Coming into last week, the Vancouver Canucks were riding a five game win streak, and only sitting six points back of third in the Pacific Division, a steep hill to climb, but still doable. The Canucks proceeded to go 1-2-1 over that week, lose Captain Bo Horvat to an injury, and find themselves six points back of the Dallas Stars for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. With only three games left in the regular season, the odds of the Vancouver Canucks making the Stanley Cup Playoffs are incredibly slim, but it’s not impossible.
Currently sitting six points behind Dallas, and three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights, the only other team still in the hunt. There is only one, albeit farfetched scenario which would land the Vancouver Canucks into that final wildcard spot. Vancouver would have to win their final three games against the Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, and Edmonton Oilers, while Dallas has to lose all of their remaining games, and Vegas has to lose all but their matchup with the Stars. Although this sliver of hope is just that, a sliver, Canucks Coach Bruce Boudreau is still confident that his team has a chance of defying those odds.
“We’re still alive. There’s only 6 days left in the season…Crazy things can happen in sport. I’ve seen it happen a lot on the last day of the year.” Boudreau said, when he spoke to the media following practice at Rogers Arena on Monday morning, also adding “If you give up hope, you’re done, so you always have to believe there’s a chance. If we win tomorrow… we might live to fight another day”
The Canucks have went 31-15-9 in 55 games since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach at the beginning of December, and he’s hoping he can tack three more wins onto the record before the season is out.
(Photo: Vancouver Canucks / twitter.com/Canucks)