Eight-one down, one to go.
A long, difficult season is nearly over for Vancouver Canucks fans. Mired at the bottom of the NHL standings, the Canucks played their final home game of the season Tuesday, Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena.
They did send their fans home happy, as Jake DeBrusk scored twice, including the winner in overtime, in a 4-3 Canucks win. Defenceman Elias Pettersson and Zeev Buium also scored for the Canucks (25-48-8), with Kevin Lankinen earning the netminding win, making 31 saves.
Quintin Byfield, Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere scored for the Kings (35-26-20). Darcy Kuemper took the loss in goal, stopping 21 shots.
GOODNIGHT FROM JAKE DEBRUSK. pic.twitter.com/FSi0EB1UsI
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) April 15, 2026
Pettersson opened the scoring 9:21 into the first period after some solid puck movement from the Canucks. His shot from the point beat Kuemper for his third goal of the season.
Byfield pulled the Kings even at 17:15, redirecting a nice feed from Laferriere for his 23rd of the year.
Shots on goal after one period favoured Vancouver, 7-4.
DeBrusk put the Canucks up 2-1 on the power play 52 seconds into the second period, knocking in a loose puck after a scramble in front of Kuemper. DeBrusk has 23 goals on the year, 19 with the man advantage.
Just 12 seconds later, Kempe made it 2-2 with his 36th of the year, slotting home a feed from Anze Kopitar.
Seventy-three seconds after that, Laferriere gave the Kings a 3-2 lead, backhanding a rebound past Lankinen. Laferriere now has 21 goals for the year.
Buium finished a give-and-go with Nils Hoglander at 9:20 of the period, with the young defenceman beating Kuemper for his sixth goal of the year.
Shot after 40 minutes were 19-18 in favour of the Kings.
Just over seven minutes into the third, Vancouver’s Filip Hronek fought L.A.’s Mathieu Joseph after a high hit on Buium.
Neither team hit the scoresheet in the period, with L.A. holding a 34-24 shots advantage.
In the 3-on-3 overtime, centre Elias Pettersson fed DeBrusk at the corner of the crease and he chipped the winner over Kuemper.
Vancouver wraps up the regular season Thursday in Edmonton and will miss the playoffs for the second year in a row and ninth time in 11 seasons.
NOTES: Hronek assisted on DeBrusk’s first goal and set a new career high in points with 49… Kopitar, retiring after this season following a stellar 20-year career, was congratulated by all the Canucks players after the game and received a nice ovation from the Vancouver crowd.