Wednesday March 26: Vancouver Canucks 5 - Minnesota Wild 2
The Minnesota Wild will have to wait another year before they'll get a chance to sweep their season series with the Vancouver Canucks. The Wild were booed off the ice at the end of the game after dropping a 5-2 decision to the Vancouver Canucks. Here are your highlights:
Despite being outshot 24-12 in the first two periods, the Canucks took a 3-1 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes and chased Wild netminder Darcy Kuemper. David Booth scored the Canucks' first two goals, both on unassisted rushes down the wing. Showing good speed and an accurate shot, Booth looked like the player the Canucks thought they were acquiring from Florida two years ago.
It was Booth's second-ever two-goal game as a Canuck, and gives him three goals in the last two games, bringing his total to eight on the season. Booth has also been a solid member of Vancouver's third line of late—is he doing enough to make the Canucks re-think their presumed buyout plans for him this summer?
Daniel Sedin raised his hands to the sky in relief when he added a third-period goal that was his first of 2014, bumping his long scoring drought at last. And Alex Edler made what may have been a game-saving defensive play with the score 2-1 late in the second period. With Shawn Matthias in the penalty box, the Wild were pressing. Eddie Lack stopped a Jason Pominville shot, but Zach Parise grabbed the rebound—only to be thwarted as Edler scooped the puck away just as it was about to cross the goal line.
See it for yourself:
It was a rare moment of being in the right place at the right time this season for the beleaguered Edler, who remains third-last in the league at minus-29.
(Do you know who else is on the last page of the league's plus/minus rankings? Cody Hodgson. He's minus-24.)
My stunned reaction to Vancouver's unexpected offensive outburst made more sense when I learned that the Canucks haven't scored five goals on the road since they beat Ottawa 5-2 back on November 28. Of course, it's also their first three-game winning streak since late December.
This win is the biggest so far in the Canucks' late-season surge. It pushes the team's playoff hopes up to a gaudy 4.4 percent—the best number they've seen in a long while—and pulls them within a point of ninth-place Dallas. It's also the team's first win in a month against a playoff-bound team—the last one came out of the Olympic break, with the shutout against St. Louis.
The Stars' next game is Friday against Nashville, while Phoenix travels to New Jersey tonight. A win tonight against Colorado would move the Canucks back into ninth place, though Dallas would hold three games in hand.
Thursday March 27 - Vancouver Canucks at Colorado Avalanche - 6:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Altitude Network
Vancouver Canucks 34-30-10 78 points 10th in Western Conference
Colorado Avalanche 45-21-6 96 points fifth in Western Conference
If the Canucks can keep it going tonight against Colorado, we'll really have something to talk about. Vancouver hasn't seen much of the newly-powerful Avalanche yet this year, disposing of them with an 3-1 win in their only meeting so far, at Rogers Arena back in December.
But the Avs have continued putting up points since the Olympic break and are just three points away from a chance to secure home ice advantage in their first playoff appearance since 2010. Colorado has something to play for tonight, too: they'll mathematically clinch a playoff berth if they win and Phoenix loses.
Most of the credit for the turnaround in Colorado this year has gone to coach Patrick Roy and goaltender Semyon Varlamov. Rookie Nathan MacKinnon also earned some headlines last month when he broke Wayne Gretzky's record for points in consecutive games by a rookie.
Colorado has actually allowed the same number of goals so far this season as Vancouver, with two less games played. The difference has been on offense, where they boast five 20-goal scorers in Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O'Reilly, Paul Stastny and MacKinnon. Only Ryan Kesler is past that plateau for the Canucks.
Eddie Lack, of course, starts for Vancouver while Varlamov gets the nod for the Avs. Interestingly, the talented Russian has never beaten the Canucks: his lifetime record against Vancouver is 0-7-1.
Game time is 6:00 from the Pepsi Center tonight. Can Vancouver make it four in a row?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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