Vancouver Canucks: 3 keys to victory over Dallas Stars

With nothing but pride to play for this late in the season, the Vancouver Canucks have a chance to put an end to the Dallas Stars playoff hopes. Here are three keys to another victory in the Lone Star State.

The Vancouver Canucks didn’t get any good news on Saturday, with the Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators all losing on Saturday. This Tank Bowl is going down to the wire.

As it stands, the Canucks are 29th in the league standings. They own the tiebreaker over Arizona (more non-shootout victories), but are just two points behind Ottawa, four behind Detroit and five behind Montreal. They’re also three up on the Sabres, who just keep on losing.

But as we saw during Thursday’s 5-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver has too much pride to tank. We know they want to win games, and tanking won’t happen under Henrik and Daniel Sedin‘s watches.

The Stars would love it if the Canucks handed them two easy points. Their playoff hopes are slipping away quickly, thanks to a miserable seven-game losing streak. So how can Vancouver ensure Dallas loses again? Here are three keys to victory.

Lots of pucks on net

Ben Bishop‘s injury came at a miserable time for the Stars, as veteran Kari Lehtonen continues to struggle miserably in the crease.

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Lehtonen can’t be blamed for all of the team’s problems during this losing skid, but a goalie’s job is to steal games from time to time. He hasn’t done that.

Lehtonen has given up three or more goals in his last five outings, and the Stars have been awful at defending against high-scoring chances. This is where the helpless Canucks offence has to keep the strategy simple: Fire pucks on goal.

Let’s not forget that this Canucks team won 6-0 in Dallas back in February. They didn’t try to get cute. They took shots from all over the ice, and six of them found their way in. That’s a lot of goals to score in a game, by the way.

The Stars aren’t playing with any confidence right now, and you have to think Lehtonen is also having plenty of self-doubt, especially with the way the team has played in front of him. With that, the Canucks just need to fire pucks from all angles. Surely, some of them will find their way in.

Win the special teams battles

Often lost in the small list of positives for the Canucks this season, the power play has been clicking well, thanks to the return of Newell Brown. With a 21.4 success rate, the Canucks own the NHL’s ninth-best power play.

That being said, Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock is one of the most brilliant defensive minds this game has ever seen. He has his group playing responsibly well on the penalty kill, as the team ranks 10th in that department (81.8 percent).

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This could be a game where special teams dictates the winner. Can the Canucks move the puck around Dallas’ formidable penalty killers? There’s no Brock Boeser in this one, so the Sedins and Bo Horvat will be asked to lead the charge.

Again, this is where the Canucks need to take the shots and not overthink it. No need for the Sedins to pass it around and around and around. Keep taking your shots and hope they go in. Scoring a power play goal or two may be enough to win this game.

Goaltending is key

Goalies Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson needn’t be reminded just how mediocre they’ve both been in 2017-18. And we know how much Markstrom loves to rip on himself to the media, so the guy needs a break.

After Nilsson’s miserable outing against the St. Louis Blues on Friday, one has to think he will only get one more start left this season — if even than. Markstrom’s likely getting the start in this one, and Vancouver needs him to be sharp.

Canucks goalies have given up in five of their last six games. The last time they didn’t do that? Unsurprisingly, it was a 5-2 victory against Chicago on Thursday. Vancouver simply needs Markstrom to be on his heels in this one.

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A few key saves and a not-so-terrible performance is needed for Vancouver to escape Dallas with a win. Another bad night for the goalies will mean a loss and a happy day for the folks riding the Tank Train.