Great Tanking News! Canucks Lose. But score THREE Goals!

Bad news... Losing 4 straight on the road sucks.

Here's what we learned: If only the game ended after 2 periods and we took a loser point down into the basement, wrapped it in an old stinky HNIC towel and shivered in the dark until June. It didn't. Game went the full 60 minutes, while the Nucks gave up another 3 goals to exceed their road quota of 5GA per outing.

On the bright side, it wasn't their worst game on this long tedious trip of losing. It was fun, while it lasted, to see the Nucks score more than one or none.

And we learned something many might have suspected. playing your rookie D on his off side does not inspire confidence or strong defending.

Well there goes the experiment of playing Willander on his wrong side. That was his worst game in a long time and brought Hronek's game down with him. Though the forwards as usual couldn't cover the pointmen. #Canucks

— DJTaxman77 (@taxman77.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 7:26 PM

Period 1

This was the period so full of promise. Despite getting outshot, the Nucks got the 1st goal of the game! Not making it up.

Petey tucked in the rebound from Ronnie's point shot and the Nucks led the game 1-0. See. So much better.

Hey HEY! The team gets their first lead of the year! WOO!

-- Thursday

Nucks kept the lead all the way to the end of the period. Almost. Brock got a slashing penalty while in the O-zone. Habs PP needed the entire PP to tie it up. Or so.

good 2 second pk... tracks...

-- Twitch

Right off the FO and it's behind Tolo. Big Le Sigh.

Tied 1-1 after 1. Nucks got outshot 13-7, so that's a good sign.

Period 2

This period is where it gets interesting. Not because the Nucks regained the insurmountable one goal lead when Kane stuffed a rebound past the prone goalie.

No, because it got interesting because the Nucks assisted Carrier to break his 45 game goal drought, from the uncovered guts of the ice, to tie it up. That's a very long drought. Look away, Brock.

Whoa that was a rocket... bar down, tie game.
Oh wait, it was post and in.

-- Twitch

Tied at 2 and the Nucks aren't feeling satisfied with that generous outburst. Less than 30 seconds later, they allow Carrier to score another. This time off the rush, just to change it up.

Welp...there it is... lead handed over.

-- Twitch

3-2 for the home team who have their own insurmountable one goal lead. We know how insurmountable and fragile that feels.

Fragile indeed. As Sassy gets on the board after DOC busted through a couple defenders to pass over to Max. And we're tied up again. This time at 3-3.

Could you imagine this road version of the Nucks scoring THREE Goals... in just 2 periods?

No, you can't. Don't hurt yourself dreaming of them scoring more. That's not how Canucks hockey works in 2016 2026.

Crazy amount of goals Nucks have scored. THREE goals in a single game.... what about their quota?

-- jimmi

Well, they might be scoring the quotas for multiple games tonight...we may never see another goal...

-- Twitch

And we didn't. 3-3 after 2 and the game is over. For us.

Period 3

Should be noted that Tolo faced a lot of shots and made a lot of saves. Some say he was the best Canuck on the ice.

Tolopilo MVP for the team so far tonight.

-- Thursday

Also note, Nucks didn't score anymore goals. But Montreal did.

3 more to be exact, because counting all the goals against is a thing now. Dammit.

Just 29 seconds in and former and now current villain, Matheson, scores a goal that Tolo wants back. We wanted back too.

While the rink was still announcing the Habs GWG, the Habs score again. Another one that Tolo wanted back? Sure, we did too. For our beleaguered MVP.

Might be time to re-think that idea...

-- Twitch

Of course, it wouldn't be the last one... as the home scorers score again.

6-3 win for the Canadiens. Or from our point of view, the 4th straight road loss. Or if that's not bad enough, 7th straight loss including the last set of losing in the ROG.

Whole lotta losing. Even if Footey is claiming, as ever, they were right there.

Just to rub our weeping eyes in the futility bucket, Nucks were granted 2 futile PP chances late in the 3rd. As you may note, they were futile PP chances that did not alter the outcome, but did make us slightly more glum.

Still with time winding down to the inevitable Nucking loss, the Zon team gotta pump it up.

Loving listening to the Prime guys trying to create excitement out of the last 3 minutes here... "Canadians staying on their details... they gotta grind this one out... OMG THE CANUCKS ARE NEAR THE PUCK!"

-- Twitch

Or maybe they were just trolling the worst team in the league. Only fair as it seems the Nucks HQ is trolling Nucks fans. See Thursday's post about Accepting Failure - Management Edition.

No, really, go read it. The recap ain't getting any better from here.

Nucks got outshot 41-23 which was supposed to bode well. It didn't.

OBSERVATIONS:

Nucks made some scoring plays. Yay! Made too many mistakes. *Sigh* And reinforced the concept, the valid assessment, the Canucks are a bad team, coached badly. And run by a dysfunctional management group. It takes a village.

Players of Interest:

• Brock had the most ice time of any Canucks forward at 21:41. Finished with 3 shots and a -2. Footey helping him break the drought or helping the tank. Maybe both.
• Tolo was great, but not NHL elite goalie great. Remember when we had elite puck stoping?
• EP40 got a goal early and his work was done...
• Willi deployed on his off side was not a great strategy.

Meanwhile... NM gamethreads have entered the philosophical section of the season a little sooner than hoped.

I just realized that as a side-effect of this shit-show, I became a stoic.
It must be a coping mechanism?

Before this, I didn't even know what exactly that means, but now I am embracing it.

-- Atty

Maybe add some Thomas Hardy to your reading list.

-- jimmi

I recommend "The Consolation of Philosophy" by Anicius Boethius

-- Thursday

I will check it out. I think it will help me with enjoying this team the way they are.

-- Atty

Wow! NM is a hot mess of hot stoicism.

-- jimmi

Fuck. Literate AND Canucks fans. That can't be healthy.

-- Thursday

Foote really needs to stop dropping "we were right there" in his post-games. Yes, the score was tied but Montreal had a 27-14 shots advantage after two periods. #Canucks lost the total shots battle 41-23.

— Adam Kierszenblat (@adamkblat.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 8:03 PM

I'm all for not being overly negative and stuff, but at some point you gotta have a plan better than, "Oh well, next time."

— Hard2BGreene (@hard2bgreene.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 8:59 PM

At least it's not all doom and gloom... as this depressing road trip will end pretty soon.

The good news for the Canucks, after the road trip they have a whack of games at home. The bad news for the Canucks, after the road trip they have a whack of games at home. #Canucks

— 🇨🇦 Gene Is Grateful 🇨🇦 🍁 (@creativewaves.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 10:06 PM

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

It's a Monday Zon game with some 'Muricans covering two Canadian teams. That's just great.

GAME STATS

COMMENTING OUT LOUD

Kane gets the 'I scored a goal!' presser.

Footsey says... it was 'right there'. Making mistakes. Real good.

Not to get all philosophical and stuff, but according to trendy math, it's not probable the Canucks will lose every game into April. But, still possible if the owner and management want to have the worst Nucking season in Nucking history on their watch.

No time for more commiserations. Playing Sens tomorrow. Need to save up our commisers - they don't grow on pucks.

Enjoy the loss and #TankOn.