Saturday March 7 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - San Jose Sharks 2
It wasn't easy, and often wasn't pretty, but the Vancouver Canucks came back from a 2-0 deficit to grab the win at the Shark Tank on Saturday night. Here are your highlights:
The single best moment of the game had to be Bo Horvat's tying goal, a superb individual effort down the left wing.
Remember during the 2014 World Juniors, when we wondered about Horvat's skating? His wheels looked great as he outskated Brent Burns before raising the puck over Antti Niemi for his 10th of the year.
BTW, another reason for Horvat to celebrate. With his 10th of the season, he hits his ELC bonus.
It seemed like Horvat was barely off the ice last night, but he played a total of 14:17—in range for his recent games, though still well above his season average of 11:45.
Brandon McMillan played just 9:10 as a last-minute substitute for Chris Higgins, Linden Vey played 11:39 and Shawn Matthias had the third-lowest minutes among the forwards at 12:43.
Zack Kassian played a solid 14:06—well below the 20-ish minutes that the Sedins enjoyed, but a good chunk of that difference was power-play time. He dished out six hits on the night—the most on the team—and played his regular shift while the Canucks were defending their lead in the third period. During the last nine seconds after the final faceoff, Wille Desjardins actually went with a three-defenseman formation, using Dan Hamhuis, Luca Sbisa and Alex Edler with the twins to finish things off after the Sharks were whistled for too many men on the ice.
So—the win gives Vancouver 78 points on the year and restores their two-point lead over the Flames in second place in the Pacific Division. Winnipeg won last night as well, so they're also at 78 points, sitting in the second wild card. The Kings lost in overtime to Pittsburgh, so they're three points behind Vancouver, and San Jose is now six points back—and down to just a 15 percent chance of reaching the postseason according to Sports Club Stats.
Will we finally see some real changes in San Jose if they miss the playoffs for the first time since 2002-03? Or will they just bring in a new starting goaltender and let Antti Niemi shoulder the blame?
As for the Canucks, they have the exact same record as the Flames and Kings over the last 10 games—6-3-1. If Vancouver can continue to keep pace, they'll hang onto their playoff position.
Also:
#Canucks (37) have surpassed last year's win (36) total with 17 games to go
The Canucks finished the season with 83 points last year. With any luck, they'll hit that marker soon as well.
Vancouver is now back home, preparing for Monday night's meeting with Anaheim with a noon practice at Rogers Arena. A couple more bodies are back in the mix:
Chris Tanev and Brad Richardson on the ice for Nux practice. #Canucks
But—a couple of bodies went missing on Saturday night. Chris Higgins was a late scratch, and Yannick Weber was injured after being taken heavily into the boards midway through the third period. They're both MIA today, as is Nick Bonino:
Not on the ice: Higgins, Weber, Bonino, Bieksa. #Canucks
Here's hoping Tanev's skate goes better than it did last week, when he suffered a setback after taking one full practice. Though the result was better on Saturday than it was on Thursday in Arizona, the Canucks were still giveaway machines against the Sharks, surrendering the puck 24 times compared to nine for San Jose. Tanev's steady presence will be needed against the Ducks, who have won their last six games at Rogers Arena.
To wrap up today, props to Vancouver's two game stars. Radim Vrbata's two goals—including the game-winner on the power-play—were key to the Canucks win and once again, Eddie Lack got better as the game went on. He battled to preserve the victory, ultimately stopping 38 shots.
Ryan Miller has now been out of action for two weeks. His recovery time was originally estimated at 4-6 weeks, so we're nearing the halfway point for his rehab. Despite the egg laid by Jacob Markstrom in his start last Tuesday against the Sharks, Lack has fought hard to help the Canucks get the points they need to stay in the playoff hunt.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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