Casey DeSmith steals the show as Stars hand Canucks a 4-1 defeat

The Vancouver Canucks’ playoff hopes took another hit as they suffered a 4-1 defeat against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night. With this loss, Vancouver remains outside the postseason picture, struggling to find consistency at a crucial time in the season. Former Canuck Casey DeSmith was a difference-maker in goal, stopping 22 of 23 shots to backstop Dallas to victory.


The game started with promise for Vancouver as Elias Pettersson generated an early scoring chance less than two minutes in, but it didn’t make it onto the scoresheet. The first period remained scoreless as both teams played a tight-checking game.
Dallas broke through early in the second period when Thomas Harley netted his 12th goal of the season at 5:17, assisted by Evgenii Dadonov and Mason Marchment. Vancouver responded at 11:35, with Derek Forbort finding the back of the net for his first goal of the season, off assists from Conor Garland and Victor Mancini. However, the Stars reclaimed the lead in the final seconds of the second period, as Mikael Granlund capitalized on a setup from Cody Ceci and Matt Duchene, sending the Canucks into the third period trailing 2-1.
Jason Robertson extended Dallas’ lead to 3-1 at 8:26 of the third period, again with an assist from Duchene. With Vancouver pressing late, the Stars sealed the game with an empty-netter by Mikko Rantanen at 18:52, with Ceci picking up his second assist of the night.

Casey DeSmith’s strong play in goal frustrated his former team, while Kevin Lankinen, starting for Vancouver, made 15 saves on 18 shots. The Canucks were without their captain Quinn Hughes for the third consecutive game, as Victor Mancini slotted in and recorded an assist, two blocked shots, and logged 14:35 of ice time.
Pettersson, despite coming off two solid performances, managed only one shot on goal, though he remained active with a 56.3% faceoff win rate, two blocked shots, and two hits. Midway through the game, Vancouver shuffled lines, pairing Teddy Blueger with Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland, a move that contributed to the Canucks’ lone goal. The trio played just under four minutes together at 5-on-5, posting a corsi-for percentage of 78.75% and the team’s highest expected goals-for (xGF) at 0.87.
Despite the loss, Vancouver’s penalty kill was a bright spot, successfully stopping all four of Dallas’ power-play opportunities. Marcus Pettersson led the unit with 5:54 of shorthanded time. The Canucks also displayed an aggressive forecheck, which created quality chances late in the game, though they failed to convert.
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With this defeat, Vancouver has now lost four straight games to Dallas. The team has also surrendered the first goal in a game for the 31st time this season and surpassed 30 hits for the 19th time.
Next up, the Canucks will face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at Rogers Arena in the first game of a back-to-back Canadian matchup. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. PT as Vancouver looks to bounce back and stay in the playoff race.