Hurricanes Beat Canucks 6-3 as Vancouver Honors John Garrett

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-3 on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, with Nicolas Deslauriers, Logan Stankoven and Nikolaj Ehlers scoring twice each. The victory extended Vancouver's winless streak to eight games, while the Canucks paid tribute to former goaltender and longtime broadcaster John Garrett, who died earlier this year.

According to the game report published by Abby News, Jackson Blake recorded three assists for Carolina, which improved to 8-2-1. Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 14 shots, while Vancouver fell to 2-8-1 despite goals from Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Max Sasson.

Carolina outshot Vancouver 41-17 and held a 28-11 advantage through the first two periods. Vancouver went 1-for-2 on the power play, while Carolina finished 0-for-5, according to the game report.

The Hurricanes opened the scoring 4:44 into the first period when Stankoven converted Blake's backhand pass from the slot. Karlsson equalized for Vancouver after Elias Pettersson created space with his stickhandling, but Ehlers restored Carolina's lead by finishing Blake's pass into an open net.

Lekkerimaki tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal just before the first-period buzzer. The Canucks pulled level again in the second period when Sasson completed a give-and-go with Zeev Buium, making it 3-3 after Deslauriers had scored his first goal of the season.

Carolina regained control in the third period. Deslauriers scored his second goal 4:07 into the frame, Ehlers added another midway through the period, and Stankoven completed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 2:03 remaining.

Stankoven's final goal was his sixth of the season and his fifth against Vancouver in two games, according to Abby News. Ehlers also finished with two goals, while Blake's three assists helped drive Carolina's offensive performance.

Vancouver goaltender Leevi Merilainen stopped 36 of 41 shots in the loss. The Canucks were without Marco Rossi because of illness and Thatcher Demko because of a hip injury, according to the game report.

Before the game, The Hockey News reported that Vancouver planned several tributes to Garrett, who served as a goaltender during his playing career before becoming a familiar voice on the team's broadcasts. Known as Cheech, Garrett played for the Canucks, Hartford Whalers, now the Hurricanes, and Québec Nordiques, now the Colorado Avalanche.

Garrett joined Vancouver's broadcasting crew in 2002 and continued in that role until reducing his workload after the 2022-23 season. The pregame plans included video tributes, presentations, food favorites in the press box, including plenty of ketchup, and shirts inspired by Garrett for Vancouver's players.

Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra, who played for Vancouver from 2010 to 2013, described Garrett's importance to the team's identity and broadcast coverage.

"For years, he was kind of the voice of Canucks hockey. You tend to correlate his voice to the sound of the Canucks. He had some great calls for us as a group, and just his overall energy around the room.

A guy that really enjoyed being at the rink and talking shop. That's what it means to me." said Malhotra.

Malhotra also highlighted Garrett's knowledge of the game and his access to the team during his broadcasting career.

"He enjoyed talking hockey and understanding the nuances of it and why things happened, and obviously he was privy to a lot of inside information, just being in the room and asking the questions that he wanted to ask. So just his insight to the game and to the Canucks was pretty special." said Malhotra.