The struggles continue for the Vancouver Canucks.
Vancouver’s winless skid reached eight games on Tuesday night, as they fell 2-1 to the host Ottawa Senators in NHL action at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ont.
Artem Zub and Jordan Spence scored for the Senators (21-19-5), with Leevi Merilainen earning the win in goal, making 18 saves.
Centre Elias Pettersson replied for the Canucks (16-25-5), with Kevin Lankinen sharp in goal, stopping 37 of 39 shots.
The Sens dominated the first period, with the Canucks only having one shot on goal through the first 12 minutes.
Zub opened the scoring at 15:36, rifling a shot from the right circle past Lankinen for his fourth goal of the year.
Just 15 seconds later, and with a shot from close to the same spot on the ice, Spence made it 2-0. The night before, the Canucks gave up two goals in 20 seconds in a 6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Shots on goal after one period favoured the Senators, 14-4.
Lankinen was solid in a scoreless middle frame, stopping all 18 shots he faced as the Sens carried a whopping 32-11 advantage into period three.
The goal that moved EP40 to 10th all-time in franchise history.
pic.twitter.com/mXY2gAFKyP
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 14, 2026
Just 1:17 into the third, the Canucks cut the lead to 2-1. After an Ottawa giveaway, Linus Karlsson made a nice feed to Pettersson in the slot, and he fired his 13th goal of the season over the right shoulder of Merilainen. Pettersson has five goals in his last nine games.
The Canucks pulled Lankinen in favour of an extra attacker with two minutes left in the period, but were unable to score.
Vancouver completes its six-game road swing Thursday (4 p.m.) in Columbus when they visit the Blue Jackets.
NOTES: Pettersson moved into 10th place on the all-time Canucks goal-scoring list at 198, passing Thomas Gradin. Next up in ninth is Bo Horvat, with 201… Thatcher Demko (lower body), Kiefer Sherwood (undisclosed), Marco Rossi (lower body), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Teddy Blueger (lower body) and Derek Forbort (undisclosed) sat out with injuries for Vancouver. Defenceman Tom Willander was a healthy scratch for the Canucks… Vancouver was scoreless on its lone power-play chance, while the Sens were 0-for-2.