Kevin Lankinen Shuts Out Flyers as Tyler Myers Earns Point in 1000th Career Game

The Vancouver Canucks improved to 2-1 on their road trip, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 on Saturday night.

The game marked Tyler Myers’ 1000th career NHL game and it was a special night as he had family in attendance and his teammates celebrated his milestone by donning 1000th game t-shirts that had a photo montage of the 6-foot-8 blue liner. Myers commemorated the occasion by tallying a point on a no-look backhand assist on the second goal of the game.

“It means a lot, more so to do it with this group, I love this group. Thinking back to the summer and not knowing what it was going to be like, to be able to come back and do it [1000th game] with these guys, get a win – it was just a great night,” Myers said.

When asked about who he thinks of looking back on his hockey journey from 1000 games he said there were too many people to name but mentioned his mom and dad for pushing him as a youngster and his wife, children and in-laws for their support throughout his career.

“It was a great night, I’m going to remember it forever, they had a video of my kids doing the starting lineup. It was an emotional night, at different times throughout the game I was getting emotional and [had] a lot of different feelings,” he shared.

The team has been working hard to get into a rhythm and the 16-year NHL veteran says there’s still room for improvement. He talked about the group being a little loose in the second half of the middle frame but liked that they battled hard in the third period, and they had great goaltending from Kevin Lankinen.

Lankinen started his second game in a row, making impressive saves on net-front shots, stopping all 26 shots he faced. He’s the first Finish-born goaltender to record a shutout in franchise history.

Lankinen says he’s having fun playing with the Canucks and in the system. He’s been trying to keep an even keel mindset, and he feels they matched the Flyers’ energy in Philadelphia.

“I’m feeling comfortable, feeling confident, I’ve been feeling confident ever since I got here,” Lankinen said. “Just knowing some of the guys and the guys have been really great, welcoming me and making me feel good and comfortable around everybody,” he said.

Goals

Nils Höglander found the back of the net as the result of some tidy passing from Conor Garland and Elias Pettersson, resulting in Höglander being given a wide-open net to fire in his second goal of the season.

The Canucks had a couple of quick goals less than a minute apart in the second period.

The first was a backhand by Brock Boeser off of the no-look pass from Myers, who attempted his own shot, collected the rebound and found Boeser net front.

“I saw a shade of white fly behind me as we were searching for the puck there, I just threw it in the area and luckily Boes was there,” Myers said with a smile, then joked “It's cool, I did it on purpose.”

Kiefer Sherwood scored his first goal as a Canuck. Teddy Blueger won a draw in the Flyers’ end and the puck went straight to Sherwood, who fired it in, the Canucks extending their lead to 3-0 going into the second break.

Lankinen held tight in the third period and the Canucks began their first winning streak of the season by finding revenge against the Flyers.

Up Next

The Canucks wrap up their road trip in the Windy City, taking on the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday, October 22nd at 5:15 p.m. PT.

They will then head home to Raincouver for a three-game homestand starting Saturday, October 26th to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Canucks will also celebrate Myers’ 1000-game milestone on Saturday’s home game against the Penguins.