3 most impressive Vancouver Canucks players from 3-0 win over Toronto Maple Leafs feat. Kevin Lankinen

The Vancouver Canucks entered Saturday night's matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs in desperate need of a win, having dropped four straight games. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs hoped to get back onto the winning foot after a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

In the end, the Canucks broke their losing skid while handing the Maple Leafs a second consecutive loss. Vancouver shut out Toronto 3-0, improving their record to 19-13-10; the Leafs fell to 27-15-2.

The matchup couldn't have started more ideally for the Canucks. They struck first thanks to Brock Boeser's goal just 31 seconds after the opening faceoff. He deflected a shot from Tyler Myers past goaltender Dennis Hildeby.

In the second period, Canucks captain Quinn Hughes increased the lead to 2-0 thanks to a fortunate bounce:

Kiefer Sherwood increased the lead to 3-0 early in the third period, scoring his 13th goal of the season.

Goaltender Kevin Lankinen stopped everything that the Maple Leafs threw his way, picking up the shutout. Meanwhile, Hildeby made just 15 saves.

The Canucks also benefitted from killing off all three power-play opportunities that the Maple Leafs had. They shut down the Maple Leafs' vaunted offense, which includes the likes of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner.

3 most impressive Vancouver Canucks players from 3-0 win over Toronto Maple Leafs

#1. Kevin Lankinen

The Canucks goaltender picked up his seventh career shutout by denying everything that the Maple Leafs fired his way.

Lankinen has mostly been a godsend for the Canucks in the absence of Thatcher Demko. The goaltender missed the first 26 games of the season due to a knee injury he suffered last season.

Lankinen improved his record to 16-7-6 with a 2.51 goals-against average.

#2. Brock Boeser

The Canucks forward, who enjoyed a career season in 2023-24 (40 goals), isn't quite scoring at the same pace so far this season. However, he picked up a valuable tally in the opening minute of Saturday's game against the Maple Leafs and finished +2.

With 15 goals in the season, Boeser will hopefully gain the confidence he needs to resemble his performance from last season more closely.

#3. Quinn Hughes

The Canucks captain, who is the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman, picked up another goal and an assist in the win over Toronto while finishing +3.

Hughes appears to be on a quest to reclaim the Norris Trophy for a second straight year.