Thursday March 23 - St. Louis Blues 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
For the second straight game, Henrik Sedin opened the scoring, but that was the only goal the Vancouver Canucks would get as they fell 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Here are your highlights:
Though the Canucks' lead lasted for a grand total of 3:54, they kept it close. Shots were a reasonable 34-28 in favour of St. Louis, and it wasn't until a vigorously disputed offside video review went the Blues' way midway through the period that the Canucks really sagged.
For me, the best moment of the game was seeing Nikita Tryamkin go after Nail Yakupov without hesitation following a questionable hit on Drew Shore.
Not a great night for Joe LaBate, who managed to come out minus-three in just 7:54 of ice time. His third-period fight with rugged Ryan Reaves was also a non-starter.
Nikolay Goldobin came out even on the plus-minus in 12:21 of ice time, so he was not a defensive liability. He didn't score but he did manage two shot attempts and recorded one block.
In the end, the most significant part of Thursday's game is that the loss officially eliminated the Canucks from this year's playoffs.
#Canucks officially eliminated from playoff contention. STL & NAS both have 85 points best Nux can do is 85
The Canucks will finish off the road trip with back-to-back games this weekend—Saturday morning in Minnesota (note the 11 a.m. start), then Sunday afternoon in Winnipeg.
After being one of the hottest teams in the Western Conference for most of the season, Minnesota has recently been in freefall. Minnesota is still looking like a lock for second place in the Central Division but a 2-8-0 record in their last 10 games has dropped them eight points behind Chicago. Defense has been the main issue—they've allowed two goals or less just once in their last nine games. The Wild will come into Saturday morning's game after a 3-1 home loss to Philadelphia on Thursday.
If you click here to take a look at today's overall league standings on NHL.com, a fascinating truth is presented. Forget about loser points and wild card spots and all the other complexities of the league's playoff race. As of today, the 16 teams that have a positive goal differential this season are in playoff spots; the 14 teams with negative goal differentials are not.
The green and red numbers make this truth crystal clear—outscore your opponents over the course of the season and you're in. So simple.
Friday afternoon, Canucks fans should be keeping an eye on the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament, where Brock Boeser's North Dakota Fighting Hawks will face Boston University.
#Confirmed - You can see #Canucks prospect Brock Boeser and North Dakota take on BU at 12:00 PM PT on TSN GO
The key point for us is that North Dakota is very much the underdog in today's game. The Boston University roster is young but full of talent:
NHL draft picks: 11 (Nashville’s Patrick Harper and Dante Fabbro; Boston’s Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and Charlie McAvoy; the Islanders’ Kieffer Bellows and Doyle Somerby; Arizona’s Clayton Keller; Minnesota’s Jordan Greenway; Calgary’s Brandon Hickey; Chicago’s Chad Krys; Tampa’s John MacLeod)
North Dakota has 10 NHL draft picks on its roster. Boeser's the highlight of that list.
Here's the stat that worries me:
Quick fact: UND has the lowest winning percentage of any team in the tournament, at just .577.
It's true that Boeser did miss a good chunk of the season due to his wrist issues, so maybe his presence today will be the difference.
If the Fighting Hawks pull out the win today, they'll go on to play the winner of today's late game between Ohio State and Minnesota Duluth on Saturday. A loss will mean the end of the tournament for Boeser and would open him up to look at joining the Canucks for the rest of the regular season.
The CHL playoffs also begin today, highlighted by Olli Juolevi's London Knights taking on the Windsor Spitfires.
Here's an excellent rundown of where to find all 10 Canucks prospects on their playoff journeys.
Finally, it's back to work tonight for the Utica Comets, who are on the road for another three-game weekend. Friday night, they'll be in Albany, then they play Saturday night in Syracuse and Sunday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre Scranton.
The Comets currently sit fifth in the AHL's North Division, just outside the playoff picture but with games in hand on the teams above them. Albany is one of the teams they're chasing, so Friday's game carries extra importance.
Because the Canucks are playing at 11 a.m. on Saturday, I won't have time to get a new blog up before tomorrow's game. Enjoy all the action this weekend, and we'll reconvene on Sunday morning!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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