Tuesday April 12 - Vancouver Canucks 5, Vegas Golden Knights 4 (OT)
Thursday April 14 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Arizona Coyotes - 7 p.m. PT
Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty returned to the lineup for the Vegas Golden Knights, but the Vancouver Canucks came out on top thanks to Quinn Hughes' overtime winner on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena.
As the two teams continue to battle for the same playoff spot, the Canucks seized four of a possible six points in this month's three head-to-head matchups, while Vegas earned three. Yeah....that's NHL math.
But there was nothing friendly about the out-of-town scoreboard on Tuesday night. The Predators, Kings and Stars all won. So the Canucks wake up Wednesday morning still six points out of both third place in the Pacific and the second wild-card spot, and seven points out of Wild Card 1. Vegas is also on the outside looking in — three points ahead of Vancouver and three behind Dallas and L.A.
Add it all up, and
MoneyPuck gives the three incumbents each better than 80% chances of holding their position and reaching the playoffs. They've got Vegas now with 35.3% odds, and the Canucks at 5.7%, based on a final total of 91 points.
Currently at 82 points with eight games left to play, that projection means Vancouver would get nine of a possible 16 points out of those final eight games.
The players have kept the playoff dream alive by seizing nine out of 10 points so far in the month of April. They know full well that they have to keep up that pace to keep their chance alive.
Next up: the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. Then, Vancouver gets a rather remarkable three days off over Easter weekend before finishing this homestand with a back-to-back set against Dallas on Monday and Ottawa on Tuesday.
Before I get too far ahead of myself....
After the Canucks' star players faded into the background against San Jose on Saturday night, they shone brightly again on Tuesday. The 0-for-7 power-play drought was quickly put to bed when Bo Horvat put the Canucks up 1-0 just 1:04 into the first period, while Alex Pietrangelo was serving a tripping minor.
The goal was Horvat's 31st of the year — and 14th in his last 17 games. This stat blew me away when it was mentioned on Tuesday's broadcast: since March 9, the only player with more goals than Horvat is Auston Matthews, with 15. Horvat's 14 goals over that stretch tie him with Kirill Kaprizov of Minnesota. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are next on the list, with 13 each.
Bubble Demko is the stuff of legend — and the Vancouver goaltender was channeling that zone on Tuesday. In those two big playoff games against the Golden Knights that made his reputation back in the 2020 playoffs, Demko saw 43 shots in Game 5 of that series and 48 shots in Game 6, allowing just one goal in total. He gave up four on Tuesday but once again, it was a 45-shot night.
Bubble Horvat was also a thing, with 10 goals in 17 playoff games including two game winners. He steps up in important situations. And right now, his production is outplacing that impressive 2020 playoff performance.
Tuesday was also a big night for Elias Pettersson, who led the Canucks with three points. I think Robin Lehner was all of us when Pettersson carried the puck into the Vegas zone on that 2-on-1 in the late stages of the second period — never thinking for a second that he'd pass to Brad Richardson.
Earlier in the second, Pettersson set up Vasily Podkolzin for a power-play goal before logging his own 26th of the year. He now has four goals and six assists for 10 points in his last four games. He's two goals away from tying his career high (28) and seven points away from his career high in that category (66).
He has also stepped up in a big way to help keep this train on the tracks.
As for Podkolzin, coach Boudreau and a number of the players have been piling praise onto the young Russian's shoulders over the last few days. On Tuesday, he played as if the positive reinforcement has pumped up his confidence — noticeable around the net for much of the night.
As we watched Podkolzin's development from afar after he was drafted, he was never a big scorer. He finished with seven goals and 19 points in 68 KHL games with SKA St. Petersburg.
He snapped a 17-game goalless drought on Tuesday, and is now up to 11 goals and 20 points in 71 games with the Canucks.
Ahead of Thursday's game against Arizona, the Canucks are holding an optional practice on Wednesday.
The Coyotes are coming into town to begin a quick two-game road jaunt, which will also see them play Calgary on Saturday. After dropping a 6-2 decision to New Jersey on Tuesday, their losing streak has stretched to four games, where they've been outscored 22-5.
Karel Vejmelka has made the last two starts for Arizona after the Canucks lit up Harri Sateri in his Coyotes debut last week, but that hasn't improved matters. After that hot stretch in early March, where they won six out of seven games, injuries have now caught up to Arizona in a big way. They're 2-10-1 since March 15.
They do have a couple of new players to watch, though. The Coyotes traded for the rights to NCAA forwards Jack McBain and Nathan Smith at last month's deadline, and both centres made their pro debuts against the Devils on Tuesday. Arizona management is hoping that the pair will be important core pieces for the club to build around, going forward. It'll be interesting to see what they bring to the table against the Canucks.
With Wednesday's scheduled tilt between Winnipeg and Seattle postponed due to the snowstorm in Manitoba, there's just one game on the NHL schedule with significance for the Canucks — Los Angeles at Colorado.
On Thursday, Nashville will host Edmonton, Dallas will host Minnesota and Vegas is in Calgary.
Enjoy the games!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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