All of that, as well as Elias Peterson’s skills, were simply not enough for the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, when their 6-3 loss to Minnesota Wilde felt like the end of their dream of the playoffs.
Rising 3-2 at the end of the second period and still a 3-3 draw on the road in the middle of the third against a bruised, great opponent, Kanux’s fuel gauge finally emptied after all these months and Wilde scored three times in the last eight minutes to drive a dagger into Vancouver’s incredible playoffs.
Leading goal scorer JT Miller reached the last buzzer after blocking a shot from the inside of his knee. Inspection center Brad Richardson insisted on ending the match after smashing his nose with Kiril Kaprizov’s stick in the first period. Goalkeeper Thatcher Demko tried to play everything that affected him – even if it was just exhaustion after playing 63 games – but he just didn’t have it.
The savages were too good, too big, too deep.
Kanux’s first loss in the nine-game schedule was still enough to make him feel like the end of hope after a magnificent four-month blow back to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But this game didn’t cost them, even if it looked like it. These were all those games they lost in November, when a team that needed everything to go well to make the post-season started the National Hockey League’s 6-14-2 campaign.
This is the lesson they have to learn from Thursday, this season: Playing three-quarters of the season, even in a winning NHL top 10 video, is not enough when only half of the 32 entries are allowed. league to play for the Stanley Cup.
Petterson, who was left with six goals on Jan. 15, scored twice on Thursday to bring his overall season to 31, 13 of them in his last 12 games. But even if the Canucks win their last four games, starting Saturday in Calgary, that may not be enough.
It was not enough for Miller, with 30 goals and 93 points, to build the most productive season of Kanak since Henrik and Daniel Sedin won consecutive NHL titles a decade ago. It will not be enough for Bo Horvat, who is already out with an ankle injury, to score 31 times. Or that defender Quinn Hughes is likely to set a new franchise record for points per defender, needing three points from the last four games to surpass the 63 points accumulated by Doug Leedster 35 years ago. And it was not enough that Demko had an MVP season, not only showing that he can start over a campaign of 82 games, but also proving that he is one of the best goalkeepers in the NHL.
All of these achievements were not enough to undo the damage to Canucks from those first 22 games. Match 78 on Thursday – 32-15-9 of those first seven weeks – was a painful reminder of how long it takes to reach the playoffs.
“A lot of boys have fallen lately,” winger Connor Garland said on Thursday after scoring Peterson’s goals. “Everyone got stronger and played as hard as we could for as long as we could, just trying to keep winning matches, trying to give ourselves a chance to get in. Many boys played hard for a long time. This will not change the last four (games), but tonight it definitely hurts.
“We know what that means (loss). It’s hard to be equal to probably one of the first two or three teams in the Western Conference in the third period, and we just couldn’t find a way to do it. It sucks. We just couldn’t find a way to get this fourth.
Peterson’s second goal, which gave him five games with two goals in the last ten, put Canucks ahead 3-2 at 16:09 from a wild second period as he deftly converted Garland’s deflected shot to give Vancouver the only lead. .
But this lasted less than two and a half minutes, because at 18:36 Mats Zukarelo crossed with Kaprizov in the area of Kanuks and shot with his wrist in the glove to catch Demko to tie him.
Kevin Fiala scored the Minnesota winner at 12:17 a.m. in the third period, shaking off Canucks’ Brad Hunt as he circled behind Vancouver’s net, escaped the slot and scored a short side for Demko. Kaprizov shot between the goal pads at 18:05, and Ryan Hartman added an empty goal.
“Until eight minutes into the third period, I thought we were doing a very good job,” said Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau. “I thought their third goal was a bit broken. I mean, if we usually get into the third period with a lead, we usually get at least a point of that. It hurts a little. ”
But Boudreau later added: “They give him everything they have. I mean, tonight, for example, Miller blocks a blow; he has several bags of ice. Richardson broke his nose and still wants to play. I want to say that these guys have such efforts and character. I am very proud of them. They never give up, they never die. Obviously tonight was very disappointing in the end, but … they could have given up a long time ago, the odds were so much against us. But they believed and still believe. They will believe again tomorrow. “
With four games left, three against teams likely to be in the playoffs, Canucks are four points behind in the wildcard race, seven points behind the Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division.
If they win, Canucks will have 95 points and that may still not be enough for the playoffs.
“Everyone did their best,” Peterson said after his side were beaten 15-4 in the third period. “Everyone knew what was going on, everyone was doing their best.
“It’s extremely difficult. We know how much we wanted this victory. We fought all 60 minutes. It doesn’t look better to us, but it’s certainly not over. We will fight until we have no games left. “
They have only eight days left until the season.
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