Monday April 18 - Vancouver Canucks 6 - Dallas Stars 2
Tuesday April 19 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Ottawa Senators - 7 p.m. PT
Now things are getting interesting...
The Vancouver Canucks saw their faint playoff hopes improve a bit on Monday and can move that needle farther on Tuesday.
The Canucks took care of business with a 6-2 win over the Dallas Stars, while the blame game is on in Sin City after the Vegas Golden Knights dropped a 3-2 decision to the New Jersey Devils.
Shout-out to White Rock's Andrew 'Hamburglar' Hammond for picking an excellent moment to get his first win as a Devil and help out his hometown team. And it wasn't an easy night — he made 42 saves.
For the Canucks, it was another night filled with strong performances and big nights on the stat sheet. But I think this game will be remembered for Luke Schenn's second-period fight with Jamie Benn.
The moment was the crystallization of what we first saw three years ago, when Schenn partnered up with Quinn Hughes during his first tour of duty in Vancouver. He provided veteran experience to the raw rookie in his first five NHL games, as well as being a physical force.
And when Benn hammered Hughes into the end boards with 2:17 left to play in the middle frame on Monday night, Schenn immediately took matters into his own hands, making the Dallas captain answer for his actions.
I understand why fighting should be on its way out from pro hockey and there are a lot of times, now, when I cringe when players drop the gloves.
But because Benn has roamed seemingly uncontested for the last decade against the Canucks, Schenn's beatdown felt like it was avenging history as well as a single hit on Hughes. It was an exclamation point on Vancouver's first season sweep of Dallas since the 2010-11 season, when Benn was in just his second year.
And part of the reason why Benn hasn't been challenged much is because he's a formidable foe. When he's at his best as a top-line force, coaches can't afford to be matching him up against somebody like Derek Dorsett or Tom Sestito. And a middleweight isn't going to accept the daunting task of squaring off with the 6'2", 210-pound power forward.
This is just the second time in his career that Benn has fought a member of the Canucks. He initiated with another defenseman, Nikita Tryamkin, on March 16, 2017, after the big Russian disrespectfully deposited him on his keister.
And once again — while fighting isn't *good*, it was hard to argue with the adrenaline rush that Monday's scrap ignited. It's the kind of thing that players on playoff teams do for each other — and the kind of thing that Schenn did during his two championship seasons with Tampa Bay, where he scrapped a total of nine times, according to
HockeyFights.com.
My second-favourite part of Monday was Bruce Boudreau's 'tortoise and the hare' pre-game presser. The masterful part is the way he took the pressure off, calling these games 'fun' and saying that his players have nothing to lose, while also keeping his eye clearly focused on the fact that these four points, this week, are the ones they need to vault themselves back into serious contention.
Whatever he's telling the players, it's working. We're getting the best of the best from Elias Pettersson, who picked up another three points. He has now hit a career high with 29 goals and is just three points off his career high in points — which he might hit against Ottawa on Tuesday, the way things are going.
Brock Boeser catapulted back into the lineup with a three-point night of his own. Vasily Podkolzin and Oliver Ekman-Larsson each picked up another two points.
And on a night that started with an air of panic because Alex Chiasson was a late scratch due to illness — and yes, Alex Chiasson has now carved out an important spot on Vancouver's offense — who better to step up than Jason Dickinson, with a three-point night and first-star honours against his former team, after he'd been staunchly accountable for his rather forgettable season during a conversation with Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet.
In terms of the numbers —
SportsClubStats gave the Canucks' playoff chances a boost of 9.1% thanks to Monday night's results, up to 19.3% and now slightly ahead of Vegas (18.2%). Vancouver sits one point behind the Golden Knights in the standings heading into Tuesday's game against Ottawa. But with a game in hand, they now have a slightly better points percentage than the Golden Knights (.566 vs. .565).
It'll take more to win over
MoneyPuck. They've got Vancouver at 11.6% and Vegas at 19.8% as of Tuesday morning.
On Monday, Boudreau said he figured the team would need to win six of seven games to get in. Now, that number is down to five out of six. If the Canucks can get two points off Ottawa tonight, they'll pass Vegas and, potentially, move within two points of the Kings, third in the Pacific, and three points of the two wild-card clubs, Nashville and Dallas.
The Preds host Calgary on Tuesday night (5 p.m. PT), while the Kings play in Anaheim (7 p.m. PT). On Wednesday, Dallas is in Edmonton and Vegas hosts Washington. And the Capitals are on a tear — winners of six of their last seven, including a 3-2 road win in Colorado on Monday. They're also revisiting the rink where they won their Stanley Cup.
Like the Canucks, the Sens are on a back-to-back on Tuesday. They're also on a bit of a travel odyssey. Last week, they picked up road wins in Detroit and Boston, then flew home to lose 5-4 in overtime to Toronto on Saturday. Next, they flew all the way out west, where they lost 4-2 to Seattle on Monday. So they could be running on fumes.
As for the goaltending matchup, Jaroslav Halak vs. Filip Gustavsson is confirmed. Halak is coming off a 27=save performance in Vancouver's 5-1 road win over Arizona back on April 7. Gustavsson is making his first start since March 19; since early February, he has spent most of his time in the AHL.
It has been a tough season for Gustavsson at the NHL level. He's 3-11-1 this year, with an .886 save percentage. He took the loss when Vancouver beat Ottawa 6-2 at the Canadian Tire Centre back on December 1.
I'll leave it there for now. Fun times. Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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