3 most impressive Vancouver Canucks players from 2-1 OT win over San Jose Sharks feat. Nikita Tolopilo

By Mike Whitaker

Modified Apr 15, 2025 06:13 GMT

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The Vancouver Canucks have nothing left but pride to play for in their season, which will end without an appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

They faced the basement-dwelling San Jose Sharks on Monday night, hoping to give their fans at Rogers Arena something positive to take with them into the offseason.

They ultimately picked up a 2-1 overtime victory over the visiting San Jose Sharks, improving their record to 38-29-14. While it won't be enough to get them into the postseason, it was still a win they needed to pick up against a far lesser opponent.

Neither team found the back of the net in the opening 20 minutes of play. At the 4:20 mark of the middle frame, rookie forward Macklin Celebrini scored his 25th goal of the season to give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

Just past the midway point of the third period, Linus Karlsson scored his third goal of the season to knot the score at 1-1.

Late in the sudden-death overtime session, it was first-year Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk who guaranteed the extra point for Vancouver:

Sharks goaltender Alexandar Georgiev made 35 saves in a losing effort, while Vancouver's Nikita Tolopilo stopped 15 of 16 shots.

3 most impressive Vancouver Canucks players from 2-1 OT win over San Jose Sharks

#1. Nikita Tolopilo

The rookie goaltender making his very first NHL start could have felt overwhelmed by the experience, but he took it in stride.

He picked up the victory in his very first NHL start, something that he'll remember for the rest of his life. He stopped 15 of 16 shots that the Sharks fired his way, including two saves each on William Eklund, Tyler Toffoli and Carl Grundstrom.

He finished his first NHL contest with a sparkling .938 save percentage.

#2. Jake DeBrusk

The first-year Canucks forward had a strong campaign in his first go-around with Vancouver, and will be hoping to build on it for next season in an effort to propel the Canucks to the playoffs.

His goal was his 28th of the season, marking a new career-high in tallies and beating his previous high output of 27 with the Boston Bruins; he played in 16:22 of ice time with three shots.

#3. Quinn Hughes

The Canucks captain rebounded from a previous poor outing by looking far more like his usual self.

He led all Canucks defesemen with five total shots, picking up an assist on the game-winning overtime goal from DeBrusk and finishing +1 in 30:34 of ice time, the most of all Vancouver players.