Jonathan Lekkerimaki lost the puck to a Seattle forecheck Saturday night, and Canucks fans spent the rest of the evening on him.
Daniel Wagner called it live. That might be it for the Canucks, he wrote, as the Kraken pushed the lead back out to two.
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One account went further than that. Awful. Soft on the puck. Embarrassing. Those were the actual words.
Here's the problem with all of it. He finished the night with 2 assists.
Vancouver scored twice. He had a hand in both goals, including one with the man advantage.
He also put 2 shots on net across 17:16 of ice time and walked out even. That isn't a disaster sheet.
One giveaway on video isn't a scouting report. Clips travel faster than box scores, and that will never change.
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Canucks fans turn on Jonathan Lekkerimaki despite two-assist night
O'Brien buried the loose puck and added an assist of his own. He finished at a +2 in a 4-2 Seattle win.
Logan Morrison and Jani Nyman both scored with the man advantage for the Kraken. Ty Nelson got the other one.
Arshdeep Bains and Braeden Cootes handled the Vancouver scoring, and each of them chipped in a helper.
Niklas Kokko took the win after allowing both Vancouver goals across 20 minutes of work.
Joey Daccord faced 14 shots in his 40 minutes and stopped every one of them.
Nikita Tolopilo went the distance at the other end, turning aside 26 of 30.
Manny Malhotra took the Vancouver bench job on June 1. This was his first look at an actual scoreboard.
Lane Lambert has run Seattle since May 2025, with Jason Botterill handling the front office side.
Vancouver heads to Calgary on Tuesday. New building, new audience, same questions waiting at the door.
So which version of Saturday is the real one? Judging a young forward off one highlighted mistake works like reviewing a restaurant on the single dish that came out cold.
Lekkerimaki gets his next shift regardless. The clip will outlive the box score, and that's the part he has to play his way out of.
Is Jonathan Lekkerimaki too soft to hold an NHL roster spot?
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