For a few minutes on Sunday afternoon, Canucks fans could say “hey wait a minute, check this out”.
The Minnesota Wild were struggling offensively, having gone four full periods of elapsed time without scoring a goal. They hadn’t lit the lamp since early in the second period of a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Friday night.
Sunday afternoon the Wild trailed the 105-point Dallas Stars 1-0 through two periods. Stars goalie Jake Oettinger was being stingy to say the least.
Had that score held up and the Wild lost, the Canucks would have remained six points back with two games in hand and a head-to-head match remaining. Still a small mountain to climb, but a glimmer of hope existed.
That’s when the Wild decided to play as if their lives depended on it. And ultimately, their playoff lives did. They outshot Dallas 17-4 in the 3rd period, ended up taking a lead, and eventually won 3-2 in overtime with a power play goal.
What a difference 21 minutes makes. That Canucks glimmer was snuffed, with Vancouver set to face the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday evening.
That’s how fast things change in a playoff race, and how important it is for teams that want to get in, to play with such impressive desperation. Some have it and some don’t.
The team on the outside with a better chance of sneaking in is the Calgary Flames. They’re in that situation now; six-points-back, with two games-in-hand, and a single head-to-head with Minnesota remaining. They also have a pretty favourable schedule.
In the meantime, the Canucks might be making vacation plans for Mexico come Monday morning, depending on how they perform in their game against the 2023 Stanley Cup Champions.
Is Vancouver desperate enough to make most of, or all of, their remaining games matter?
