Pre-Game Talk: Canucks vs. Flames, Saturday night: How are we still in this?

[Zombotron]

Minnesota, St. Louis, Vancouver, Colorado, and Edmonton are separated by four points - all five teams play on Saturday. St. Louis has ROW (25-23) and GP (52-55) tiebreakers on Vancouver. Minnesota has just lost Mikko Koivu for the season.

Calgary leads the conference by two points, and are second in the league behind Tampa Bay. They did lose this evening, though.

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[ErrantShepherd]

This turtle derby in the West is nuts. The fact we are still holding close to the last wildcard spot with all these recent losses is astounding.

I don't think we can hold onto that spot now though unless something changes soon with the defense and wingers.

Edler and Baertschi being out has killed what little depth we had.

I'm of the mind we might as well use this time coming up to see what we've got in the AHL. Waive Schaller and/or Granlund and bring up Gagner to try to increase his value for trade and maybe give us the scoring winger we need, plus whoever else is going in Utica. Waive or trade Pouliot and Gudbranson, see what the young kids can do.

Maybe they surprise and get us back into the Wildcard, or maybe we just drop to a better pick... either way, what's there to lose?

 

[tantalum]

Unless your team happens to be one of the very bottom 2 or 3, you will look to be in striking distance of the wild card. The 3 point game thing all but ensures you will have GMs fooled into thinking they can make the playoffs when they really shouldn't be thinking that. But you have a few teams that start to take off to secure the playoff spots. Dallas has done that recently. They've picked up a bunch of points the last few weeks to get some distance.

I don't think the canucks are one of those teams that will start to distance themselves from the pack (in a good way).

The Flames will be upset at the game they had last night. They'll be looking to rebound. The canucks will be on the dreaded first game back from a road trip. It looks like the 5th loss in 6 games to me for the canucks. Unless the Flames goaltending lets them down (which it often does).

 

[Fire Benning]

Basically getting to must win territory for the most of the last 27 games if they want to make it in.

 

[ErrantShepherd]

Basically getting to must win territory for the most of the last 27 games if they want to make it in.

Their only saving grace, is that it's the same for all the teams below them too.

A few hot streaks or cold streaks is the difference between wildcard and lottery.

From the rest of their games scheduled, I don't see them beating the Sharks or Maple Leafs, Golden Knights are a toss up... the rest of their schedule looks soft though compared to a lot of other teams. But missing Edler is a big handicap for this blueline.

 

[PG Canuck]

A few wins last few games would’ve had the Canucks sitting pretty for a bit. Instead bottom of the conference is not far out of reach.

 

[StreetHawk]

Canucks in the last 16 games have picked up 6 points of that new year road trip out of 12 points. Got 8/12 for their 6 game homestand. And only 3/8 on this 4 game trip.

17/32 points in their last 16. Chicago and at Louis have gone on winning streaks and have moved up from the Hughes sweepstakes into the PO conversation.

Tough stretch for Vancouver. In the middle of 9 games in 15 nights. 2 tough home games and then the Cali trip. These 5 games hopefully gives management a solid stance on where the team is.

 

[Fire Benning]

Pettersson traded

 

[ErrantShepherd]

Pettersson traded

Cue somebody not checking which Pettersson and freaking out.

Was Emil really doing well enough for two forwards? ...or is this a long game play by Arizona trying to somehow entice Elias over to the Coyotes to be with his brother?

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Cue somebody not checking which Pettersson and freaking out.

Was Emil really doing well enough for two forwards? ...or is this a long game play by Arizona trying to somehow entice Elias over to the Coyotes to be with his brother?

This is Chayka f***ing over every hockey website editor, again

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

If there is one thing I liked that Mike Gillis did..It was stand up to the league on the issue of the Canucks ridiculous scheduling..It does seem to me that the Canucks have meekly accepted what the league has given them (5 games in the span of a week in 3 different time zones).

Anyway,..I'm not holding my breath on the Canucks winning on Saturday...Its a lot tougher opponent than any they have faced lately..Credit to where credit is due, coach Peters has pushed all the right buttons for that squad..and the Carolina trade is looking pretty good for the Flames (Elias Lindholm..?).

Despite the Canucks coming back from the road trip with a losing record, they've played some good hockey..but I dont see it in the cards tomorrow night.

 

[VanJack]

I suppose the Canucks are basically playing with 'house money'. They're still not a great hockey team, but of course nobody expected them to anywhere near a playoff spot at this point in the schedule.

You'd have to say that's more a testament to how bad teams like the Blues, Wild, Ducks and Oilers have been this season. Fans in those cities have a lot more reason to disappointed than VanCity.

Markstrom is basically carrying this team right now. If he were to ever go down, then it would officially be time to run up the white flag.

 

[BeardyCanuck03]

I really hope we see close to a full game of a top 6 of
Roussel-Horvat-Boeser
Goldobin-Pettersson-Leivo

 

[ErrantShepherd]

I really hope we see close to a full game of a top 6 of
Roussel-Horvat-Boeser
Goldobin-Pettersson-Leivo

We need Horvat to get going again for sure... also wish we had more Roussels in this lineup, he has been good/providing energy no matter what line he's been on.

 

[Motte and Bailey]

Their only saving grace, is that it's the same for all the teams below them too.

A few hot streaks or cold streaks is the difference between wildcard and lottery.

From the rest of their games scheduled, I don't see them beating the Sharks or Maple Leafs, Golden Knights are a toss up... the rest of their schedule looks soft though compared to a lot of other teams. But missing Edler is a big handicap for this blueline.

bold is exactly correct and the reason why there's no shame if we miss the playoffs or end up a lottery team this season.. The western conference is just so tight this season and we're on the upward trajectory so next year we will be guaranteed playoff team (within reason aka injuries)

If the standings are so tight that a few bounces can be the difference between playoffs and basement then the landscape of the NHL is changing and our old notions of being a "basement dwelling" team are not valid anymore.

 

[jd22]

bold is exactly correct and the reason why there's no shame if we miss the playoffs or end up a lottery team this season.. The western conference is just so tight this season and we're on the upward trajectory so next year we will be guaranteed playoff team (within reason aka injuries)

If the standings are so tight that a few bounces can be the difference between playoffs and basement then the landscape of the NHL is changing and our old notions of being a "basement dwelling" team are not valid anymore.

Do you get paid to post this stuff? The western conference isn't tight, it has five good teams and 10 bad ones. The bad ones just happen to be equally as bad. We're one of them. Whomever makes the WC spots in the West is going to get destroyed in four or five games.

 

[Motte and Bailey]

Do you get paid to post this stuff? The western conference isn't tight, it has five good teams and 10 bad ones. The bad ones just happen to be equally as bad. We're one of them. Whomever makes the WC spots in the West is going to get destroyed in four or five games.

Sometimes when I’m at work and Im on the toilet or a lunch break or something like that and I make a post yes I’m technically getting paid to post here. Are you saying the bottom 10 teams are worse than the top teams in the west? Sure I agree. But that bottom 10 is a group of good teams relative to each other which makes it a tight race. Except for maybe LA of course.

 

[Fire Benning]

Tbh I always pictured RMB posting when he was on the toilet

 

[VanJack]

Tbh I always pictured RMB posting when he was on the toilet

That's a good name for the Western Conference playoff race. It's not a 'turtle derby' it's the 'toilet bowl'.

 

[vanarchy]

A few hot streaks or cold streaks is the difference between wildcard and lottery.

True. I'd be happy with either honestly.

The only thing that would sting is winning a bunch then missing by 2 points and winding up with a mediocre pick.

Which sounds like the most Canuck thing of all time.

 

[LordBacon]

Miss the playoffs, get a first from a bubble team, if they miss the playoffs too we got ourselves two lottery tickets.