Hurricanes 7, Canucks 2: Kevin Lankinen and the power play problem

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Poor Kevin Lankinen.

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In the all-time Vancouver Canucks Good Guy Power Rankings, he is certainly in the top five.

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Just remember that when you look at his stat line from the first five games of the 2026-27 NHL season. It was not a fair start for him.

He stops what everyone knows is a game, but signed team. And they started badly, to boot, not much help in the early going.

That was the case again on Thursday in Raleigh, NC, where Lankinen’s Canucks were beaten 7-2 by the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The host Hurricanes just never gave up. Their most dominant period was actually the third period where they generated chance after chance.

When that happened, the game was well and truly over and Lankinen’s night was done: He was relieved by Leevi Merilainen after the second break.

It’s another night in North Carolina the Canucks don’t want to talk about. But we continue:

Powerless game

What’s with this power play? It’s not a hopeless crew but man, they look hopeless right now with the puck on their stick.

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Zone exits are too slow, movement through the neutral zone is too slow, zone entry is too slow.

When they gain control in the offensive zone, the puck is not zipped around. Remember the power play goal Pettersson scored with the extra man to open the season? That came from concerted pressure and quick puck movement.

Somehow, the Canucks have to find that back in their game. Teams are killing them right off the hop and even though a lot of others in the Canucks game look right now, there’s no reason why the power play can’t help open up their five-on-five struggles.

Points for Petey

He doesn’t want to talk about it, but the fact that Elias Pettersson has eight points in five games is undoubtedly good news.

He spent much of the night against Carolina’s best, facing their top shutdown pairing of Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield, plus the likes of Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho, for much of the night.

And he controlled the game in those showdowns.

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Too bad that got lost in the larger mix.

The big picture though is if he keeps this up, GM Ryan Johnson will start thinking about Pettersson’s future. Is he a guy who sticks around as a skilled veteran as Johnson works to build out an otherwise young squad? Or how tempting will he become to use as a trade chip?

There were teams that kicked tires on him last year; with Pettersson producing again, plus his defensive game that has never faltered, suddenly he looks like a solid player to add to a top team.

The tin oven might have been

Logan Stankoven’s epic night – a hat trick for the ex-Kamloops Blazer – was just one more reminder of a careful choice years ago.

As always, this is not a slight against Danila Klimovich. There was a reason to draft him – but not in the second round, not because you didn’t have a third round pick. So many were clamoring for Stankoven to be there for the Canucks’ second rounder, both because he was a BC kid, but also because he was already a heckuva prospect.

If Jim Benning was so keen on Klimovich, he would have tried to get a third round pick with one of the five picks he had in the last three rounds of the draft.

Anyway, Stankoven now has four goals in the season and would have looked good in blue and green. And he would fit perfectly in this current reconstruction.

More than anything, he’s a reminder of how many things the Canucks management team needs to find, between more draft picks and more prospects.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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