Kevin Lankinen Pulls Off Save of the Year Candidate During Saturday's Game vs Edmonton

The Vancouver Canucks returned home on Saturday after a three-game road trip in California. The opponent waiting for them at Rogers Arena? The Edmonton Oilers - a rematch of the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Edmonton was on a mini slump coming into Saturday's game, losing their previous two contests to New Jersey and Vegas, respectively, while the Vancouver Canucks were riding a three-game win streak.

Last night's game was a rough one to say the least for Kevin Lankinen. He allowed seven goals on 27 shots and was pulled with less than ten minutes to play in the third period. However before being pulled by Rick Tocchet, Lankinen did provide fans with what could end up being a save of the year candidate when all is said and done.

During the game, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid skated into the Canucks' zone, when deep to the hashmarks and made a slick pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who was alone at the side of Vancouver's net.

As Nugent-Hopkins gets the puck, Kevin Lankinen is out of position, leaving a wide open net for the Oilers forward. Lankinen reaches back across the crease with his stick and somehow, makes the stop on Nugent-Hopkins.

The Vancouver Canucks would go on to lose the game to the Edmonton Oilers, allowing a season-high seven goals against. Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek and Pius Suter got the goals for Vancouver, but it wasn't enough as Edmonton rode three-point nights from Connor McDavid and Mattias Janmark to the victory.

Rick Tocchet's group will certainly have some work to do in practice over the next couple of games before they return to action on Tuesday, where they'll host Andrei Kuzmenko and the Calgary Flames at 7 pm PT. We'll have to wait and see if Tocchet decides to give the start to Kevin Lankinen, who has had a great start this season, or if he turns to Arturs Silovs.