The Vancouver Canucks are practicing today at 11 a.m. ahead of their Thursday-night matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Kings had a strong game on Tuesday, beating the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 thanks to early goals from Marian Gaborik and Jeff Carter, then a pair from Kyle Clifford. The win pulls the Kings to within three points of the Canucks, so they'll be hungry for another win on Thursday.

In the wild card race, Minnesota defeated New Jersey 6-2 while the Winnipeg Jets lost a 5-4 decision to the St. Louis Blues on a Barret Jackman goal from centre ice with 1:03 remaining in regulation time.

As usual for a Wednesday, the schedule is light. Keep an eye on the Ducks visiting the Flames, starting at 6:30 p.m.

With exactly one month left in the regular season, this is a good moment to reflect on where the Canucks stand.

One year ago, we were reeling after the Canucks allowed seven third-period goals to lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders. That game was the team's fourth loss in five games, starting with the Heritage Classic, and pushed the team's record to 29-28-10 for 68 points—four points out of the wild card and a whopping 14 points behind the Kings, who were third in the Pacific with 82 points.

This year, Vancouver has 80 points in one less game while Los Angeles is five points off their pace from last year, also in one less game. It's really not a huge difference for L.A. but as usual, they're skimming the line between making and missing the playoffs.

Last season, the Canucks were led in scoring by Henrik Sedin (50 points) and Daniel Sedin (47 points), with eight players scoring more than 10 goals.

This year, with 17 games to go, the twins are both among the NHL's top 20 scorers. In a year where the current Art Ross favourite has just 74 points, Henrik ranks 17th with 60 points and Daniel is 19th with 58. They're both on pace to break 70 points—wasn't that the number we determined would make their year "successful" at the beginning of the season?

As excited as we are about Zack Kassian's emergence over the last month, it's worth noting that he had a pretty good spring last year, too. Maybe it's just something about this type of year that makes him shine?

Last season, Kassian picked up four goals and eight assists of his 29 points between March 1 and the end of the season. This year, he was colder earlier, but hotter more recently, with eight goals—including three game-winners—since Feb. 7.

I'm a little surprised to see that Kassian was pointless in four games before his game-winner against Anaheim on Monday. Despite that, Willie didn't waver—keeping him, for the most part, in his first-line spot with the twins.

He's earned it. Kassian has been a minus player in just three of those 14 games since Feb. 7.

Kassian's goal on Monday was his 10th of the season, making him the ninth Canuck to cross that threshold already this season. Even without any appreciable offense from the back end, this team is going a great job of contributing balanced scoring from all four lines.

Bo Horvat is now up to 11 goals on the season and continues to exceed all our expectations.

He's tracking in the range of Daniel Sedin, who scored 20 goals as a 20-year-old in his rookie season.

And yes, his numbers do compare pretty nicely with Patrice Bergeron, who scored 16 goals and 39 points in 71 games in his rookie year, though that was as an 18-year-old in the year before the lockout, 2003-04.

Stanley Cup Centennial

Since we can't fret about the stretch run all time, here's an interesting question that came up on Monday:

No one seems to know - Are the @VanCanucks doing anything to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Vancouver's only Cup win on Mar 26th? #NHL

— Paul McLellan (@McLellanPaul) March 10, 2015

It's a good point. There was *one time* that Vancouver came out on the winning end of a Stanley Cup showdown, and it was exactly 100 years ago, when Cyclone Taylor and the Vancouver Millionaires defeated the Ottawa Senators.

The NHL dug into that vault for last year's Heritage Classic. It would make sense to break out the (very popular) maroon jerseys for the first time this season when the Canucks take on the Avalanche, at home, on the exact day of the anniversary.

What do you think? Would you like to see this celebration, or is it kind of grim that we have to dig back a full century in our city's hockey history?

Join the Discussion: » 227 Comments » Post New Comment

» Winning Canucks send down Podkolzin, Rathbone as homestand begins

» Power-play fuels big win in Vegas as Canucks look to sweep 3-game road trip

» The Canucks' position at U.S. Thanksgiving, following a big win in Denver

» Trade winds blow as the Canucks kick off road trip against the Avalanche

» Podkolzin returns as Canucks host Vegas amidst Horvat, Myers trade rumours