Sunday February 19 - Philadelphia Flyers 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2
The game was close and the effort was there, but the Vancouver Canucks were unable to complete their comeback to salvage any points in their 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
Here are your highlights:
Honestly, I thought the tired, banged-up Canucks were going to get bulldozed by the rested Flyers as they played their fifth game in eight days and eighth in 13. It didn't look good when Wayne Simmonds opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 5:45 into the first period, then Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn quickly increased the Philadelphia lead to 3-0 off a couple of defensive breakdowns early in the second.
With Ryan Miller playing back-to-back games for the first time this year, I was bracing for a blowout.
But arguably the most impressive characteristic of this year's Canucks is the group's commitment to full 60-minute efforts. They've now gone 5-23-3 this year when they trail after two periods—so it's not like points are assured when they fall behind, but it's still a heckuva lot better than the 3-30-1 record they amassed in the same situation in 2015-16.
This year's record is in the same ballpark as their 5-23-1 record from 2014-15, the first year behind the bench for Willie Desjardins, when they finished out the year with 101 points. Granted, they trailed after two just 29 times in the entire 82-game season that year, where it has already happened 31 times in just 60 games so far this year.
With just over a quarter-season left to play, the Canucks are tracking to finish out the year with 80 points. If they can hit that target, they'll finish five points ahead of last year's pace, but still three points below the 83-point tire fire under John Tortorella in 2013-14.
After Sunday's loss, the Canucks sit 26th overall with 58 points. They're just two points ahead of Carolina and Dallas and they don't play again till next Saturday, after the five-day break ends. The Hurricanes have played five fewer games than the Canucks and play twice this week—against Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Ottawa on Friday.
Like Vancouver, the Stars have also played 60 games. Also like Vancouver, they're on their bye week. They'll get back in action one day earlier, against Arizona on Friday, but they won't be able to pass the Canucks in the standings before Vancouver gets back on the ice.
The Canucks can't drop lower than 27th while they're off this week. Small victories.
Back to Sunday's game. A couple of glass-half-full items:
• Despite two of those patented third-period giveaways he tends to make when he's tired, Ryan Miller did shut the door for the last 37:22 of the game, given his team the chance to complete the comeback.
• The Sedins looked livelier and more effective on Sunday than they did for most of the road trip. Both twins assisted on Markus Granlund's 15th goal of the year. Daniel has four assists in his last five games, which gets him to 34 points on the season and 976 in his career. He'll need to go better than a point-a-game if he hopes to hit 1,000 before the end of the season.
• Henrik did finish the game after crumpling to the ice in obvious pain in the third period.
Henrik Sedin collides with Brandon Manning & goes down awkwardly, then gets slashed by Manning afterwards. #Canuckspic.twitter.com/rMgVYj3m9B
Manning wasn't awarded any actual hits in the game—the only item on his stat line was three blocked shots. Overall though, the Flyers did bounce the Canucks around a bit, outhitting them 27-19. Wayne Simmonds led the way with six hits for Philadelphia, while Nikita Tryamkin had six for the Canucks.
• Finally, the playoffs are becoming an ever-more-distant mirage on the horizon. The Canucks players had every reason to spend the last few minutes of Sunday's game dreaming of the beaches and mountains and other holiday destinations that they'd visit on their five-day break.
Instead, they dug deep to try to generate that tying goal, right till the final buzzer. Those are the moments that lend credence to the idea that this team really does have something good happening in the dressing room, and the players are giving everything they've got for coach Willie Desjardins. The 2016-17 Vancouver Canucks may be short on talent, but they're big on heart.
The Jets won and the Kings lost on Sunday—L.A. has now lost three in a row. SportsClubStats now puts the Canucks' playoff chances at just 2.3 percent, but they're still just four points out of that second wild card and Henrik's still holding out hope for a late-season push.
The #Canucks are still in the race, according to the Captain. They'll come back rested and ready to string wins together. pic.twitter.com/lGe9D2Uqfq
Now, we wait, to see what happens with trade-deadline decisions.
Those decisions can't be made in a bubble, of course. And Vancouver's not the only team that still sees a glimmer of hope. Carolina's now at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, nine points out of the second wild card, but the Hurricanes also have as many as five games in hand on the teams they're chasing.
It does look like it's the end of the road for Detroit's 25-season streak of making the playoffs, currently the longest active streak among the major pro spots. The Wings are 15th in the East—tied with Vancouver with 58 points, but with one less game played. In their conference, that leaves them seven points out of the second wild card, with six teams in their way. So you can add them to the list of trade-deadline sellers, along with Colorado and Arizona.
Everybody else? Who knows. The Canucks may not be playing this week, but most other teams are, and will continue to jockey for position. Just two games on the schedule tonight: Florida can dislodge Toronto from that second wild-card spot in the East tonight if the Panthers record a fifth-straight win—all on the road—in their game against St. Louis.
Things can change fast when a team gets hot. It was exactly one month ago that the Canucks and Panthers were in similar spots in the standings when they met in Vancouver in that game where Henrik scored his 1,000th point.
As well as keeping an eye on the standings and the trade-deadline situation, I'll also have some extra content for you this week. I had a wonderful conversation with Pat Quinn's daughter Kalli on Saturday before the unveiling of her dad's statue outside Rogers Arena, so look forward to that, coming your way in the days ahead.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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