Monday April 6 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings - 7:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 49-29-5, 95 points, second in Pacific Division
Los Angeles Kings: 39-25-14, 92 points, fourth in Pacific Division
I hope you had a Happy Easter and are well rested for what promises to be one of the most nail-biting games of the Vancouver Canucks' season.
After taking a 4-1 win from Los Angeles two weeks ago at Staples Center, the Canucks will have a chance to clinch their 2015 Stanley Cup playoff berth if they can beat the Kings tonight, while the Winnipeg Jets lose to Minnesota.
Can we put our support for the Jets on hold for this game? The more this drags on, the more nervous I get. I do not like the idea of seeing Vancouver in must-win games against Arizona and Edmonton later in the week!
Jeff Paterson's taking a slightly more detached perspective:
Still, it's a good time to reflect on the Canucks' positive evolution this year.
When Trevor Linden took over last spring, he told the fans that the goal would be to try to make the playoffs. We scoffed—but there they are, in exactly that spot. When you look at teams like Pittsburgh and Detroit fighting for their playoff lives over the Eastern Conference while the Ottawa Senators refuse to go away, it's easy to appreciate the fact that Vancouver has risen to the challenge when needed at every turn this year—and hasn't been beaten eight times in a row by the Philadelphia Flyers like the Penguins have. We're not the team with the demons anymore.
Meanwhile, if there's one team that has benefited enormously from the NHL's "loser point" system, it's the Los Angeles Kings. L.A. has posted 14 overtime/shootout losses this season—the most of any playoff team and third overall behind Philadelphia (18) and Florida (15). For their part, the Canucks have been winning their games outright. They have just five overtime/shootout losses this season—second-lowest in the league after Columbus—and have converted five regulation ties into wins, while the Kings have accomplished the feat just twice.
A three-point game tonight would be a worst-case scenario but if it gets to that, Vancouver *should* have the edge in the extra frame. The last time the Kings and Canucks went to overtime was in November of 2013—the game where the Canucks held a 2-1 edge until Mike Richards scored with 2:54 remaining to tie the game and Anze Kopitar finished the task 48 seconds into the extra frame.
It's unlikely we'll have to deal with Richards tonight. He was recalled from his AHL stint with Manchester on March 23 but after going pointless and posting a minus-four in five games, he has been scratched for the Kings' last two games.
New defensive acquisition Andrej Sekera is also unlikely to play. It's rumoured that he'll be out for at least the rest of the regular season after suffering a knee injury against Chicago last Monday.
Of course, Slava Voynov's legal proceedings are continuing at a glacial pace but he's now injured as well. It was revealed last week during his court proceedings that Voynov recent had surgery to repair a torn Achilles after suffering a recreational injury.
Of course, even with their undermanned defense, L.A. limited the Colorado Avalanche to just 10 shots on goal in their 3-1 win on Saturday night.
It seems unlikely that the Canucks will be able to match the 42 shots they peppered on Jonathan Quick last time these two teams met, but the Kings are just 15-16-7 on the road this season, with two of those 15 wins coming at Rogers Arena. I think they're due to add one more notch to the other side of the ledger, yes?
As for Vancouver's personnel situation, Luca Sbisa and Eddie Lack skipped practice on Sunday for maintenance days, but the other usual suspects were present and accounted for.
No word yet on whether Sven Baertschi will make his Rogers Arena debut as a Canuck, but he was happy on Sunday to be back in his usual No. 47, rather than the 42 that he wore in Winnipeg.
Whatever it takes.
Both Sbisa and Lack are present and accounted for at Monday morning's sparsely-attended game-day skate:
To close, if you're looking for some insight into the Kings' mentality coming into this game, which starts a four-in-six for them to close the season, check out
this interview from ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, with Jarret Stoll.
The nitty-gritty:
"It's going to be a great matchup tonight," added Stoll, a tinge of excitement in his voice. "I think you will be able to tell from the first five minutes of the game [that] it's going to be ramped up, it's going to be playoff-style hockey. Both teams are going to be pushing pretty hard."
Buckle up!
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