Canucks Jump Into Playoff Spot Thanks to Baertschi, Granlund

The Vancouver Canucks earned a rare victory on the road, which puts them in the last wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Don’t look now, but the Canucks are in a playoff spot!

Road wins have been hard to come by this season, but Vancouver was facing a Colorado Avalanche team that they had already beaten twice. The Avs are just as bad at home as the Canucks have been on the road. They entered tonight with just one win in their past 14 games, while Vancouver had managed nine in the same number of games.

So, this was as good a matchup as Willie Desjardins’ team could hope for. Despite coughing up a two goal laed, they managed to pull away in the end for just their sixth road win of the year.

Final Score:

Recap:

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General manager Jim Benning was by far the happiest man in the building.

Everyone scoffed at him when he insisted that his team could compete for the postseason. Yet here they are, above that magical line in the standings.

Besides that, he witnessed two of his trades pay off in spades tonight. Sven Baertschi and Markus Granlund combined for three goals on the evening. The GM acquired both of these players in separate trades with the Calgary Flames.

Baerstchi, who cost Benning a second round pick back in March 2015, opened the scoring in the first period:

Vancouver peppered Colorado goaltender Calvin Pickard with 20 shots in the first period. Baertschi had only one of those, but it stood as the only goal after 20 minutes.

In the second period, Granlund took advantage of a miscue from the Avalanche. The puck slipped off the stick off Nikita Zadorov behind the goal. With Pickard looking the wrong way, Granlund stole the puck and tucked it in to put the visitors ahead 2-0:

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/824465720956252160

Benning traded for Granlund in exchange for prospect Hunter Shinkaruk. Many criticized the move, as Shinkaruk appeared to have far more offensive upside. But it seems the critics were wrong, as the young Finn is tied for third in goals on the Canucks.

Tempting Fate

As the old superstition goes, you should never say the word “shutout”, or you’ll jinx it.

Tonight, Jeff Paterson learned — the hard way — that even alluding to the word is enough:

Mere minutes after he sent this tweet, Jacob Markstrom allowed the first Avalanche goal:

Markstrom couldn’t squeeze the shot from Zadorov, and Mikko Rantanen tapped in the loose puck. For shame, JPat, for shame….

Colorado continued to press in the third, and Matt Nieto soon evened the score:

https://twitter.com/Avalanche/status/824478972176060418

Just like last game, Vancouver found themselves in a 2-2 tie in the third period. Fortunately, this one had a much happier ending.

Gabriel Landeskog took a slashing penalty. The power play, which is generally awful, especially on the road, got their first opportunity of the evening. And Baertschi made the general manager look good one last time:

With the primary assist on that goal, Henrik Sedin now has a point in six straight games.

Colorado pressed late but could not find another tying goal. Markstrom finished with 30 saves, and a .938 save percentage. Despite giving up a 2-0 lead to the NHL’s worst team, Vancouver managed to win, on the road, in regulation time.

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In so doing, they climbed back into a playoff position. The Canucks will have a chance to gain more ground in the West against the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow night.