Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen makes his feelings known after 4-0 shutout win over Panthers

Kevin Lankinen recorded this third shutout of the season as the Vancouver Canucks won 4-0 against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers. The Finnish goalie stopped 27 attempts at his goal.

Kevin Lankinen has been the mainstay in the Canucks goal, especially during Thatcher Demko's early-season absence due to injury. Demko made his season debut just two days ago against the St. Louis Blues. After the game, the 29-year-old expressed his pride in his team and their consistent performance throughout the night.

"I liked pretty much everything about it. Just the way we started, playing through 60 minutes. PP was good. PK was even better. We kind of just shut them down. Proud of the boys," Demko said.

The highlights of Lankinen's efforts included an impressive two-save sequence in the second period against Aleksander Barkov at the 13:16 and 19:25 marks. Around the halfway mark in the third period, he stopped Niko Mikkola on a breakaway.

In front of him, the offense was equally strong for the Canucks. Carson Soucy and Danton Heinen gave them a 2-0 lead heading into the end of the first period. Ja DeBrusk rounded off the scoring with two goals of his own. Interestingly four players — Max Sasson, Quinn Hughes, Teddy Blueger and a returning J.T. Miller — each earned two assists in a comprehensive team performance.

Rick Tocchet highlights team contributions and Kevin Lankinen's performance in win

In the post-game presser, Rick Tocchet seemed satisfied with the team's outing. He praised Kevin Lankinen for his efforts and was happy about the team's overall defensive effort.

“I thought everybody contributed, [it was a] good team identity win. A lot of good efforts for a lot of different guys, lot of different lines. I thought the D were scrappy, and obviously Lanks had a great game,” Tocchet said.

This was Lankinen's sixth shutout of his career and his third of the season, tying him with the Jets' Connor Hellebuyck and the Canadiens' Sam Montembeault for most shutouts this season.

Vancouver improved to 35 points, sitting just one spot behind the automatic playoff positions in the Pacific Division. Meanwhile, Florida dropped to second place in the Atlantic Division, tiedwith the Toronto Maplea Leafs at 38 points.