Hope you are staying warm as this spring blizzard rolls through. Why go outside? Let’s look at the Pacific Division.
Much like Calgary weather; the Western Conference playoff race can change quickly. A lot happened yesterday night.
Last Minute Best Minute Despite a 9-15-2 start to begin their season under head coach Travis Green, the Vancouver Canucks are getting closer and closer to a playoff spot. They completely outplayed 15th place Dallas to a 6-2 win last night.
They’ve won their last six games. With their win last night they passed the Golden Knights in points percentage. Even stranger is they’re doing it without Bo Horvat since last Thursday after he took an Anton Stralman shot in the calf/ankle area.
The Devil is in the Details The Golden Knights lost a crucial game last night to the 27th place Devils. Frustration is abound. Days ago, Robin Lehner took a game off to be present for a family health issue. Here’s hoping everything is alright on that front.
Last night he posted a .893 save percentage and was pointed out by head coach Peter DeBoer as not doing enough in the game. Tough week for Lehner, but GM Kelly MacCrimmon made his bed when he opted to sign Lehner long term and trade away Marc Andre Fleury.
The Chicago Blackhawks Similar to the New Jersey Devils, the Chicago Blackhawks have 61 points over 76 games. The difference between the two teams quality of play last night was staggering.
The Flames really only needed 20 minutes to beat the Blackhawks last night. After ending the 1st 3-1, the Flames saved their energy and beat the Chicago in almost autopilot fashion.
Without spending too much time on it, it was nice to see Dillon Dube and Blake Coleman continue to produce. Now is the time of year they need to be heating up.
Dube and Coleman have six and four points in their last five games respectively.
Also compelling was the play of former Lightning center Tyler Johnson. The 31 year old became the second NHL player behind Jack Eichel to undergo disc replacement surgery in his neck. Last night he looked effective and even scored a goal.
Johnson is in year five of a seven year contract signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017 at an annual average value of five million dollars.
The Nashville Predators The Preds have started to slump at a bad time. Their only two wins in their last six are one goal victories over San Jose and Chicago. 2-3-1 over that time. That stretch capped with an 8-3 loss at home to the St. Louis Blues.
That game— their most recent game— was a horrible effort by Nashville. The puck pressure looked worse than Chicago’s. Blue players had time to set up shots at the point and Nashville defencemen were getting beaten to the outside with regularity. Both Jusse Saros and David Rittich got lit up for four goals.
If the Predators bring the same poor play into tonight’s game— the Flames will roll over them— and likely throw in some big physical plays to send a message.
If the Predators are actually in the saddle in terms of skating adequately then it should be a fun game to watch. Likely very similar to the 3-2 Predators overtime victory on November 2nd.
Time will tell which Predators team will show up. Normally, teams have to play their way out of funks.
Update at warmups. Saros starts for Nashville.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Mangiapane-Backlund-Toffoli Dube-Jarnkrok-Coleman Lucic-Lewis-Ritchie
Hanifin-Andersson Kylington-Tanev Zadorov-Gudbranson
Vladar
Best Two-Way Line in Flames History? Following linemate Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk passed Joe Mullen’s former record of +51 on the season. One player passing breaking the record is something. An entire forward unit all doing it? Good lord.
Speaking of Johnny When does Gaudreau start being talked about for the Hart Trophy? His 107 points on the season are only three back of first place Connor McDavid. His +61 rating puts the rest of the NHL to shame. He leads the NHL in points per 60 minutes by a solid margin and his 85 even strength points are 11 more than second place Auston Matthews (74).
Game time is 6pm.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld Statistics courtesy of moneypuck.com, nhl.com and naturalstattrick.com.