Canucks Player Grades: No energy, no drive in dispiriting 4-0 loss to Kings

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The Canucks continued their death-march pattern of being on one night, then being off the next in 4-0 shutout loss

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Published Mar 26, 2026 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 5 minute read

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Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen (32) stops Los Angeles Kings’ Quinton Byfield (55) during the second period at Rogers Arena on Thursday night. The Kings won 4-0. Photo by ETHAN CAIRNS /THE CANADIAN PRESSArticle content

When fans are more excited about whether the Los Angeles Kings were going to manage to score an empty-net goal than anything else, you know the night was a true stinker.

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The Vancouver Canucks continued their death-march pattern of being on one night, then being off the next in a dispiriting 4-0 loss to the Kings Thursday night at Rogers Arena.

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The Kings were once in the playoff hunt but were hammered by injuries going into the trade deadline and now their chances hang by a thread.

Still, the Kings showed up. The Canucks really didn’t. Their best forwards were mostly invisible.

“We just want to play fast, kind of quick on it the far side, roll them over in the o-zone, get some fresh bodies, kind of wear them down,” the Kings’ Quinton Byfield said post-game about how his team took advantage of the Canucks’ struggles to break the puck out. It meant that the Canucks got buried more than once on long shifts in their own end, especially during the long-shift second period. “And I feel like that’s what we did, and we just kept it in their end.”

The Canucks had started well enough, but the playoff-hungry Kings kicked it up a gear midway through the first and then into the second. The Canucks’ veterans stood still, especially their first line of Elias Pettersson, Evander Kane and Drew O’Connor, three veterans who are supposed to set the tone for the younger players who are trying to find their way down the stretch. It was the Kings’ veteran leaders, like Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Artemi Panarin, who led the way.

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“Yeah, obviously, they’re all big time players, and just seeing what they do each day that then translates over to the game day it definitely helps me a lot,” Byfield said of what he’s learned from the Kings’ stars. They turned the knife in this one, putting the game away with a goal by Panarin late in the second.

“That’s what those guys do. And I feel like that’s what we did with the third goal with ‘Bread’ (Panarin) there, kind of sealed it with that,” Byfield said. “And then shut down the third and Kemps was unbelievable again (in goal).”

Darcy Kuemper wasn’t really tested till late in the game and the few other chances the Canucks had, like a ricochet that came to Zeev Buium in the third, was defended away by the team in front of him. The Kings are keeping themselves in the playoff race because of efforts like this.

The Canucks have said they want to be spoilers against teams like the Kings, but to do so they need to get more from their experienced players. Buium was fired up at the end of the game and got in a fight, but can’t the old guard find that kind of spark earlier in the game? Couldn’t someone get into an old-school tussle early in the game, even just to get their own juices flowing? Hits are mostly not a very useful stat, but the Kings had the puck so much tonight and yet they out-hit the Canucks badly, 23-14. The team without the puck is supposed to get more hits.

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Up front for Vancouver, only Nils Hoglander seemed to have any jump, and he was nominally on the fourth line. He and his teammates just had no answer and it wasn’t until late in the game that there was any push.

“Look at how many shots they got in the first,” he lamented. “They outplayed us.”

Once again Kevin Lankinen was handed a start, his fifth straight, for inexplicable reasons. The friendly Finn has battled hard but with the defence in shambles and Lankinen’s long-term trend that he struggles when he starts too many games in a row, he’s not going to do well.

That said, it’s also hard to win when your team doesn’t score a goal.

Punchless offence

For the 10th time this season the Canucks failed to get 20 shots on goal.

They struggled, again, to get to the inside of the ice. Some of that, sure, is naivety. But there’s also a question of will.

Fans just want to see some heart out there. The smattering of boos from the mostly empty stands as the final horn sounded were confirmation of that.

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The fans just want to see honest effort. They know it’s hard.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen (32), Aatu Raty (54), Marcus Pettersson (29) and Los Angeles Kings’ Adrian Kempe (9) watch the puck during the second period Photo by ETHAN CAIRNS /THE CANADIAN PRESSThe worst-ever home ice record

The simple truth is that with just three home games left on the year, the Canucks can only get to 11 home wins on the season. That would be one more than the worst home-ice total in team history — the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season.

The chance to beat their all-time full-season mark sailed on Tuesday, when they lost, in somewhat exciting fashion, to Anaheim.

Can they get two wins out of the three home games left?

Here’s what we saw:

Forwards

Elias Pettersson (D)

Remember when people were all juiced about him being “back?” No energy, no drive to the slot. Massacred on faceoffs. Was head to head vs. Kopitar line and got massacred. Obviously the challenge here is different, but in a tough game the young players should know their best forwards, true NHLers, should have more.

Evander Kane (D)

Another game where we can confirm he was on the ice. Drew a penalty. Two shot attempts.

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Drew O’Connor (D)

When Mr. Reliable took a careless tripping penalty in the first you knew it was going to be a bad night. Probably his worst of the season.

Marco Rossi (C)

Somehow in the midst of this dull as dishwater game.

Liam Ohgren (C)

See his centre.

Brock Boeser (C)

See above.

Teddy Blueger (C-)

Had a great chance early. Tough night.

Jake DeBrusk (D)

Appalling turnover on the third goal.

Linus Karlsson (C-)

Not sure he’s been more invisible this season.

Aatu Raty (C+)

In the midst of all this, a tidy night. Tried to make things happen.

Nils Hoglander (B-)

His best game of the year. Created chances all over. Too bad it was one of the worst nights of the year for his squad.

Max Sasson (C+)

He skates hard.

Defence

Zeev Buium (C+)

Defensively a mess. But at least he put his fighting training to work late in the game. The kid does care, despite everything.

Filip Hronek (C+)

Did lots but it was all, truly, in vain.

Marcus Pettersson (D)

Rough night. So many of these this season.

Tom Willander (D)

Totally lost at sea. Would have been better off going back to the AHL midseason to give himself a chance to build up a pattern of success.

Elias Pettersson (C)

One of the few on the blueline to manage the game well. Even was positive in shot attempts.

P-O Joseph (C)

A decent couple chances late in the game, but he’s not here for offence. But was solid alongside his D-Petey partner.

Goalie

Kevin Lankinen (C+)

No help. Not his fault.

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