Canucks snap skid as veterans respond to coach Adam Foote’s callout

“Our veterans are the ones that feel defeated first,” he said in a rare public critique of his roster.

Hronek, Evander Kane and Drew O’Connor also scored Wednesday, helping Vancouver to its first win since a shootout victory against the Seattle Kraken on Dec. 29. It was also the Canucks’ fifth win at Rogers Arena this season — the first since Dec. 6.

Foote commended his veterans for their poise on Wednesday.

“They were just calm,” he said. “They hung in there. It seemed like when we dumped the puck and got our forecheck going properly and worked as a unit of five, we really had a lot going on for us.”

He singled out strong nights from Conor Garland and Boeser, who opened the scoring for Vancouver and was named the game’s first star.

“He was competing, and he was matched against Tom Wilson,” Foote said. “Real tough matchup, defended well.”

Wilson was back in the Washington lineup after missing eight games with a lower-body injury. He was the set-up man for the Capitals’ first goal, which was scored on a 5-on-3 at 8:25 of the first period.

“It seems like a tough league to hold a lead,” Wilson said. “I think maybe you take the foot off the pedal for a minute and they got a couple bounces, and they jump right back in it.”

Boeser said he agreed with Foote’s message to his team.

“It’s the truth,” he said. “We can’t have that bad body language and the negative attitude on the bench. You can’t show that to the young guys. We’ve got to be good leaders and good role models and be positive. I thought we were tonight, and I felt that that helped us play a better hockey game.”

As he improved to 7-14-4 for the year, goalie Kevin Lankinen said he has been putting in the work even as the losses piled up.

“I’ve been just focusing on my own game and trying to build as much as I can,” he said. “There’s been some building blocks that we’ve been building on with goalie coach Marko Torenius that I feel are showing in the game now. It’s good to get some results. Of course, winning is more fun than losing, so that gives you more fuel to keep going.”

With his two-assist night, Washington’s John Carlson became the 11th defenceman in NHL history to reach the 600-assist mark with a single franchise.

The Capitals have now lost four games in a row and sit four points out of a wild-card spot in the tight Eastern Conference.

“Everything is pointing to the fact that our season is hanging in the balance, and that’s where we’re going to have to dig in and give everything we possibly have and play like we’re in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” said Capitals coach Spencer Carbery. “I hate using that in the regular season, and you never want to drum that up in January and say it’s like a playoff game. But we are getting very, very close to teetering on ‘if we don’t get results soon, here, we’re going to be in a huge, huge hole.’”

After their rare win, the Canucks remained 32nd in the NHL, seven points behind the next-closest team and 14 points out of a playoff spot.

They’ll continue their homestand on Friday against the New Jersey Devils.

“Happy that we got the result today, but we still have a long season ahead,” Lankinen said. “We’ve got to keep building here.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2026.

Carol Schram, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Canucks snap skid as veterans respond to coach Adam Foote’s callout

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