3284 days later. Rogers arena will be hosting a playoff game again, and the city of Vancouver is ready for it.
The Vancouver Canucks are finally back in the playoffs and are finally hosting a game in the playoffs after the long drought is over. For the first time since 2015, they will be hosting the Nashville Predators in the first round of 2023-2024 playoffs. The last time the Canucks played the Predators in the playoffs was the infamous 2011 playoff run, where they made it to the Stanley Cup finals and suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Boston Bruins.
Since the Canucks joined the Pacific division in the 2013-2014 season, the Canucks finished first for the first time with a 50-23-9 record, tallying a total of 109 points. Prior to that, the Canucks won the previously titled Northwest division 7 times. They look to continue their stellar season deep into the playoffs, as they have swept the Predators in their season matchups.
The Canucks had many standout players this season that led to their division title, including the likes of Captain Quinn Hughes, who put up the most points by a defenseman this season with 92.
A leader in more ways than one.
Congrats Captain Hughes on finishing the season first in scoring by NHL defencemen! pic.twitter.com/shcpd4MQkK
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) April 19, 2024
Other players on the team put up impressive numbers this season, Thatcher Demko had a 2.45GAA which was the 5th best in the league, Elias Petterson registered 89 points, his second most total since joining the league in 2018, and JT Miller had his best season yet, scoring 37 times and assisting 66 times for a total of 103 points.
The city of Vancouver is absolutely buzzing right now, no one has seen the Canucks play this well since they made the Stanley Cup finals in 2011. It is a great time to be a Canucks fan, the team is firing on all cylinders, and Coach Tochett has outlined what the team needs to do in order to be ready for the series against Nashville following a last game of the season loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
“We did a bunch of work with Nashville this morning, we’ll do it tomorrow, so that was kind of the mindset” – Rick Tochett, Head Coach, Vancouver Canucks.
The Stanley Cup playoffs kick off for Vancouver and Nashville on Sunday April 21st at Rogers Arena. The puck drop is at 7pm and the stadium will surely be packed. Game 2 also takes place at Rogers Arena, starting at 7pm on Tuesday April 23rd. If the series goes all the way to a 7 game series, the Canucks will host two more games on Tuesday April 30th, and Sunday May 5th.