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<\/p>\nDespite sluggish stretches, Vancouver took a 2-1 lead in the first period, then rallied from a three-goal deficit to challenge the Eastern Conference\u2019s top team in the final frame. <\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
The Canucks ultimately fell 6-4 to the Canes, a result that marked the club\u2019s seventh straight loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effort was there today. Pretty happy about that,\u201d said Vancouver defenceman Filip Hronek. \u201cBut we have to be consistent with this, and we have to have that effort for 60. Can\u2019t have it for 35 or whatever minutes. Have to have it for 60.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a difficult season for Vancouver. <\/p>\n
The team came in with optimism about making a return to the playoffs, but stumbled early and made a blockbuster move in mid-December, dealing captain and star defenceman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in a move that sparked the rebuild. <\/p>\n
Another veteran player followed on Wednesday when the Canucks dealt defenceman Tyler Myers to the Dallas Stars, leaving three defencemen, 23 years old and younger, in the lineup against the Hurricanes. <\/p>\n
Head coach Adam Foote admitted that the youth is a challenge, but said he was happy with how the blue liners played. <\/p>\n
\u201cLove them all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is what it is. We\u2019re going that way, and I\u2019m aware of that.\u201d <\/p>\n
A series of odd-man rushes and defensive miscues gave Carolina a major boost on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Midway through the second period, Sebastian Aho knocked down a Seth Jarvis pass, drove into Vancouver territory and flicked a backhanded shot past starting goalie Kevin Lankinen to give the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead.<\/p>\n
Foote responded by pulling Lankinen, who gave up four goals on 22 shots. Nikita Tolopilo came on in relief. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to change the energy,\u201d he said of the move. \u201cWe\u2019ll go back and look. Maybe he could have had a couple of those. But mainly just to change the energy. It didn\u2019t work at first, did it? But the guys, what I liked was the fight they had throughout.\u201d <\/p>\n
Just moments after taking over the net, Nikolaj Ehlers blasted a one-timer past Tolopilo\u2019s short side. It was the first shot the big Belarusian goalie faced on the night. <\/p>\n
Tolopilo should have made the stop, Foote said, but it\u2019s also an experience he can build on. <\/p>\n
\u201c(The Hurricanes) were hungry there. That one can\u2019t go in, but they were hungry knowing that a young goalie came in,\u201d the coach said. \u201cWe\u2019ll learn from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
EHLERS EXCELLENCE<\/p>\n
Ehlers scored his third goal of the night into an empty net with 14 seconds left on the game clock. <\/p>\n
It was his second hat trick since signing with the Hurricanes as a free agent on July 3, and the seventh of his NHL career. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always special when you score three goals, but at the same time, I\u2019m not too happy about my performance tonight,\u201d said the Danish winger, who has 19 goals and 29 assists over 61 games this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think I played a very good game. So it\u2019s one of those where they just seem to go in, and obviously that\u2019s great. We won, but I got to be a little bit better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
BOOMING BUSSI<\/p>\n
Hurricanes goalie Brandon Bussi stopped 18 of the 22 shots he faced and improved to 25-3-1 in his rookie season. <\/p>\n
The 27-year-old netminder said he still needs to improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in this league, you\u2019ve just got to find ways to win games. So I think I\u2019ve got to be better, but it was good enough tonight,\u201d Bussi said. \u201cSo the team was really good in front of me offensively, putting up six (goals) is really nice, so we\u2019ll take the positives out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite sluggish stretches, Vancouver took a 2-1 lead in the first period, then rallied from a three-goal deficit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82,55],"class_list":["post-515955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}