Tuesday March 15: Vancouver Canucks 6 - New Jersey Devils 3
Thursday March 17: Detroit Red Wings at Vancouver Canucks (7 p.m. PT)
J.T. Miller did his thing, but it was Bo Horvat who starred for the Vancouver Canucks in their 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday at Rogers Arena.
Miller logged another three assists to keep his NHL-high 13-game point streak alive, and is closing in on the Canucks' team record of 15 games. He settled for second star on Tuesday.
Horvat scored twice and added an assist to earn first-star honours for the night. Midway through the second, he wired a slapper past Devils' rookie netminder Nico Daws, restoring Vancouver's lead after New Jersey had rebounded from a 2-0 deficit.
Riding that momentum, Tanner Pearson scored what proved to be the game winner just 17 seconds later, putting Vancouver up 4-2. But it took the Devils just three minutes to climb back within one, and the visitors were in the midst of a four-minute power play when Horvat logged his second of the night, shorthanded, at the 1:24 mark of the third.
It was a valuable insurance marker that tipped the momentum back in Vancouver's favour — and the first goal of the night on Jon Gillies, who replaced Daws in the Devils' net after Pearson scored. At 12:10 of the third, Juho Lammikko rounded out the scoring with a skillful tip of a Luke Schenn blast from the blue line.
Did I correctly hear Dan Murphy refer to Lammikko, Tyler Motte and Matthew Highmore as the 'Motto Line' during the broadcast? I like it — but that name doesn't exactly suggest that Motte's on his way out the door before the trade deadline, does it?
Also telling — after inserting Sheldon Rempal in the lineup against the Lightning on Sunday in place of injured Elias Pettersson, Bruce Boudreau got natural centre Nic Petan called up for Tuesday's game so that he could put the Mottos back together.
Though Motte is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, I'm starting to think that he won't be dealt. Trades are difficult to make with so many teams bumping up against the salary-cap ceiling, and we've been hearing about more and more impending UFAs who have been featured on the trade-bait boards potentially staying with their teams as 'own rentals.'
Valuable, and well appreciated by Boudreau, Motte may find himself as part of that group when the dust settles on Monday. Because the playoff dream is very much alive!
After a busy Tuesday night of game action concluded, the Canucks found themselves just one point out of the second wild-card spot in the West. Vegas is in that eighth spot, but lost its fifth-straight game, dominated 7-3 by Winnipeg. The Golden Knights now have a lower points percentage than Vancouver (68 points in 62 games for .548, compared to the Canucks' 67 points in 61 games for .549).
The banged-up Golden Knights are in freefall. And the Canucks play them three times in the first 12 days of April. That could potentially make or break the season.
Points-wise, the Canucks are now tied with Dallas. The Stars have lost three in a row and were shut out 4-0 by Toronto on Tuesday, but still have three games in hand on Vancouver.
Right now, Nashville and Edmonton are trending positive — and so is Winnipeg, just one point behind Vancouver. Minnesota has dipped, and is now in the first wild-card spot with 72 points. And Los Angeles is holding onto second in the Pacific with 74 points but is now dealing with some big-time injury issues. The Kings didn't put up much of a fight in their 3-0 loss to Colorado on Tuesday night.
Add that all up, and
SportsClubStats says the Canucks' chances of making the playoffs increased by 9% on Tuesday, to 33.6%. That puts them ahead of Vegas, whose odds fell by 12% and now sit at 30.4%. And the Stars' odds also fell by more than 10%.
Over at
MoneyPuck, they're not quite so encouraging. They still have Vegas at 53.8% and Vancouver at 22%.
But as I've often said, those numbers can swing dramatically at this time of year. And in terms of raw production, no team in the Western Conference has done more to help its case than Vancouver over the last 10 games. The Canucks are 7-2-1, for 15 out of a possible 20 points — and, yes, a .750 points percentage. Next best are Nashville and Arizona (!) at 7-3-0, followed by Colorado, Calgary and Winnipeg all at 6-3-1.
Over in the East, Carolina is also 7-2-1 in its last 10 games, while Boston has the best record in the league at 8-1-1. Long presumed to have been locked into a wild-card spot, the Bruins are now just three points behind second-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division, and two back of Toronto.
It looks like it'll be Rangers/Pittsburgh in the 2-3 matchup in the Metropolitan Division. But with that Atlantic Division volatility and Carolina and Florida duking it out for top spot in the conference, everything else remains in flux.
Up next, the Canucks will host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday — two days after the Wings put a scare into the Edmonton Oilers before falling by a score of 7-5. Thomas Greiss got the start and spotted Edmonton a 3-0 lead in the first 4:35 of the game. Alex Nedeljkovic replaced him, allowed three goals on 25 shots in 54:02 of game action, and was dinged for the loss because the Oilers' sixth goal of the game, midway through the third period, proved to be the game winner.
After Detroit, the Canucks close out the homestand with a back-to-back set, against Calgary on Saturday and Buffalo on Sunday.
Edmonton hosts Buffalo on Thursday and New Jersey on Saturday.
Vegas hosts Florida on Thursday and Los Angeles on Saturday.
Dallas's road trip continues against Montreal on Thursday, the Islanders on Saturday and Washington on Sunday.
Winnipeg hosts Boston on Friday, then visits Chicago on Sunday.
And to close — a shout-out to Quinn Hughes. He came out on top in a head-to-head matchup against his younger brother Jack for the first time on Tuesday, as the Canucks won their first game against the Devils since 2014.
Jack had a good night, named third star with a goal and an assist, 10 shot attempts, and a 7-for-14 performance in the face-off circle. Quinn had just one assist, but he and partner Luke Schenn both finished the night at an impressive plus-4. And Quinn's maturity showed through when he was asked about the rivalry after the game.
Wednesday is another big day in the Hughes household, where youngest brother Luke has just been announced as one of the 10 finalists for the 2022 Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey. That's a lofty honour for a freshman — and Hughes beat out his sophomore teammate Owen Power, who wasn't nominated.
The Canucks are practicing Wednesday. Bruce Boudreau says Thatcher Demko is getting the day off to rest. And while Elias Pettersson missed a second-straight game on Tuesday, Boudreau insists that this is strictly a day-to-day thing. He doesn't expect Pettersson to be sidelined for long.
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