With their season effectively on the line, the Vancouver Canucks (34-27-13) return home to face the lowly Seattle Kraken (31-38-6) at 7:30 p.m. at Rogers Arena on Wednesday night.
With the St. Louis Blues winning their 10th straight game, the Canucks now trail the Minnesota Wild, who occupy the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference, by six points with one game in hand.
The Canucks do not control their own destiny and will need either of the two teams named above to slip up while remaining virtually perfect themselves.
With no Elias Pettersson once again, this is a near-impossible task for the Canucks to achieve at this juncture.
Canucks Game Lineup
Jake DeBrusk - Pius Suter - Brock Boeser
Drew O'Connor - Teddy Blueger - Conor Garland
Linus Karlsson - Nils Aman - Jonathan Lekkerimäki
Dakota Joshua - Aatu Raty - Kiefer Sherwood
Quinn Hughes - Tyler Myers
Marcus Pettersson - Filip Hronek
Derek Forbort - Elias Pettersson
Thatcher Demko is confirmed to be the Canucks' starting goalie against the Kraken on Wednesday night, appearing to have stolen the crease away from tandem partner Kevin Lankinen.
Demko has won two of his last three starts, stopping 72 of 80 shots for a .900 save percentage. Overall, Demko is 8-7-3 this season with a 2.84 GAA, a .892 save percentage, and one shutout in what has been his worst statistical performance since the 2022-23 season.
Kraken Game Lineup
Jani Nyman - Matty Beniers - Kaapo Kakko
Jared McCann - Shane Wright - Andre Burakovsky
Mikey Eyssimont - Chandler Stephenson - Jordan Eberle
Tye Kartye - Ryan Winterton - John Hayden
Vince Dunn - Adam Larsson
Ryker Evans - Brandon Montour
Jamie Oleksiak - Cale Fleury
Joey Daccord is expected to be the Kraken's starting goalie against the Canucks on Wednesday night.
Daccord, a second-year starter for the Kraken, is 24-20-5 this season with a 2.72 GAA, a .908 save percentage, and one shutout despite playing on one of the NHL's worst teams.
How to watch the Canucks game
Wednesday night's Canucks game will be streamed on Sportsnet Pacific, TVAS2, KONG, KING 5, and Kraken Hockey Network. For fans unable to watch the Canucks game, Sportsnet 650 will be the radio broadcast available for your listening.