It was a win by committee as the Vancouver Canucks never trailed on Thursday night and beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 in overtime.

The Canucks have had three out of their four regular season games go into overtime and securing a win against the defending Stanley Cup champions was good for their first win of the season.

Head Coach Rick Tocchet liked the way the team stuck together and the effort they put forth. The Canucks had quality scoring opportunities, and championship-winning teams like the Panthers make scoring goals tough.

“Some good stuff playing north, we’ve still got to clean some things up when the other team makes a push, I think we’ve got to play a little simpler, but for the most part – hell of a goal by Millsy in overtime – it’s a big one for us,” Tocchet said.

J.T. Miller’s overtime goal was his 13th career goal in the extra frame, and he was happy to help his team get their first win of the season.

“I thought in the first we lost a lot of board battles, but after that I thought we sharpened up and it was a good hockey game, hard-fought game by both teams and obviously when you get to overtime anything can happen,” Miller said, adding “I think it takes a little weight off the shoulders, and relax us and play a little bit moving forward.”

Miller’s linemate Brock Boeser had six scoring chances himself and Quinn Hughes tallied nine shots on goal which was a career high for the blue liner; Hughes finished with a goal and an assist. Elias Pettersson led the Canucks with four blocked shots.

Keifer Sherwood had 10 hits in just under 13 minutes of ice time and Tocchet says he’s fitting in nicely to the way the Canucks want to play.

“We acquired him as he’s a really good forechecker, and he’s fitting in well, being that first forechecking guy, he’ll take the body, and that’s a good thing for us,” Tocchet said.

Kevin Lankinen came up big on multiple occasions, especially the second period, where he faced 15 shots against. In the end, he turned aside 26 of 28 shots he faced for his first win as a Canuck.

“This is a really good team of dumping in the puck in, a lot of hard rims, they’re hard forechecking team so I think when Lanks stopped the few for us it really helps our breakouts,” Tocchet said.

Goals

In the first, Teddy Blueger scored on a wraparound, that was ruled a goal through replay as it initially appeared as though Sergei Bobrovsky saved it with his leg sliding across the crease.

Perfectly wrapped by Blueger pic.twitter.com/O362kibLsz

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 17, 2024

Panthers winger Jesper Boqvist tied the game up 1-1 heading into the first break.

Hughes scored off an offensive zone faceoff win to give the Canucks a 2-1 lead.

Captain calls the shots. pic.twitter.com/H8uOBsrgQU

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 18, 2024

Panthers’ winger Anton Lundell scored on the power play, tying the game 2-2 going into the second intermission.

As Miller said, it was an evenly -matched game, the Canucks taking 33 shots on net, while the Panthers took 28.

In overtime, Miller called game after getting a pass from Hughes on a regroup, getting a step on Lundell and firing a shot from the right circle.

“We always talk about Quinn trying to go up ice as far as he can to soften their gap. I happened to catch a forward here flat-footed, so that’s doesn’t always work pretty but obviously, it’s nice to get this one for the guys today,” Miller said.

J.T. THRILLER pic.twitter.com/2kukhxxsgT

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 18, 2024

Up Next

The Canucks continue their road trip to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers Saturday, October 19th at 4 p.m. PT.