30 tries.

It took 30 tries for the Vancouver Canucks to comeback and win a game they were losing after two periods, and it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time than Wednesday in Calgary against the Flames.

Is it a coincidence that it came on a night that I got the backup call from Wyatt, with my personal 5-1-0 Stanchies record and a 4-game winning streak on the line? I think not!

From the first time these rivals linked up on opening night in a chaotic 6-5 Canucks loss, it snowballed into a battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. With Calgary holding a game in hand and the Canucks reeling from a bad loss to the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday night, this game was as must win as they get.

With their backs against the wall, the Canucks did what so many strong Vancouver teams of seasons past have needed to accomplish: they clawed back from behind against the Flames – at the Saddledome, no less – and found a way to win.

Granted, they did give up an overtime point in the end, putting both teams at 71 points with the extra game for Calgary still lingering. But the character-building of a come-from-behind win, for a team that’s searched for one all season, can’t be overstated. And it came on the back of vintage performances from Elias Pettersson, who notched the late tying goal, and Quinn Hughes, returning from injury to play an absolutely pivotal 30 minutes of ice time amidst new injuries on the blue line.

That’s why this win could be nothing short of the biggest one this season. Whether or not it benefits the Canucks to go for a playoff spot and a matchup with Winnipeg or Vegas at this stage is up for debate. But let’s be honest with ourselves; taking a playoff spot away from Calgary would be one of the best possible feelings as a Canucks fan.

I say let it ride.

Best Hughes we go again

the plan is back on the season is saved https://t.co/IqHNTtA5fX pic.twitter.com/wvNpMKsLT7

— tatiana🏒 (@tatituzzi) March 12, 2025

That move down the wing and pass across the crease by Quinner is a good sign…#Canucks

— Dragon Was Slayed (@522IntoOvertime) March 13, 2025

If I had a nickel for every Quinn Hughes comeback game I’ve been on writing duty for, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. And thank goodness he was here because Tyler Myers was ruled out of tonight’s game after taking some stinging blocks in the Montreal game on Tuesday.

And Hughes almost immediately made stuff happen, getting to the front of the net to set up Drew O’Connor if not for an errant Flames stick.

He’s such a breath of fresh air every time he gets back on the ice. It’s like seeing an invincible hockey god amongst men.

Best Undercooked Beef

I can’t bear the whole “playoff feel” rhetoric around this game. The reason this game is so big is these two teams are having a mid-off and can’t fucking score

— Anna Forsyth (@aforsyth03) March 13, 2025

We may have to have a discussion about whether or not either of these teams would even be fun if they made the playoffs

— Josh Elliott-Wolfe (@ElliottWolfeJ) March 13, 2025

I won’t kid you, this game was far from a fun watch early on, as more and more Canucks games seem to be. The third period got a lot more interesting, but the first 50 minutes were an exercise in sloppy play, futile scoring chances, and so, so many uncalled penalties. But that’s kind of what you get when you put two very anemic offences up against each other at the wrong time.

I won’t bore you with a bunch of failed dump-and-chase entries that both teams tried. But just know I could!

Best ‘It’s true, but he shouldn’t say it’

this broadcast team is making me miss john shorthouse #canucks fans are fucking spoiled

— kwïn hüz (@riotsurvivor) March 13, 2025

Why must we listen to Calgary’s play by play/colour commentary #Canucks

— Pucknucksaga (@pucknucksaga) March 13, 2025

This was a nationally televised Wednesday Night Hockey game, so when the Flames broadcast crew was handed the keys to the press box, you knew people in Vancouver were going to be upset. Now I’m not going to sewer former Canucks play-by-play man Jon Abbott one bit, considering he had to call some of the most terrible games in the Jim Benning era. But this was a strange assignment to give a regional broadcast crew.

For a March game with so much on the line, the Saddledome crowd sounded a lot more library-like than you’d expect from this fanbase. Maybe it’s Flames fans not really caring about making the playoffs, or maybe it’s Sportsnet’s sound mixing consistently turning down the crowd volume at every arena in the league for some weird reason. I’m going to pretend it’s the former.

The Canucks fans in the building did make their presence known. Props to anyone who made the trip.

Best Costco Guys Impression

D Petey lowers the boom on Kadri. Great open ice hit.

— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) March 13, 2025

EPjr says sit down #Canucks boom 💥

— whites at home cw (@vanleygoodtakes) March 13, 2025

Elias “Junior” Pettersson brings the BOOM like he’s always grabbing chicken bakes and double chunk chocolate cookies at the Costco on Expo Boulevard. (For anyone not up to date on their TikTok personalities, don’t Google this. It’s time you’ll never get back.)

The hit Junior flattens Nazem Kadri with is a good hockey hit! It’s right through the body; no head contact is made, and it does its job of knocking Kadri off the puck. And to his credit, Kadri is already shaking it off and going back to playing right before Connor Zary decides to take an absolute cheap shot in response.

Zary drills his arm and elbow right through the side of an unsuspecting Pettersson’s head and jumps on top of the fallen Canuck rookie for good measure.

Somehow, this bush league sh!t was only worth a two-minute penalty in the moment, and it ended up cutting EP25’s night short, keeping him out of the final two periods with an obvious injury. But hopefully, it’ll take Zary out of the lineup for a lot longer once the Department of Player Safety takes a look at this replay on Thursday morning. Absolutely pathetic “retribution” for a clean hit.

Best Pew Pew

SUTER THANK YOU #Canucks

— MDWhite (@White3D64197) March 13, 2025

Suter with a double shooter!!🔥🔥🔥🔥 #Canucks

— Snowstar444 (@snowstar444) March 13, 2025

Before the game, we got some excellent foreshadowing. While waiting to go out for the warm-up, Sportsnet’s cameras caught Marcus Pettersson and Pius Suter doing a little dap up in the Saddledome tunnel before heading out onto the ice.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that these two linked up for the opening goal of the game right as Zary’s penalty expired. Suter’s first shot didn’t get through the skate of Joel Hanley, but on his second attempt, he made no mistake, putting it over Dustin Wolf’s shoulder.

Suter’s insane scoring bender has been a sight to behold, and if the Canucks make the playoffs at all he’ll be a surprisingly big reason why.

Who says 28 is too late to find out you’re actually a bona fide sniper?

Pius Suter has the same number of goals as Conor Bedard this season.

Pius Suter has more goals than Jared McCann, Mika Zibanejad, Quinton Byfield, Elias Pettersson, Dylan Cozens and many more big names. #Canucks

— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) March 13, 2025

Oh, and JT Miller should be on Noah’s list, too, but who’s counting?

Best Touchdown run

Where tf was the defence there? #Canucks

— Cam (@CJC1499) March 13, 2025

D petey and M petey needed to be more alert on that one #canucks

— Pucknucksaga (@pucknucksaga) March 13, 2025

The Flames would respond before the period was out, thanks to a defensive breakdown that would put even the worst NFL defence to shame. All Rasmus Andersson had to do was wait for both Junior and Dragon to split and cover checks on either side boards, leaving all the room in the world for a pass to Nazem Kadri through the middle.

With both Petterssons’ parting for the Red ‘C’, Kadri skates right up the gut and dekes around Lankinen, who bites too hard on the poke check attempt and leaves the net wide open.

Best F*** Around

DONT TOUCH HUGHES YOU WEIRDO #Canucks

— ari (@ariltlworld) March 13, 2025

Lomberg, you are now my enemy.

— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) March 13, 2025

And you thought the Flames’ dirty play stopped with Zary in the first period! Oh no.

After Quinn makes a set-up pass to Kiefer Sherwood at the red line, noted villain Ryan Lomberg cross-checks him away from the puck, knocking Hughes over and getting the ref’s attention for a delayed penalty. When the whistle goes, Lomberg decides to gaslight himself into the idea that Hughes flopped, skating right over and cross-checking him in the chest.

Lomberg keeps on jawing at Hughes from the comfort of his cellblock, not knowing what a colossal mistake he’s making waking up the bear they call Huggy.

Best Find Out

Let’s Goooo DeBrusk!!!

💙💚💙💚💙💚 #Canucks

— David 〽️ays (@CanucksWontWin) March 13, 2025

Please tell me someone got a clip of Quinn’s evil laugh on the bench

— Anna Forsyth (@aforsyth03) March 13, 2025

Sometimes, revenge is a dish best served quickly.

The Canucks top power play unit has struggled a lot this year, but talk about a clutch appearence in this game. With the Flames’ penalty kill collapsing back to the slot area, EP40 feeds Hughes the puck at the blue line, and he has all the time he needs to rip it. DeBrusk waits paitently in front of Wolf and gets one of the most deftly tipped goals a Canuck has scored all season and celebrates like it.

Hughes opts for an out-of-character celly approach: a fly-by past Lomberg in the penalty box, followed by some chirping with Rasmus Andersson that follows all the way to the benches.

You know how you can tell Hughes is jacked up? He actually flashed a devilish grin on the bench!

If you’d placed a pregame prop bet on Hughes getting caught smiling in this game, you’re probably already planning how to quit your job tomorrow.

Best Calamity

What the hell was that #Canucks

— Suleiman Damji (@SullyCanuck87) March 13, 2025

A 2 on 0 shorthanded…. Yikes

— Lina Setaghian (@Linaset) March 13, 2025

Of course, these wouldn’t be the 2025 Canucks without showing us their best and worst selves in the same night. The roles of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde being played by the man advantage.

With Brayden Pachal in the penalty for running completely blatant interfence on Conor Garland, the Canucks have a chance to build on their lead. Instead, they collapse like a casino on the Vegas Strip does every couple of years when they need a new hotel theme.

After a Hughes attempt to dump the puck in gets blocked by a pair of Flames defender, the Canucks don’t pick up on the transition fast enough. As soon as the play gets turned the other way towards Kevin Rooney and a trailing Jonathan Huberdeau, Filip Chytil finds himself as the only Canuck back.

Rather than position himself for a 2-on-1, Chytil takes a flying leap at Rooney and stumbles, creating a sudden shorthanded 2-on-0 that Huberdeau buries in the back of the net with ease.

This type of defensive breakdown is usually a sign that the wheels are about to come off the bus.

Best When It Rains

wtf was Aman doing #Canucks

— F the Oilers (@KingofWhopper) March 13, 2025

they need to invent a canucks team that doesnt make me sad

— Courtney Jacobsen (@__courtneyj) March 13, 2025

Nils Åman over Jonathan Lekkerimäki was a coach’s decision. And it cost them dearly when Åman took a dumb interference penalty late in the second.

Seeing the writing on the wall, both the Flames power play and the Canucks penalty kill seemed to be going through the motions when Jonathan Huberdeau ripped a shot so hard that it got stuck in the net’s back post.

If GIFs could have audio, you’d hear Flames fans offer the most awkward, half-hearted cheer a home team’s goal has ever received. Instead, you just get to see the puck awkwardly caught on Lankinen’s water bottle.

This game – and this season – feel just about done.

Best Foreshadowing

It would be one helluva game to get your first win trailing after 2 periods tonight #Canucks

— Tyson Cole (@SpittinPicklets) March 13, 2025

Ahead of the third period, the Flames broadcast made a point to mention that the OG Elias Pettersson has a 10-game point streak going against the Flames, with a secondary assist already on the scoresheet.

Imagine if that bet paid off. Nothing would silence the haters faster!

Speaking of foreshadowing, Kevin Lankinen made a key stop on Kadri during an early third period power play that easily could’ve put the game out of reach. In another world that puck goes in, and the Canucks playoffs go with them.

Instead, we played on.

Best Running with Wolves

This is the most important power play of the season #Canucks

— G1LLZ. I'm Just Saying (@AvtarG) March 13, 2025

Dustin Wolf is frustratingly amazing! #Canucks

— Huggy🧸43 (@Huggy_Bear43) March 13, 2025

You don’t love to give opponents their flowers, but Dustin Wolf was absolutely phenomenal in the third period. At one point, the shot difference was a whopping 16-1 in favour of the Canucks, and the rookie goalie held down the fort with glove saves, scrambles in close on the power play and holding the goal line.

The Canucks power play in the third period was some of the best man advantage work they’ve done all season, but they were facing a brick wall at the worst time. There’s a reason he belongs in the Calder Trophy conversation next to Macklin Celebrini.

With 10 minutes to go, the Canucks, who haven’t come back from down a goal in what feels like a millenium, were going to have to find some magic and beat a red hot goalie all at once.

Who was willing to step up?

Best NEVER BEEN MORE BACK

Elias Pettersson: clutch. #Canucks

— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) March 13, 2025

A spirited "let's go" from Elias Pettersson to Victor Mancini after that goal. #Canucks

— David Quadrelli (@QuadrelliD) March 13, 2025

The Canucks needed a hero. Their season on the line, their chance at a playoff spot slipping away.

Just when you thought he was a goner, Elias freaking Pettersson rose from the ashes like a phoenix.

This goal starts with a well-placed shot on goal from Victor Mancini of all people, who, in the absence of Myers and D-Petey, is suddenly playing top-four minutes and looking extremely good doing it. With all sorts of traffic in front, Wolf finally spits out a juicy rebound, and there’s EP40 to send the puck sailing home for his third goal in four games, punctuating it with the masculine urge to say “let’s go!” after anything good happens.

As soon as that puck went in, you suddenly had the feeling of… could it be positive vibes? I thought those went extinct months ago.

The Canucks and Flames played out the stretch with neither team willing to give up the point they’d pick up if the game went to OT. They’d leave the heart attacks for extra time.

Best Heart Palpitations

29:51 final ice time for the captain https://t.co/eeGxfqyC80

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) March 13, 2025

This is where Elon Musk’s terrible version of Twitter decided to poop out on embedding posts, so we don’t have any more quotes from you guys from here on out. I do promise there were lots of good ones!

Pius Suter over Hoglander in 3v3 is wild lol

— Cody Severtson (@CodySevertson) March 13, 2025

First, Hughes sprung EP40 and DeBrusk on a 2-on-1 where Pettersson called his own number but just couldn’t beat the arm of Wolf.

Then it was Hughes’ turn to take a rush, getting away a good shot that Wolf managed to blocker into the netting.

After Rick Tocchet took a well-placed timeout midway through the final five, both teams got their best chances on the same shift. First went the Flames, who took advantage of a stupidly executed puck drop for a 2-0n-1 chance that Lankinen shuts down.

Then, the puck immediately turns back the other way. Filip Hronek’s shot misses the net, but Pettersson corrals it and just can’t tuck it around the post and a prone Wolf.

In the dying moments of OT, snakebitten Brock Boeser hits the post, and Conor Garland can’t get the puck around Wolf’s outstretched pad.

To a shootout we go. Just the way you want a brutal battle for playoff positioning to end, right?

Best Trilogy

Wow Petey. Made it look easy. #Canucks

— Thee Lego Batman (@mstad101) March 13, 2025

Also: pic.twitter.com/RtMxHnTI9v

— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) March 13, 2025

This shootout was the story of three clutch Canucks.

The first is Kevin Lankinen, who stopped three of the four Flames shooters with a balance of patience and refusing to give the slightest bit of real estate in close.

The second is Elias Pettersson, who makes Wolf look completely human with a, dare I say, J.T. Miller-esque(?) shootout approach.

Guys, Petey’s never been more back.

The final act is Conor Garland’s. He didn’t have his loudest game of the season on Wednesday, but when his number was called in the shootout, he came back to the bench a conquering hero.

I’m no lip-reading expert, but during his winning celebration, Conor seems to say, “LET’S F***ING GO F***ING HOME!!”

Put that quote on a statue when the Canucks make the playoffs and inevitably go on a run we’ll remember our entire lives. That’s how legends are born.

Best asking the right questions

Love how they kept pressing after the tying goal. Who is this strange team? pic.twitter.com/dQCfMYDc8F

— Aaron 🇨🇦 (@canuck5551) March 13, 2025

The third period of this game was the most fun the Canucks have looked in a long, long time. It’s not surprising that when the Tocchet-coached Canucks are forced to abandon the defence-first mindset and not rely on dump and chase hockey, they’re just so much more fun to watch. It only resulted in one goal this time around, but it’s obvious that entertaining hockey sells so much better than a low-event game does.

If every game the Canucks played were like the third period, you’d have people lined around the block to pay 20% more a year for half and full season ticket packs. You wouldn’t need to cut 11-game packs to force more people onto the ones with bigger financial commitments. And you certainly wouldn’t have people balking at the $100+ it currently requires just to attend one freaking game.

Put a fun product on the ice, and you’ll never have an empty seat again. This team did it in the final 20 minutes of their second game of a back-to-back on a different time zone.

Just imagine what they could accomplish with that kind of effort in a full season.

Best Do You Believe in Miracles?

Despite entering tonight's meeting with VAN owning an NHL worst 2.56 goals per game, the #Flames have used a superb defensive structure to reside in a playoff spot. If they remain 32nd of 32 teams, they'd join this list going back 9+ decades (with just 2 others coming since 1971) pic.twitter.com/8vXdmyL7ri

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) March 12, 2025

I sure do.

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