CANUCKS CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH WITH ASSIST FROM OILERS
NHL: L.A.’s loss to Edmonton clinches post-season berth for Vancouver
It couldn’t have been a sweeter way for the Vancouver Canucks to clinch a spot in the NHL playoffs.
Except by winning a game themselves, that is.
The Canucks backed into the postseason on a night they didn’t play, but it was oh so delicious — coming at the expense of the curiously staggering Los Angeles Kings.
After beating the defending Stanley Cup champions for the second straight time Monday, the Canucks were certainly scoreboard watching with glee as the desperate Kings dropped a 4-2 decision to the lowly Oilers in Edmonton on Tuesday.
The result punched Vancouver’s ticket to the post-season, after missing the playoffs last season. It’s still not confirmed who they’ll play, though it appears more likely to be Calgary — who closed to within two points of the Canucks and moved two ahead of the Kings with a 3-2 win over Arizona.
All three teams, including Winnipeg, have two games left in the final scramble for playoff position in the Western Conference.
The Canucks finish their regular season against two have-not teams, but can’t afford to take anything for granted if they want to hang on to home-ice advantage in the playoffs.
They host the Coyotes on Thursday at Rogers Arena and finish up their regular-season schedule on Saturday, again at home, against the Oilers. The Canucks have two wins, a loss and a shootout defeat to the Coyotes this season. Against the Oilers, the Canucks have won all four games.
The Kings are far from done, of course, but they no longer have any room for error. The Kings’ headscratching loss and Calgary’s win sets up a massive showdown between the two teams on Thursday in Calgary. The Flames have three more regulation and overtime wins (ROWs) than the Kings, the first tiebreaker, so L.A. would need at least one more point than Calgary to finish ahead.
The Kings were playing catch-up most of the evening in Edmonton against a banged-up Oilers team, but all-world defenceman Drew Doughty got the game to within one goal midway through the third period, and many were expecting the supremely confident Kings to pull even.
But it didn’t happen, as Matt Fraser scored his second of the game into an empty net to seal the victory for an Oilers team that doesn’t have much to feel good about this year.
The Flames downed Arizona 3-2on a third-period goal by Sean Monahan. The result strengthened Calgary’s position in the No. 3 spot in the Pacific Division.
The Jets kept pace in the tight Western Conference, downing the Blues in St. Louis 1-0. Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec gave the Jets clutch netminding again Tuesday, chalking up his second shutout in two nights.
The Jets hold the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, leading the Kings by three points.
Minnesota clinched a playoff spot by virtue of a 2-1 win over the Blackhawks. The Wild trail the Hawks — who are in third spot in the Central Division — by four points with both teams having two games left, so chances of catching them are slim.