The Vancouver Canucks and visiting Toronto Maple Leafs will try to rebound from painful late-game losses when they meet Saturday.
The Maple Leafs will look to end their western road trip on a positive note in the midst of a two-game losing skid. Toronto is coming off a 5-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday. Brandon Montour scored with 32.7 seconds remaining after Auston Matthews had tied the game less than a minute earlier.
“It’s tough. I think despite not being that pretty of a game, you work so hard to get yourself back in it and tie the game up and hopefully come out of here with at least one point,” Matthews said. “It definitely stings, but I think there’s nothing we can do now.”
Toronto registered a season-low 22 shots as the forward corps struggled to find its rhythm without alternate captain John Tavares (lower-body injury) and Kirill Marchenko (lower-body injury).
The Maple Leafs will look to their youngsters for offensive production in the ongoing absences of the veterans. Easton Cowan — now firmly cemented in a top-six role — extended his point streak to five games while 2026 first-overall pick Gavin McKenna became the youngest Maple Leaf to record three points in a game since 1944.
“I think that helps with confidence,” McKenna said. “Going into next game, just want to look to do the same little things that I was doing tonight and hopefully have the same result.”
Vancouver appeared poised for its first consecutive wins of the season Thursday before allowing three third-period goals in a span of 2:50 in a 3-2 loss at San Jose.
“There’s been some good but still a lot of not good enough and we can’t close it out today,” said a dejected Drew O’Connor. “We all know it’s not good enough. It takes a full effort to win games.”
Stranded at the bottom of the league, the Canucks are 1-10-1 in their last 12 and have yet to beat an Eastern Conference opponent.
“One of the biggest problems with our group is just the lack of details or the attention to details in key moments,” head coach Manny Malhotra said. “Face-off details once again plague us. The PK didn’t get the shot block we needed.”
The Canucks have allowed the most goals in the league, partly because of Kevin Lankinen’s difficult start to the season. Lankinen has posted an .812 save percentage through eight games with 16.8 goals allowed above expected per Hockey-Reference. His younger Finnish countryman Leevi Merilainen, may get his fourth consecutive start given the circumstances.
Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev’s (upper-body injury) status has been upgraded to day-to-day and he may return against his former team. If not, Dakota Mermis will likely remain in the lineup with Nick Blankenburg (upper-body injury) also sidelined.
