Vancouver Canucks Keep Stanley Cup Playoff Hopes Alive, But Is It Enough?

Vancouver's third stop of their six-game road trip saw them head to the Prudential Center to face the New Jersey Devils on Monday and it marked the the return of Thatcher Demko after being out for a little over six weeks with a lower-body injury.

Monday's game was an important one in Vancouver's hunt for a wild card spot in the Western Conference as entering action last night, they were five points back of the St. Louis Blues, who occupied the final playoff position.

Coming into Monday's game, Vancouver's odds to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs were quite low, with some outlets an 8-10 percent chance.

Pius Suter got things going last night, scoring his 21st of the season a little over ten minutes into the first period to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead.

Devils forward Timo Meier would go on to score twice to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead over halfway through the third period, with Jonathan Lekkerimaki tying the game up at 2-2 just 45 seconds later.

Erik Haula got the Devils' third goal of the night a couple minutes after Lekkerimaki's tally, but with the net empty, Vancouver made a big push towards the end of the game, resulting in Conor Garland's 18th of the season with 35 seconds left in regulation.

Overtime solved nothing, so the Canucks and Devils headed to the shootout where top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored the game-winner in the fourth round past former Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom.

With the win, Vancouver passed Calgary in the standings with 78 points in 71 games this season and are now three back of the Blues for the second and final wild card spot in the West.

Every game between now and the end of the regular season is important for Rick Tocchet's group and they're likely going to need a .550-.600 win percentage in their final 11 games if they have any chance of making it to The Big Dance.

Vancouver will be hoping that Montreal and Seattle will pull off wins against St. Louis and Calgary, respectively, tonight which would be a big help in their playoff push.