On paper, the Wednesday matchup between the 2024 Pacific champion Vancouver Canucks and this year’s division winner, the Vegas Golden Knights, would seem like the ideal way to end the regular season.
However, with the host Canucks (38-29-14, 90 points) already eliminated from playoff contention and the Golden Knights (49-22-10, 108 points) locked into the second seed in the Western Conference and a first-round postseason matchup with the Minnesota Wild, there really is nothing for either team to play for other than the proverbial pride.
“We’ve got to play Vancouver tomorrow, so that’s the danger,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said following his team’s 5-4 shootout loss at Calgary on Tuesday in the front end of the back-to-back set. “You never want to take anything for granted, even though both teams probably want to look forward and get it over with and stay healthy.”
Five key Vegas starters — center Jack Eichel, who has scored a franchise single-season record 93 points; captain Mark Stone; defensemen Noah Hanifin and Alex Pietrangelo and starting goalie Adin Hill — all sat out the Tuesday game to rest up for the playoffs.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to play,” Cassidy said. “You want to keep building habits, but we’ll start thinking about Minnesota for sure now.”
Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar added, “It’s not uncommon, right? I can’t speak for how (Cassidy) wants to run it, but you want to give some of your top guys rest, especially the ones that went to the 4 Nations (Face-Off). Give them a break to recharge.”
Despite missing a handful of key players, the Golden Knights gave the Flames, who went into the contest needing to win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, all they could handle. Vegas jumped out to a 3-1 first-period lead and rallied to tie it 4-4 midway through the third period on a goal by Brandon Saad. Calgary’s Morgan Frost scored in the third round of the shootout to win it.
“I thought we played really well, to be honest,” Cassidy said. “I’m sitting here and can’t believe that we lost.”
Vancouver, locked into a fifth-place finish in the Pacific Division, comes in off a 2-1 overtime victory over the visiting San Jose Sharks on Monday. Jake DeBrusk scored the game-winner with 17.6 seconds remaining in overtime.
DeBrusk was stationed by the left post when Brock Boeser one-timed a shot from the high slot that hit the glass behind the goal. The puck then caromed straight out to DeBrusk, who slid a shot between the pads of goalie Alexandar Georgiev for the game-winner.
It was just the seventh victory in 19 contests that ended in overtime for the Canucks, a major reason they missed the playoffs.
“It’s been a weird year with that,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said of the poor OT mark. “Obviously, we have to dive into why.”
Captain Quinn Hughes assisted on the OT winner to tie Alexander Edler for the franchise record for points by a defenseman with 409. Nikita Tolopilo made 15 saves in his NHL debut to pick up the win.
The Wednesday contest will be the fourth meeting between the teams. Vegas won all three of prior matchups, including the most recent clash on April 6 in Vancouver, 3-2, on a Victor Olofsson goal with 3:14 remaining.
–Field Level Media
