After snapping an 11-game losing streak with a come-from-behind, 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals, the Vancouver Canucks will attempt to win back-to-back home games for the first time this season when they face the New Jersey Devils on Friday.
The victory over the Capitals was the team’s first since a 3-2 shootout win on Dec. 29 at Seattle. Vancouver, last in the NHL with 39 points through 50 games, is tied with the New York Rangers for the fewest home wins (five) in the league.
The Canucks haven’t won back-to-back games at Rogers Arena since March 5-7, 2025, when they defeated Anaheim and Minnesota.
Brock Boeser had a goal and an assist, Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves and Filip Hronek scored what proved to be the game-winner against Washington. It was Vancouver’s first home win since Dec. 6 against Minnesota.
The Canucks rallied from a 2-0 deficit after just 9:43 with four consecutive goals, capped by Hronek’s tally midway through the second period on a backdoor pass from Jake DeBrusk at the end of a 2-on-1 rush.
“It’s big after how many losses we’ve had,” Hronek said. “We didn’t give up. We just have to take the positives from this game and just keep doing what we did (Wednesday). Just keep battling.”
Dylan Strome scored on a rebound with 3:23 remaining after Capitals goalie Logan Thompson was pulled for an extra attacker, but the Canucks clamped down after that and allowed just one more shot on goal.
“We showed some good character,” Lankinen said. “That’s just the relentless mindset that we have to have. No matter what happens on the ice, we just keep hammering on our own game.”
The win came in the first contest after Vancouver coach Adam Foote called out his veteran players following a 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Monday.
“I think it’s really important and it’s the truth,” Boeser said. “We can’t have that bad body language and the negative attitude on the bench, you can’t show that to the young guys. We’ve got to be good leaders and good role models and be positive. And I thought we were (Wednesday).”
“The best part about it was how our answer was after being down 2-0,” Foote said. “Really calm, and I give a lot of credit to the guys for not getting rattled.”
New Jersey will be playing the third of a four-game Western road trip that started with a sweep of Calgary (2-1 in overtime) and Edmonton (2-1) on Monday and Tuesday. The trip ends Sunday in Seattle.
Arseny Gritsyuk and Cody Glass each had a goal and an assist and Jake Allen made 22 saves in the victory over the Oilers, the team’s fourth win in the last five games.
New Jersey — which had an eight-game winning streak at the start of the season that was more than offset by one five-game and two four-game losing streaks — still enters Friday’s game just five points behind the third-place Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.
“Obviously, we’ve had an up-and-down first half of the season that we’re not satisfied with,” Allen said. “We knew that this trip was a huge one for us, and we wanted to start the right way. We’re slowly starting to build our game.”
–Field Level Media
