Thursday Mar. 24 - Minnesota Wild 3, Vancouver Canucks 2 (OT)
Saturday Mar. 26 - Vancouver Canucks at Dallas Stars (4 p.m. PT)
With three of a possible four points from this road trip in their pocket so far, the Vancouver Canucks will face their next big challenge in Texas on Saturday, against the Dallas Stars.
Note the Hockey Night in Canada-friendly start time of 4 p.m., earlier than we'd normally see for a game in Dallas.
Maybe that will help change Vancouver's fortunes somewhat, too? American Airlines Center has not been a friendly venue over the years. Their last visit, on Nov. 19, 2019, was a 6-1 crushing which saw Ben Bishop outduel Jacob Markstrom.
Justin Dowling scored for Dallas in that game, which made me realize that we haven't seen him in a Canucks uniform for awhile. I had forgotten that he cleared waivers just after the All-Star Break.
Dowling then played eight games for Abbotsford, recording a goal and four assists, but hasn't played since March 4. Can't find any info on an injury, but
Chris Faber of Canucks Army reported last week that "Justin Dowling will not be available this month." Not sure exactly what that means, but in a followup tweet, Faber said that was all he'd gotten from the coach.
On top of the Dallas connection, I bring this up because the Canucks elected to call up forward Will Lockwood on Friday, for the first time this season. According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, this is on an emergency basis — which is especially important at this time of year, because teams only have a small number of regular call-ups available between the trade deadline and the end of the regular season.
After enduring a rough ride during this week's games in Colorado and Minnesota, Matthew Highmore is now sidelined with an upper-body injury. But even though he was sent into concussion protocol in Denver after taking a high hit, that's not what has knocked him out of action.
I'm happy to see Lockwood get an opportunity. When I was pondering the possibility of Tyler Motte's departure a couple of weeks ago, I thought he could be a logical replacement. Both have great wheels, and are products of the University of Michigan. They're similar in size — although Lockwood is slighter. And both play an aggressive game — which lands them on the injured list more often than they'd like, I imagine.
I thought Lockwood showed well when he got into his first two NHL games in garbage time at the end of last season. This year, he has put up nine goals, 25 points and 38 penalty minutes for Abbotsford — and played in 46 of Abbotsford's 55 games, so he has stayed reasonably healthy.
But with Motte gone to the Rangers and Highmore sidelined with injury, Boudreau has needed to re-juggle his bottom six. Here's how the lines rolled at Saturday's morning skate.
As for the Stars, they're back home after eking out a 4-3 shootout win in Carolina on Thursday night — on a night when they were outshot 47-15. And though the dialogue around the Stars all season was that they'd have goalies to sell off at the trade deadline, the opposite ended up being true. Ben Bishop's lingering knee issues forced his retirement, Anton Khubodin is out for the season with a hip injury and Braden Holtby has been dealing with a lower-body injury that has limited him to just two starts since the All-Star Break.
So with poor Jake Oettinger having started 18 of Dallas's last 20 games leading into the trade deadline, GM Jim Nill picked up Scott Wedgewood from Arizona in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2023.
Wedgewood had been pretty good in Arizona since the Coyotes picked him up on waivers in early November, with a 10-12-2 record and .911 save percentage. And while the Stars' skaters didn't exactly deliver a vintage performance in Carolina on Thursday, Wedgewood stood tall — stopping 44 shots and out-duelling Freddie Andersen in the shootout to give the Stars two much-needed points.
The Stars are one of the teams that's in the battle with Vancouver for a Western Conference playoff spot. And as of right now, they're trending in a positive direction. They're 4-1-0 in their last five games, which has them sitting in the second wild-card spot heading into Saturday's games. They're four points up on Vancouver, with three games in hand.
A regulation win for the Canucks would go a long way toward keeping those postseason hopes alive for Boudreau's crew. No pressure.
Dallas is also very strong on home ice, with a record of 21-8-3 at American Airlines Center this season. And that trend has held up recently. They haven't been home much since the All-Star Break but when they have been, they're 6-2-0.
One thing that could work in Vancouver's favour: the Stars have been playing a lot of hockey lately, and putting on a lot of miles.
Saturday's matchup will be Dallas's fifth game in eight days. They played a road back-to-back last weekend, losing 4-2 to the Islanders on Saturday then beating Washington 3-2 on Sunday. Then it was home for a comeback 5-3 win over Edmonton on Tuesday, out to Carolina on Thursday, and now back home again to host Vancouver.
They've got two days off after this game. And they do sometimes come out flat. So despite what's at stake, there's a chance that they might not be at their best against Vancouver.
Or, maybe not.
This is the first meeting between the two teams since before the Covid pause, so this will be the Canucks' first time seeing Jason Robertson, the sublime sniper who's up to 31 goals and 60 points this year. Roope Hintz is also at a career high, with 28 goals, and ageless Joe Pavelski still leads the team with 66 points in 63 games.
That line has brought the heat offensively, but Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin have, historically, been Canuck-killers. Both players are at 37 points so far this season. But Benn has 29 points in 33 career games against the Canucks, including four game-winning goals, and Seguin has three game-winning goals and 27 points in 23 career games against Vancouver.
Oettinger is set to get the start in net. And the Stars are without defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who is sidelined with mononeucleosis. Otherwise, they're healthy.
Here's how the Dallas lines should shake down.
And my final note today — if you missed it, Canucks prospect Aidan Mcdonough scored the only goal for Northeastern as they fell 2-1 in overtime to Western Michigan in their NCAA regional semifinal game on Friday. Mcdonough's goal came with the Huskies trailing 1-0, and 3:10 left to play in regulation. Heading into overtime, ESPN commentator Barry Melrose called the 22-year-old junior the best player in the game.
With the loss, Mcdonough's college season is now over. For now, the big buzz surrounds his teammate Jordan Harris, a 21-year-old senior defenseman, who was drafted in the third round by Montreal in 2018. Given that the two sons of Habs' GM Kent Hughes and Martin St. Louis' boy Ryan all play for the Huskies, Montreal seems like a natural fit despite Harris's potential opportunity to explore free agency.
No word yet on Mcdonough's plans for next season. I'm hoping the Canucks can get him signed and into their prospect pipeline.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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