Monday April 18 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Dallas Stars - 7:30 p.m. PT
The Vancouver Canucks have done everything possible to keep their playoff hopes alive. But the forces around them have been less than accommodating.
On January 17, the Canucks had 37 points in 38 games and were seven points out of the second wild-card spot in the West (San Jose with 44 points, at that time).
On February 17, they had 52 points in 50 games and were three points back of L.A. (55 points), holding down Wild Card 2.
On March 17, they they had 67 points in 63 games and were three points behind Vegas (70 points), in the second wild-card spot.
And as I write this on April 17, they have 84 points in 75 games. They've gone from seven games below .500 when Travis Green was fired to nine games above, for a .560 points percentage for the year. But they're now six points behind L.A., who are third in the Pacific with 90 points, and seven behind Nashville and Dallas, sitting in the two wild-card spots.
The Canucks have been able to keep their hopes alive while Anaheim, Winnipeg and San Jose faltered. But even with 14 of 20 points in their last 10 games, they're only keeping pace with the teams they're trying to catch. They've gained some ground on the Kings (4-5-1), but are treading water in comparison to Nashville (6-3-1), Dallas (6-2-2) and Vegas (7-2-1).
The Golden Knights were shut out by Edmonton on Saturday afternoon, offering a glimmer of hope for Canucks fans. But the Preds, Stars and Kings all won. According to
SportsClubStats, that bumped Vancouver's odds down by just 0.8%, to 9.4%. Vegas took the big blow, dropping by more than 23%, with most of the difference moving over to L.A.
Let's take a look at each team's remaining schedule, to see if there's much likelihood that Vancouver can gain ground.
Canucks: 84 points
• seven games remaining - 4 home, 3 road, 2 sets of back-to-backs
• five games against playoff teams (Dallas, Minnesota, Calgary, L.A., Edmonton)
• two games against non-playoff teams (Ottawa, Seattle)
• two head-to-heads against other teams in the hunt (Dallas, Monday; Los Angeles, Apr. 28)
Kings: 90 points
• five games remaining - 2 home, 3 road, 1 set of back-to-backs
• all five games against non-playoff teams (2x Anaheim, Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver)
• only potential four-pointer is their final game, against Vancouver
Predators: 91 points
• seven games remaining - 4 home, 3 road, 2 sets of back-to-backs
• six games against playoff teams (St. Louis, 2x Calgary, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Colorado)
• one game against a non-playoff team (Arizona)
• no four-pointers; they're now eight points behind Minnesota so if they get in, it'll be as a wild-card team
Stars: 91 points
• seven games remaining - 4 home, 3 road, 2 sets of back-to-backs
• two games against playoff teams (Edmonton, Calgary)
• five games against non-playoff teams (Vancouver, Seattle, Vegas, Arizona, Anaheim)
• two potential four-pointers, against Vancouver and Vegas
Golden Knights: 87 points (ninth place)
• six games remaining - 3 home, 3 road, one set of back-to-backs
• three games remaining against playoff teams (Washington, Dallas, St. Louis)
• three games remaining against non-playoff teams (New Jersey, San Jose, Chicago)
• just one four-pointer, against Dallas on Apr. 26.
That's one small bit of positive news for the Canucks — the Dallas/Vegas game is the only remaining head-to-head matchup between the other teams in this quagmire, where two or three points are guaranteed to go to the teams that are in Vancouver's way.
The fact that Vancouver still has head-to-head games against both Dallas and L.A. is as much control as any of these five clubs has. The quest to stay alive definitely requires a sixth-straight win on Monday when the Stars come to town.
And while the Canucks have been boondoggled by the Stars for the better part of the last decade, they're 2-0-0 against Dallas so far this season. Thatcher Demko got both wins as Vancouver earned a 6-3 win at Rogers Arena on Nov. 7, then won 4-1 in Dallas on March 26.
The Stars are opening a 3-in-4 Western Canadian road trip in Vancouver on Monday night — and note the late start time of 7:30 p.m. PT.
Dallas is coming off a very tight-checking three-game homestand: a 1-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Lightning off a third-period goal from Roope Hintz, a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota where Jason Robertson scored his 35th and 36th of the season, and a 2-1 win over San Jose where Tyler Seguin opened the scoring with his 23rd of the year, and Michael Raffl scored what proved to be the game winner while killing a second-period penalty. Timo Meier got the score to 2-1 late in the second to make it interesting, but the Stars locked things down and allowed just six shots for San Jose in the third.
Dallas made a sharp and under-the-radar acquisition at the trade deadline, picking up goaltender Scott Wedgewood from Arizona. He's 3-0-2 since joining the Stars and started back-to-back games for the first time last week, getting the nod against the Wild after shutting out the Lightning. The Stars were also missing key defenseman Miro Heiskanen due to a bout of mononucleosis when the Canucks played them in Dallas last month. He's back now — only with a handful of assists since his return, but logging big minutes and making a difference on the defensive side of the puck.
With all that being said, Dallas has allowed a just-OK 2.79 goals per game since the trade deadline — good for 10th best in the league, and exactly the same as the number of goals they've scored. Imagine my surprise when I see the team with the best goals against since March 21 is — your Vancouver Canucks, at 2.27 goals against per game.
I feel like Vancouver's 3.73 goals scored per game has gotten a lot more of the attention. But that defensive number is mighty impressive — and that's more than just good goaltending.
Yes, Thatcher Demko has a .928 save percentage since the deadline, and Jaro Halak is at .944. But Vancouver's oft-maligned high-priced veteran blueliners are getting the job done. Tyler Myers leads the Canucks with a plus-12 since the trade deadline, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson is right behind him at plus-11.
To add even more heft to those numbers — only five players in total and only two defensemen have better plus-minus numbers than Myers in that timeframe: Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk and Noah Hanifin of Calgary (and, interestingly, NOT Chris Tanev, who's at plus-6), along with Jaccob Slavin of Carolina and former Flame Sam Bennett, now with Florida.
Other defensemen in the same range are Alex Goligoski of Minnesota, tied with Myers at plus-12, and Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman and the Rangers' K'Andre Miller tied with OEL at plus-11.
Just one other injury note for the Stars: another trade-deadline pickup, forward Vladislav Namestnikov, is out with a lower-body injury and won't be on the road trip.
For the Canucks, I'm sure you heard the news that broke not long after I posted my relatively optimistic blog on Friday: Bo Horvat has been ruled out for at least the next couple of weeks after taking that shot off his ankle in Thursday's win over Arizona.
The Canucks are off on Sunday, but did practice on Friday and Saturday. Matthew Highmore re-joined the club on Friday after missing the last nine games and is expected to play against Dallas. Brock Boeser has missed five games with his elbow injury and practiced Saturday. But Tanner Pearson's not ready to return.
And look: with Highmore's return, there's Will Lockwood in Tyler Motte's old spot on the reunited energy line. Just like I'd hoped!
Have a Happy Easter, and if you're scoreboard watching, just one game requires your attention on Sunday: Nashville hosts St. Louis, with both teams on back-to-backs, at 3 p.m. PT.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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