. Even after scoring on a strong individual play while falling down, that moment clearly sat with him more heavily.
“That was probably one of the dumbest things I’ve done on the ice,” Pettersson said about his penalty. “Thanks to Leevi for saving that penalty shot.”
The Canucks know losses are part of the reality of their current rebuilding path, but that hasn’t made the stretch any easier to stomach inside the locker room. Pettersson admitted there wasn’t much comfort to be found in the long view.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to think,” Pettersson paused.
“I don’t know. I don’t have the right answer for that now.
It’s just, just trying to scramble to get a win. And … it sucks losing.
I don’t have any good words for it.”
Max Sasson echoed that frustration after the game, saying the wear and tear of constant defeat is becoming difficult to ignore.
“Extremely,” Sasson began. “We’re all professionals.
We all want to win. You know, it’s … getting really old.
I think for our group and our mental space, we need to start getting some wins. But that starts with playing the right way.
You get yourselves into some tight games and we have to figure out how to come out on the right side.”
Vancouver will try to stop the bleeding Thursday at Rogers Arena against the Detroit Red Wings.
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