Vancouver Canucks' Playoff Odds Fall After 7-6 Shootout Loss to Columbus Blue Jackets
Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports
Following their big win on Long Island on Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks were looking to extend that streak to two games, which would have been a big boost to their playoff odds.
After missing the last two games with an illness that's reportedly going around the locker room right now, Kevin Lankinen got the nod between the pipes against a Columbus Blue Jackets team that's in a similar situation in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
While Rick Tocchet's group may have gotten off to a great start on Friday night, they blew two multi-goal leads, which won't sit well with anyone including head coach Rick Tocchet.
Vancouver Canucks blow two multi-goal leads in shootout loss to Columbus
Linus Karlsson, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk got the Canucks on the board in the opening frame as they headed to the locker room after the first 20 minutes with a 3-0 lead on the Blue Jackets.
The Blue Jackets would storm back, scoring three goals of their own in the first nine minutes of the second period from Boone Jenner, Kirill Marchenko and Dante Fabbro.
A couple minutes after Fabbro's 3-3 goal, the Canucks found themselves killing a four-minute power play after rookie defenseman Elias Pettersson was handed a double-minor for high-sticking.
On that penalty kill, defenseman Tyler Myers scored to give Vancouver a 4-3 lead and in doing so, became the NHL's active leader in shorthanded goals by defensemen.
"#Canucks Tyler Myers is the NHL's active leader among defencemen with 7 career shorthanded goals" Sportsnet Stats said.
Flash forward to the third period, where things got even crazier as Aatu Raty scored his fourth of the season to go up 5-3, before the Blue Jackets put three more past Kevin Lankinen, courtesy of Denton Mateychuk, Boone Jenner and Mathieu Olivier, to take a 6-5 lead.
Just 23 seconds after Mathieu Olivier's goal, Aatu Raty doubled down, putting home his second of the game and fifth of the season to tie things up at 6-6 with a little over two minutes remaining in the third period.
Overtime solved nothing and the two teams headed to a shootout where Port Moody, British Columbia native Kent Johnson scored the lone goal, giving Columbus a 7-6 win, putting them back into a playoff spot following Montreal's loss to Carolina.
With the shootout loss, the Vancouver Canucks saw their Stanley Cup Playoff odds drop to 17.2 percent and now sit four points back of the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card position in the Western Conference, with one game in hand.
The Vancouver Canucks will be back in action on Sunday afternoon as they wrap up their six-game road trip with a stop in Winnipeg to face the Jets at 12 pm PT.
Previously on CanucksDaily
TRENDING NOW
