I couldn't have been happier with the key results on Tuesday night's out-of-town scoreboard.
In the east, I'm still hoping that Ottawa can edge out Boston for that second wild card. A three-point game saw the Sens beat the Penguins in overtime, while Detroit came from behind to beat Carolina. All good there.
Here in the west, we saw Winnipeg shut out St. Louis, Calgary beat Arizona and, the piece de resistance—the Edmonton Oilers disposed of the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 4-2!!
As a result of the Kings' loss, the Vancouver Canucks are now officially playoff-bound after a one-year absence.
You have to take a look at the
SportsClubStats page today. The Kings' playoff chances dropped by more than FORTY percent on Tuesday. Their chances of reaching the dance are now just 21.6 percent.
I keep reminding myself that we've seen the Kings come back from the brink before. I left 'em for dead when they were down 0-3 to San Jose in the first round last year—it's never over until it's over for Los Angeles.
The Flames host L.A. on Thursday night, and they hold the dagger. The Kings need at least one point to stay alive so if Calgary can duplicate the Oilers' feat with a regulation win, they'll punch their own ticket and knock out the defending Stanley Cup champions.
As for our Canucks, there's still work to be done. The Canucks are now assured of second or third spot in the Pacific Division, but the Flames are just two points back—and the teams are currently tied in regulation/overtime wins. If Calgary wins one more game than Vancouver to close out the schedule, the Flames can still bump the Canucks down into third place and grab home-ice advantage.
After playing the Kings on Thursday, Calgary will finish out its season in what's sure to be a wild MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Saturday.
I'm glad the Canucks waited until they'd officially clinched before announcing playoff ticket details. Better safe than sorry.
2014-15 Team Awards
The Canucks are practicing at Rogers Arena this morning, and Ryan Miller's looking closer and closer to returning to game action.
Still no sign of the gruesome twosome, Kassian and Richardson.
As they prepare to host Arizona on Thursday night, it's a great time to talk about who deserves this year's team awards. Today's the last day for fan voting:
Here are my picks:
Cyclone Taylor Award - Team MVP - Radim Vrbata
I have to go with popular opinion on this—and reverse my opinion from when Vrbata was signed as a free agent. Now I wish we'd inked him for more than two years!
With 31 goals and 61 points, the 33-year-old has broken the 30-goal mark for just the second time in his career, and is one point off his career high of 62 points, from 2011-12. His seven game-winning goals also lead all Canucks and his three shootout goals tie him with Higgins and Bonino.
(Interesting aside: only four Canucks have participated in the shootout this year. Higgins is 3-for-5, Bonino and Vrbata are both 3-for-7 and Burrows is 1-for-1. All told, the Canucks were 6-2 in shootouts this year for an .810 success rate—second in the league to Columbus, who were 8-2.)
Of course, Vrbata also leads the Canucks with 12 power-play goals. Henrik Sedin is second with five. After 80 games, Vancouver's power-play is back in the middle of the pack: 15th in the NHL with an 18.6 percent success rate.
Walter “Babe” Pratt Award - Best Defenceman - Alex Edler
I came very close to giving this one to Chris Tanev but in the end, Edler's numbers are better. He has played four more games than Tanev, averages three minutes more of ice-time per game than Tanev (mostly due to power-play time), has five more points than Tanev (seven goals to Tanev's two) and has a better plus-minus than Tanev (plus-10 to plus-six).
Both players have improved this year, but Edler's disastrous 2013-14 season is now nothing but a distant memory. Are we all happy now that he wasn't asked to waive his no-trade clause last summer?
Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player - Bo Horvat
Now we're getting really subjective. For pure on-ice electricity, it'd be easy to give the nod to Vrbata, or even to Daniel Sedin for some of the goals he has scored this season.
I'm picking Horvat because I think he's been the fuel that has really ignited fans' hopes for the future—and keeps showing us new tools from his toolbox.
We thought we might be getting a defensively-reliable two-way center. Instead, we have a kid who is showing that he can dictate play against some of the best players in the NHL. If that's not exciting.......?
Fred J. Hume Award - Unsung Hero - Derek Dorsett
This was a tough one, too, but Dorsett's end-of-season numbers are actually pretty incredible.
He's wrapping up the year ranked fourth in the NHL in penalty minutes with 169, has hit a career high of 25 points, including three game-winning goals, and is plus-one—only the second time he has been a plus player in his entire career. In addition, considering his scrappy style of play, I'm impressed that he has only missed three games all season.
Add in what we've heard about Dorsett's strong presence in the room and how he has taken Bo Horvat under his wing, and I'd say he's well worth the third-rounder the Canucks gave up to acquire him last summer. Now that we're at season's end, I'd say he's the most important of Vancouver's three impending unrestricted free agents to bring back next season. Medicine Hat represent!
I look forward to reading who you're voting for.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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