The Canucks faced the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday night and won their first game of the regular season 3-2 in overtime. Teddy Blueger, Quinn Hughes and JT Miller were the Canucks’ scorers, while Jesper Boqvist and Anton Lundell recorded goals for Florida. Kevin Lankinen made an impressive 26 saves on 28 counter throws with his new team and secured his first win.

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After getting off to a winless start to the regular season, Vancouver changed its lineups, moving birthday boy Jake DeBrusk into Blueger’s line and adding spark plugs Nils Höglander and Conor Garland to Elias Pettersson. The only line exempt from interference — consisting of Miller, Brock Boeser and Arshdeep Bains — showed why they were held together by entering the game with momentum. Vincent Desharnais and the newly drafted Erik Brännström took over the places of Derek Forbort (on personal leave) and Noah Juulsen.

Thursday night’s game was the fourth straight game the Panthers played without Matthew Tkachuk and captain Aleksander Barkov. Tkachuk was out due to illness, while Barkov suffered an injury in a game against the Ottawa Senators last Thursday. The Panthers fielded eleven forwards for this game and lost Jonah Gadjovich and Sam Reinhart (although the latter returned).

Vancouver continued their trend of scoring first, which they have done in three of four games this season, although their lead was short-lived in the first period. After extensive review, a wraparound shot from Blueger was ruled a good goal, negating a penalty for former Canadian Nate Schmidt. Just 11 seconds later, Florida tied the game with a shot from Jesper Boqvist that bounced off Lankinen and into the net.

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Avoidance opportunities were a popular theme in this game, as Evan Rodrigues attempted a try of his own in the period following Blueger’s reviewed goal, which was also reviewed. However, footage showed that the puck did not fully cross the goal line, eliminating any chance of a result like Blueger’s. Later in the same period, Rodrigues attempted another bank shot off Lankinen’s right leg, but the Canucks goaltender quickly covered the puck before Florida could take the lead.

Another hot topic was a coaching challenge during a stoppage of play by Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. Florida challenged for the ball and assumed Nils Åman’s glove made contact with the puck on a faceoff before Hughes pushed the puck past a shielded Sergei Bobrovsky. After another few minutes of reviewing the footage, the officials rejected Maurice’s challenge, allowing Vancouver to take a 2-1 lead. With this record, Hughes now has the 12th most goals scored by a defenseman in franchise history. The Canucks captain finished the game with an impressive nine shots on goal.

Two Canadians, Blueger and his linemate Kiefer Sherwood, took hits in that game. Blueger dropped the gloves with Uvis Balinskis after bumping Bobrovsky’s pad following a stoppage in play. Sherwood, on the other hand, had pucks in his face in both the first and second periods. Despite being hit on both the side of his face and the chin, Sherwood stayed in the game and continued his consistent physical play.

Vancouver’s excellent penalty kill faltered when Anton Lundell scored in the final minute of the second period. An ambitious goal from Carson Soucy left Lundell enough space to shoot the puck past Lankinen, tying the game at 2-2. The Canucks then mounted a final offensive push of the quarter, but to no avail.

He previously played with Aatu Räty and now played with Pettersson, Garland and Höglander. He showed promising performances with a lot of drive and hustle, which led to attractive scoring opportunities in every section. In the third period, a lucky jumper came into Garland’s path, which he passed to Höglander, who fired a shot that rattled loudly past the post.

The outcome of this game could have been very different if Lankinen hadn’t played so sharply. With a calm demeanor, Lankinen parried in short spurts throughout the game. On the other hand, Bobrovsky was able to demonstrate his excellent game. The Panthers goaltender was peppered with shot after shot from various Canucks and undoubtedly kept his team in the game in the third period. The Canucks played well in the third period, but Bobrovsky might have played even better.

There was concern early in overtime when Hughes was seen heading to the locker room after being hit, although the captain made his way onto the ice with ease when the puck was dropped to start the extra frame. An interesting decision was made by Paul Maurice, who chose to play only forward throughout overtime – something that ultimately cost him the game as Miller took advantage of their positions and shot the puck over Bobrovsky’s blocker. The game-winner is his 10th overtime goal scored for the Canucks.

Facts and Statistics:

– Quinn Hughes sets a new career high with eight shots on goal

– Kiefer Sherwood becomes the sixth forward in franchise history to record more than 10 goals in a game

– The Canucks’ 41 goals are the most by any team in the NHL so far this season

– Vancouver exceeds the 30-shot mark for the first time this season

Summary of points:

First period:

11:42 – VAN: Teddy Blueger (2) by Kiefer Sherwood and Jake DeBrusk
11:53 – FLA: Jesper Boqvist (1) by Mackie Samoskevich and Gustav Forsling

Second period:

6:30 – VAN: Quinn Hughes (1) by Danton Heinen and Nils Åman
7:00 p.m. – FLA: Anton Lundell by Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart (PPG)

Third period:

No rating

Over time:

2:09 – VAN: JT Miller by Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser

Next:

With the overtime win, Vancouver is now at .500 on the season. They will hope to build on that win when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, October 19th. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. PST.