Flames 6, Canucks 3: Only a flicker of hope for playoffs

Article content

The Vancouver Canucks’ playoff dream is almost done.

Article content

Their 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night means they can’t finish the season with more than 93 points.

That means they won’t be able to catch the Los Angeles Kings, who had 94 points before their Saturday night game vs. the Anaheim Ducks, for third place in the Pacific Division. And the Dallas Stars, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and whose win 3-2 over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday puts them up to 93 points.

Technically the Canucks could still match the Stars for points if Dallas were to lose their remaining three games — at home vs. Vegas, Arizona and Anaheim — and the Canucks would leap-frog them because of the regulation-wins tie breaker, but the Vegas Golden Knights would also have to go no better than 1-2-1 in their remaining four games. Vegas plays Dallas and would need to make that their only win, and it would have to be in regulation.

Article content

The Canucks made a brave push in the second period and early in the third to get the game to 2-2, but the Flames outlasted the visitors and pulled away late in the game.

It’s been a grievous week for the Canucks, playing their fourth game in six days, likely running on fumes by the end.

The Flames jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second on goals by Elias Lindholm and Dillon Dube and the game looked like it was going to run away from Vancouver. But the Canucks didn’t go away in the second and got a goal from Quinn Hughes late in the period.

There was a lovely goal by Conor Garland early in the third as he swatted the puck mid-air while on his knees, tied the game, but just 14 seconds later the Flames were back in front on a goal by Brett Ritchie.

Article content

Late goals by Dube, his second of the night, and Nikita Zadorov sealed the deal.

The Canucks pulled the goalie with more than five minutes to play. They needed three goals and more to save their season. A 6-2 or a 5-2 loss didn’t matter.

Elias Pettersson found a third goal for the Canucks with 2:25 to play, but Johnny Gaudreau flipped a puck into the empty net to close the scoring.

Here’s what we learned…

NEXT GAME

monday

Seattle Kraken vs. Vancouver Canucks

7 pm, Roger’s Arena. TV: Sportsnet Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

Just too much ground to make up

Don’t forget how to tell things were in early December. They were 8-15-2. They would have to pick up at least 77 points over their remaining 57 games to have a chance to make the playoffs.

Article content

They almost got there.

Point to silly losses to teams like Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa.

But every season for every team, even the great ones, have silly losses.

They played very well while having no margin for error and in the end they couldn’t thread the needle.

They leaned absurdly hard on their goalie too often.

Much of the early success under coach Bruce Boudreau was because of the exploits of Thatcher Demko.

This team, as management has suggested, needs some changes to how it’s built so it doesn’t have to lean on its goalie. For the success to be truly sustainable, the goalie can’t be the main reason.

imagine that

The Canucks have received some outstanding offensive efforts this season. Pettersson may yet set a career high in points. JT Miller has posted a career-best season.

Bo Horvat set a career high in goals and might have set a career high in points had he not injured — or perhaps fractured — his leg.

But their offensive engines don’t match what Calgary’s top line has done. And it’s a big reason why the Flames won the Pacific Division and are Stanley Cup contenders to boot.

Gaudreau isn’t the league’s best player this year, but he’s close to it.

He set up his centre, Lindholm, for the Swede’s 40th goal on the season. Their linemate Matthew Tkachuk already had 40 goals this season. It’s the first time two Flames have scored 40 since 1993-94.

Article content

The Canucks must find a way to create a similar line for Pettersson.

Productive defense

Calgary’s defense corps as a group is ninth in the league for total points.

The Canucks’ group is 18th.

There are defense corps that contribute less than the Canucks’, but with the likes of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers what they are, you need more.

There’s just no ignoring yet another comparison point between these two teams: the Flames have two defensemen with almost 50 points in Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin.

Quinn Hughes is having an amazing season and his goal has him one point back from Doug Lidster’s team record for most points by a defenseman in a single season, but Ekman-Larsson is the only other Canucks defenseman who has more than 20 points. Myers, who once was a productive defenseman, has just 17 points this season.

Article content

Tired ‘tend

You can’t help but wonder if Demko had been able to get a full night off on Tuesday, like the plan was, how he might have fared in Minnesota on Thursday, when a couple goals went in that looked like they were about tiredness as much as another, or on Saturday, when a more rested goaltender might have been able to pull out a couple more spectacular saves to turn what were goals into just shots.

For the third game in a row, the Canucks scored three goals, but they got just a single point in these games because Demko was surely exhausted.

With Jaro Halák seemingly unlikely to play again this season — Boudreau didn’t say that with certainty pre-game, but he didn’t seem hopeful on the veteran backup’s chances to return after hurting his hand Tuesday vs. Ottawa — you wonder if Spencer Martin might get a couple starts this week now that the Canucks’ chances are just about done, and could be officially done by the time they play again on Monday vs. Seattle.

[email protected]

twitter.com/risingaction

More news, fewer ads: Our in-depth journalism is possible thanks to the support of our subscribers. For just $3.50 per week, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: Vancouver Sun | The Province.