Wednesday March 30 - St. Louis Blues 4 - Vancouver Canucks 3
They gave it a good late push, but the Vancouver Canucks lost their second-straight game to the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, and put their playoff hopes in serious jeopardy.
After a sleepy first period, the Canucks built a 2-1 lead by the midpoint of the second. But a shorthanded goal by Robert Thomas on the Canucks' only power play later in that period was a back-breaker.
The Blues are known as a big, heavy team.
Elite Prospects shows every team with an average height of 6'1" or 6'2" this season.
There's more discrepancy in average weight. The Tampa Bay Lightning are the heaviest team, averaging 208 pounds. St. Louis is at 200 pounds, tied for eighth with Boston and New Jersey. Vancouver comes in at 196 pounds, tied for 5th-lowest with Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit.
Is that four-pound average enough to be statistically significant? It doesn't seem like it should be, but it's interesting that the bottom half of the list is heavy (so to speak) on non-playoff teams — 11 out of 16, and seven of the bottom eight.
From the bottom up, with non-playoff teams (as of Friday) in italics:
32.
Ottawa - 193 pounds
31.
Columbus - 194 pounds
30.
Arizona - 194 pounds
29.
Chicago - 195 pounds
28.
Vancouver - 196 pounds
27.
Detroit - 196 pounds
26. Pittsburgh - 196 pounds
25.
Philadelphia - 196 pounds
24.
Seattle - 197 pounds
23. Toronto - 197 pounds
22.
Montreal - 197 pounds
21. Los Angeles - 198 pounds
20.
Buffalo - 198 pounds
19. Minnesota - 198 pounds
18. Edmonton - 198 pounds
17.
Anaheim - 198 pounds
16. Dallas - 199 pounds
Anyway. I digress. The point I want to make here was about Robert Thomas's wheels — how easily he pulled away from Quinn Hughes on that shorthanded breakaway, and how the Blues have speed in their lineup as well as size and grit.
With two more goals on Wednesday, Elias Pettersson is now up to 22 for the season. With 13 games to go, his career high of 28 is very much within reach — especially if the Canucks do manage to go on the insane run that they'll need to make the playoffs.
The replay here really underscores the difference between the live game experience and watching on TV for me. Watching from on high in the press box, I thought the goal had snapped Conor Garland's scoring drought. The live-game camera was more focused on the net front.
That third goal really amped up the crowd at Rogers Arena for the final few minutes, but there was no tying goal — and no points. Facing the Blues this season for the first time since they eliminated the then-defending Stanley Cup Champions in the Edmonton bubble, the Canucks went 0-for-3 this year. And on a night where there was just one penalty to each team in the game, the Blues went 2-for-2 in odd-man situations, scoring on Vancouver's power play and on their own. That was the difference in the game.
Jordan Kyrou was a late scratch from the Blues' lineup due to a non-Covid illness. The Canucks lost Bo Horvat after the first period with an illness of his own. The captain also didn't practice on Thursday — Bruce Boudreau said Horvat was throwing up, so he was told to stay home.
Here's how the lines rolled at Thursday's practice:
The group is getting healthier! Jason Dickinson took a regular turn among the forwards, and we've got both Tucker Poolman and Brady Keeper skating with the defensemen.
But Boudreau did say before Wednesday's game that Nils Hoglander's groin issue is expected to keep him out for the rest of the season. And Matthew Highmore is on a week-to-week timeline.
Friday is a day off for the team, which doesn't play again until it hosts Vegas on Sunday.
That's probably great for Horvat, and any other players who are dealing with bumps and bruises. Wednesday's game was the fifth in eight days for the Canucks, which is a pretty gruelling stretch. Boudreau said during his postgame comments that he thought the group looked tired.
Brock Boeser was pointless and a minus-three for the night. And even though J.T. Miller logged an assist, seven shot attempts, and won 50% of his 20 faceoffs, I barely noticed him.
So hopefully some much-needed rest will do the players some good. They're going to need to be at 100% when they get back on the ice on Sunday.
The Jets lost to Toronto on Thursday, but Dallas and Vegas have been winning. As of Friday, the Stars are back in the second wild-card spot, six points up on Vancouver and still with three games in hand. They play in San Jose on Saturday.
Vegas sits ninth, five points ahead of Vancouver with the same number of games played. They'll play in Seattle on Friday night before their home-and-home with the Canucks on Sunday and Wednesday.
Winnipeg is 10th, three points up on the Canucks with the same number of games played. They host the Kings on Saturday.
And speaking of the Kings, despite their massive injury issues, they took three of four points in their back-to-back in Alberta this week, getting both games to a shootout. It's impressive. But it also keeps them in second place in the Pacific, three up on third-place Edmonton and 11 points ahead of Vancouver.
True to his reputation, Bruce Boudreau is not giving up hope. Instead, he's reminding his group about how he shepherded the Washington Capitals through an 11-1 finish to his rookie season behind their bench in 2007-08, squeezing them into the playoff with 94 points and leaving Jim Rutherford's Carolina Hurricanes on the sidelines.
He's also citing the 2018-19 Columbus Blue Jackets, who nudged Montreal out of the second wild-card in the East and then went on to sweep the Tampa Bay Lightning by winning seven of their last eight to finish with 98 points.
With 13 games left, the Canucks are going to need to get equally hot if they hope to keep their postseason dream alive.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»