Tuesday April 19 - Ottawa Senators 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 (shootout)
Thursday April 21 - Vancouver Canucks at Minnesota Wild - 5 p.m. PT
The Vancouver Canucks' playoff hopes aren't completely gone yet. But they've gotten fainter as the club hits the road for a couple of tough matchups — against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
Tuesday night against Ottawa, the Canucks saw their six-game winning streak come to an end thanks to a shootout winner from ex-Canuck Adam Gaudette — who has 12 points in 45 games with Ottawa since being claimed from Chicago on waivers back in late November and hadn't played since the second period of Tuesday's game.
So the Canucks had to settle for a single point, while Nashville beat Calgary in a shootout and L.A. beat Anaheim in regulation.
Wednesday night started with some promise, as Dallas lost in regulation to Edmonton and Vegas was trailing Washington after two periods. But the Golden Knights scored two quick goals early in the third. After Alex Ovechkin forced overtime, Shea Theodore played hero again, keeping the Golden Knights two points ahead of the Canucks.
In the East, the eight playoff teams are set, although the matchups are yet to be determined.
In the Metro, Carolina and the Rangers are tied with 106 points, and Pittsburgh and Washington are tied with 97. So anything's still possible there.
In the Atlantic, Florida are Toronto are probably locked into first and second place. But Tampa Bay sits third at 100 points and Boston's in the wild card at 99.
So the 2-3 matchup is still undetermined. And we don't know which teams from either division will finish in the wild-card spot, or which wild-card spot they'll land in.
In the West, only four teams have officially clinched. It's Colorado, St. Louis and Minnesota in the Central, and Calgary in the Pacific. Edmonton's close — I believe they need some combination of two more points gained, or one more loss from both Vegas and Vancouver.
The rest is a little more nebulous but the central point remains the same: five teams fighting for three spots. And since SportsClubStats hasn't updated its numbers since Tuesday, I'll lean on the playoff odds from
MoneyPuck today:
3rd in Pacific: Kings - 78 GP, 92 pts, 90.3% chance of making postseason
1st wild card: Predators - 77 GP, 93 pts, 96.9% chance of making postseason
2nd wild card: Stars - 77 GP, 91 pts, 78.4% chance of making postseason
9th place: Golden Knights - 78 GP, 91 pts, 28% chance of making postseason
10th place: Canucks - 77 GP, 89 pts, 6.4% chance of making postseason
It all adds up to another must-win game for the Canucks in Minnesota on Thursday.
Two other games are also important: Dallas will play in Calgary on the second half of a back-to-back at 6 p.m. PT, and Chicago visits Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. PT. There are no games that will impact the Western playoff race on Friday.
As for the Canucks — they've got Thatcher Demko and Spencer Martin in tow for the road trip.
Martin was briefly recalled under emergency conditions on Tuesday, then re-assigned to Abbotsford before game time. There were whispers that this was because Thatcher Demko had been feeling ill. Bruce Boudreau acknowledged after the game that a sickness was 'going around' and that Martin's recall had been made for precautionary reasons, but said Demko was not sick and Jaroslav Halak had been pencilled in as the starter against Ottawa all along.
Halak lasted just one period, however. He made 14 saves, bumping his save percentage for the season up to .903 — just two points shy of the .905 that he needs to collect that $250,000 bonus in his contract for this year. But the veteran keeper appeared to get slashed on the hand late in the opening frame. He finished the period, but Demko came in for the rest of the game.
Now, Halak is officially sidelined with an upper-body injury and Martin has been recalled.
And after missing the last two games due to illness, Alex Chiasson is also on the road trip, according to TSN's Farhan Lalji.
As for the Wild — they're coming off a 2-0 shutout win over Montreal on Tuesday night, and have been red hot, with only one regulation loss since March 16. So they were already rolling even before they picked up Marc-Andre Fleury at the March 21st trade deadline — although he has certainly been a useful addition.
Fleury is 6-1-0 since arriving in Minnesota. But perhaps just as importantly, the healthy competition in the Wild crease seems to be bringing out the best in Cam Talbot. He's 8-0-3 since March 16, with a .929 save percentage and 2.07 goals-against average.
The pair have been alternating starts since Fleury's arrival. But with the Wild on a back-to-back where they'll also host Seattle on Friday, coach Dean Evason is going back to Talbot against the Canucks, following his 26-save shutout performance on Tuesday night.
The push that the Wild have made has been impressive, separating themselves from the 'maybe they won't make the playoffs' group with 31 of a possible 36 points in their last 18 games — the most in the league since March 16, although they've also played one or two games more than most other squads.
By contrast, the Canucks have 20 points in 16 games, with their 8-4-4 record. That's tied with Boston for the 14th-best record since March 16, so it would be playoff-worthy if it was extrapolated over the whole season. But it may not be enough to move up the standings the way the Wild have done.
Minnesota has been good at both ends of the ice, too. Their 2.33 goals against per game is second-best in the league, behind only the Rangers. They're also averaging 3.61 goals per game — good for eighth overall. And both numbers are tidily ahead of Vancouver (2.44 goals against and 3.38 goals scored).
The Canucks have the Wild beat on the power play, though. In fact, they have everybody beat, with a league-leading 33.3% success rate since March 16th. Minnesota is tied for 14th, at 20.4%. And that could be significant — the Wild's penalty killing is eighth worst, at just 74.5%, while Vancouver is eighth-best at 85% since March 16th.
Like the Canucks, the Wild are dealing with some injury and health issues. Marcus Foligno is in Covid protocol, and Matt Dumba, Jordan Greenway and Tyson Jost are nursing injuries. Defenseman Jon Merrill is set to get back into the lineup after missing 10 games with an upper-body issue. He'll take Jordie Benn's spot on the blue line.
The Canucks are 0-1-1 against the Wild this season, dropping a 3-2 decision in their home opener back in late October, then losing 3-2 in overtime in Minnesota back on March 24.
And of course, games in Minnesota always carry a little extra weight for Brock Boeser, who gets to play in front of friends and family, and for Bruce Boudreau, who spent 303 games behind the bench for the Wild.
Finally — voting is now open for the Canucks' team awards for the season.
Who ya got?
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