Thursday April 21 - Minnesota Wild 6 - Vancouver Canucks 3
Saturday April 23 - Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames - 7 p.m. PT
Down but still not quite out, the Vancouver Canucks' unlikely quest for a playoff spot continues Saturday night, when they wrap up their two-game road trip against the Calgary Flames.
SportsClubStats has Vancouver's playoff chances now at a tiny 1.1% heading into Saturday's games.
MoneyPuck is a little more generous, at 1.5%.
The Canucks have 87 points, with four games to go. They cannot be completely eliminated on Saturday, but they may end the night with only one team left that they can still catch.
Third in the Pacific, the Kings have now won three in a row and are up to 94 points, and they host Anaheim on Saturday night. So Vancouver's only hope of maintaining the possibility of sneaking into third in the Pacific is to get at least one more point than L.A. on Saturday.
The door stays open for now if there's a win/OTL or OTL/loss scenario, but I'm not sure that's a very likely outcome. After a number of their core players were traded away at the deadline, Anaheim is 2-4-2 in its last eight games, and dropped a 2-1 decision on home ice to the Kings last Tuesday.
In the first wild-card spot, we've got Nashville — with 93 points, five games to go. They've got a tough back-to-back ahead, playing in Tampa on Saturday, then hosting Minnesota on Sunday.
The Preds haven't played since Tuesday, when they beat Calgary 3-2 in a shootout. The Lightning have started looking more like themselves on their current homestand, where they're 3-1-0 so far and beat Toronto 8-1 on Thursday. But the Preds have given the Wild trouble all year — they're 3-0-0 against Minnesota this season.
Nashville holds the edge over Vancouver in the tiebreaker. So the Canucks also need one more point than the Preds on Saturday night to keep the window open for a crack at Wild Card 1.
Then there's Dallas, now the most vulnerable, in the second wild-card spot.
The Stars lost all three games of their Western Canadian road trip, and sit in the second wild-card spot, with 91 points and four games to go. And Vancouver does hold the advantage over the Stars in the tiebreaker.
The Stars are back home on Saturday. They'll be playing their fourth game in six nights, but they're hosting a Seattle team that's on a back-to-back after losing 6-3 in Minnesota on Friday.
So the window to Wild Card 2 will stay open on Saturday night for Vancouver, no matter what happens for the Canucks or the Stars. Even if Dallas wins and Vancouver loses, the Canucks will be six points back, with three games to go, and holding the edge in the tiebreaker.
Then, there's Vegas — still in the way with 89 points. The Golden Knights eked out a come-from-behind win over Washington on Wednesday night to maintain their edge of Vancouver, and also have the edge in the tiebreaker. They also have four games to go, but don't play again until Sunday, when they host the Sharks.
Then, they play in Dallas on Tuesday — a crucial head-to-head matchup which could decide both teams' seasons.
After it was reported on Friday (again) that Robin Lehner is set to undergo season-ending knee surgery, the Golden Knights have once again pushed back on those reports. Though Lehner is not at Saturday's practice, the team issued a statement saying "Robin Lehner will not be on the ice today for practice as he takes an additional maintenance day. We are hopeful that he will be available for Sunday night's game."
As for the Canucks, they got beat up physically in Minnesota, as well as on the scoreboard. Brad Richardson had his nose broken. J.T. Miller left for a stretch after taking a shot to the inside of his knee. And Tyler Myers was missing from Saturday's morning skate, but Bruce Boudreau says the big blueliner will play against the Flames.
Despite having missed four games, Quinn Hughes leads all Canucks in total ice time this season, averaging 25:11 per game. Myers is the only Vancouver player who has dressed for all 78 games. And while his per-game average is a shade below Oliver Ekman-Larsson's (22:19 vs. 22:06), he has logged the second-most total minutes on the team this year, behind only Hughes.
My heart sunk when Miller crumpled to the ice on Thursday night, and I got even more worried as I saw how frustrated he was when he went down the tunnel. He barely missed a shift, finishing with 20:36. But he also finished the night as a minus-three — on the ice for the Wild's first goal as well as Kevin Fiala's third-period game winner and Ryan Hartman's empty-netter. I'm not laying the blame for the loss at his feet, but I wonder if his mobility was hampered after he was hurt?
Something to watch for against Calgary...
With four games left on their schedule, the Flames have now clinched first place in the Pacific Division. They're 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, with most of their wins of the 3-2 and 4-2 variety.
The interesting twist is that it looks like Jacob Markstrom is getting a rest on Saturday night.
Is it something more? Dustin Wolf was recalled from AHL Stockton on an emergency basis on Saturday.
Saturday's game is also the Flames' final regular-season appearance of the year at the Saddledome. They'll finish out their schedule with a three-in-four road trip in Nashville, Minnesota and Winnipeg.
Finally — a quick reminder that the 2022 World U18 Championship has kicked off in Germany on Saturday — with former Canucks assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner running the bench for Team Canada. Already playing in his second U18s despite still being just 16 years old, North Vancouver's Conor Bedard is serving as captain for the Canadian team, and they're off too a chaotic start in their round-robin opener. As I type this, it's 5-3 for Team USA, late in the second period.
But don't forget — even though Canada won gold in last year's tournament, this is not usually a strong event for the Canadians, because many top players are still with their CHL clubs, taking part in the Major Junior playoffs. As good as he was this year, Bedard's Regina Pats finished last in the WHL's East Division and did not qualify for the postseason, which is why he's available for this tournament.
If you haven't taken a look at the draft rankings lately, you can
click here for the midterm list.
Right off the top — No. 1 North American skater Shane Wright got his OHL playoffs off to a good start this week, as his Kingston Frontenacs dumped the Oshawa Generals 6-1 in the first game of their best-of-seven series. Nos. 3 and 4, Matthew Savoie and Connor Geekie, are both in the WHL playoffs as members of the Winnipeg Ice.
So, keep in mind that Canada's roster may not be as strong as some of the other nations — and that this is often where Team USA shines, with all their best players available.
TSN is only televising select games during the round robin, but will show the full slate of games once the playoffs begin next Thursday.
Click here for the broadcast schedule. On Sunday, they're showing USA/Czechia at 6:30 a.m. PT on TSN4, and Germany/Canada at 10:30 a.m. on TSN2.
Enjoy the games!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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