Canucks Take 3–1 Win Against The Flames In Pre-Season Game 2

The Vancouver Canucks have their first pre-season win of 2025–26, defeating the Calgary Flames by a score of 3–1. Nils Höglander, Victor Mancini, and Filip Chytil found the scoresheet. Thatcher Demko and Nikita Tolopilo split the start, with the former playing in the first two periods and the latter playing in the third. Demko stopped 12 of 13 shots faced in his time in net, while Tolopilo stopped all seven shots against. 

This was the Canucks’ first time back at the Abbotsford Centre after the AHL Canucks won the 2025 Calder Cup, with nine of the 22 rostered players having played for Abbotsford last season. To commemorate that, head coach Adam Foote started five members of the Calder Cup-winning roster: Mancini, Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, Arshdeep Bains, and Kirill Kudryavtsev. 

“It was really cool. I think I’ll remember that for a while, pretty fun. Good to be back in the building,” Mancini said postgame about returning to the Abbotsford Centre and starting the game with his Calder Cup winning teammates. 

The Sasson–Bains–Karlsson line was sharp off the bat, reminding fans of their hustle to score the Calder Cup-winning goal in Game 6 of the Calder Cup Finals back in June. Both Sasson and Bains were also spotted on the penalty kill and played it effectively, which could be a positive sign regarding where they’ll be starting the season from. 

Another player who is in an interesting spot heading into the season is Vitali Kravtsov, who officially returned to the Canucks back in the off-season. This was the forward’s first game back in Canucks colours since 2023, during which he ended up getting some first-line playing time. He had a flashy rush chance during the second period that ended with him colliding with Flames goaltender Ivan Prosvetov. 

Intriguingly, during practice in the morning, the Canucks iced a power play unit that included Höglander in a netfront position. Of course, the scrappy forward ended up scoring the game’s opening goal from that very spot, capitalizing off a shot from Tom Willander. It will be interesting to see if Höglander maintains that position heading into the regular season, whether on the first or second unit. Despite the good night for the forward, he left the ice during the second period and did not return for the rest of the game.  

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Höglander’s linemate, Chytil, also showed some flashes of great potential in tonight’s game. The centre, who brought a much-needed boost of speed when he first arrived in Vancouver back in February, demonstrated his shiftiness at various points in the game. As a key piece on the team’s power play tonight, he scored their third goal of the game — and their second on the power play — off a laser shot. 

“It was a little different now than the first game,” Chytil said of what he thought of his game tonight. “Of course, we didn’t have to travel that much, and we had a day off, couple days to go, so it helped also, and I felt like my feet were moving great today, but I said it’s still a long time before I will get to my best, and that’s why I go day by day now.” 

Both goaltenders were sharp throughout the game despite not facing a whole lot of pressure. Demko only saw four shots during the first period and proceeded to make seven more in the second period. Tolopilo, who wowed fans during Vancouver’s first pre-season game with his sharp play, came in during the third period and did exactly what the team expected of him. He made a brilliant goal-line save during the third period to keep his team’s 3–1 lead and stopped many more to help the team to their first pre-season victory. 

“It’s never easy coming in. It sucks, quite frankly, physically, coming in cold. But I think everyone’s had to do it at one point or another,” Demko said of his goaltending partner for the night. “He did a good job, hit a kill penalty pretty quick there coming, which is hard, so impressive by him.” 

Scoring Summary

First Period: 

5:05 - VAN: Nils Höglander (1) from Tom Willander and Filip Chytil (PPG) 

7:16 - VAN: Victor Mancini (2) from Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains 

Second Period: 

12:56 - VAN: Filip Chytil (1) from Tom Willander Kirill Kudryavtsev (PPG)

14:24 - CGY: Connor Zary (1) from Martin Popsil and Joel Farabee 

Third Period: 

No scoring. 

Up Next: 

The Canucks are back in action on Friday, September 26 in their third pre-season match of 2025–26. They’ll be taking on the Seattle Kraken for the second time this week, making their Rogers Arena season debut. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 pm PT. 

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