Hurricanes Rout Canucks 6-3 to Complete Regular Season Sweep

What separates great teams from good teams is how you respond after a bitter loss. The defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes showed why they are the former after routing the Vancouver Canucks 6-3 on Tuesday night. In two games, they outscored the Canucks 13-to-5 to complete the regular season sweep. What stood out in the win in British Columbia?

Deuces Wild for Stankoven, Ehlers, & Deslauriers

It seemed destined for not one, not two, but three Hurricanes players to score two goals against the Canucks in the win. One of them was Nicolas Deslauriers, who hasn’t had a multi-goal game since Feb. 2022. Funny enough, that was against the Canucks when he played with the Anaheim Ducks. Of his five multi-goal games, three were against Vancouver. He is on a two-game point streak and has three points in six games.

Following his two-goal night, Deslauriers shared his thoughts after a great night in Vancouver: “It’s great. I’ve said it often, I don’t expect to score goals, but it’s fun when it happens. I know what my job is, and I’m not going to deviate from that and (think) I have to score goals now. It’s not my job, but it’s fun. I think it keeps the guys loose.”

Nikolaj Ehlers had a solid game, scoring two goals in the victory. After scoring his first goal of the season on Saturday afternoon against the Winnipeg Jets, he looked to add to his six points over 10 games. His first came from a beautiful pass from Jackson Blake. He sold the shot and found Ehlers backdoor for a wide-open net. The second came from a one-man effort as he used his speed to gather the puck, drive into the Canucks zone, and get it five-hole on Leevi Merilaninen. He’s now up to three goals and eight points after a three-point night.

Talk about a homecoming for Logan Stankoven, who had 400 family and friends from Kamloops, BC, in attendance. He opened the scoring in the first period because hockey is poetic. He also netted the empty-net goal, bookending a 6-3 Hurricanes win. In two games against the Canucks this season, he has five goals; three were on Oct. 8 in a natural hat trick. It’s impressive that of his six goals in 2026-27, five have come against his home province team.

Other notable nights from the Hurricanes:

In his first game back in 632 days, Juuso Välimäki tallied his first point since 2025 with the secondary assist on the Stankoven goal. It was great to see the Finnish defenseman get his first with the team out of the way quickly. He was very noticeable all night and looked like he fit in well. After the game, head coach Rod Brind’Amour shared his thoughts on Välimäki’s debut: “He played really well for not having played since training camp. There was a lot to worry about [throwing him into the lineup under those circumstances], but I thought he had his hands on the first goal with a nice little quick up pass. I thought he played well. Good on him to contribute.”

Pyotr Kochetkov picked up another win, his sixth of the season, as he is now 6-0-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average and .899 save percentage (SV%). He saved 14 of 17 shots, giving him an .824 SV% on the night. In fairness, the third goal shouldn’t count against him, with one of his own guys sliding into him. Either way, that’s six straight wins for the Russian netminder as he continues to beat teams he’s started against twice already this season. He has swept the Canucks and has beaten the Philadelphia Flyers twice.

Finally, Jesperi Kotkaniemi cannot be stopped, as he is now on a three-game point streak. After scoring goals in back-to-back games over the weekend, he had an assist on the first Deslauriers goal. In nine games in 2025-26, he has two goals and five points. He had nine points in 42 games last season. Are we in for a possible bounce-back season from the Finnish forward?

All in all, it was a nice response by the Hurricanes to get back in the win column after Sunday night’s loss. They came out and played their game despite a couple of goals they would want back in the game. A three-goal third period helped give them distance and put the game away in the win. In the end, they swept the Canucks in their two matchups in 2026-27 and are now 8-2-1. Their next game is on Thursday, Oct. 22, against the Edmonton Oilers. Can they pick up their third win on the road trip?