Planning ahead
Canucks vs. Predators playoffs schedule could be ugly
Monday night’s 3-1 win for the Minnesota Wild over the Los Angeles Kings just about wraps things up as far as the Vancouver Canucks ’ first round opponent goes.
Yes, there’s still a chance the Canucks could finish first overall in the Western Conference — if the Canucks beat both the Flames and Jets this week, while the Dallas Stars lose in regulation to the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday — but most likely they’re going to enter the Stanley Cup playoffs as the second seed.
(Yes, of course they could also lose the division to the Edmonton Oilers, but the Canucks only need to pick up one point in either of their two remaining games to win the Pacific Division.)
A second-place finish would mean they’ll face the Nashville Predators, who are guaranteed to be seeded seventh after the Kings dropped their penultimate game of the season.
The Kings cannot pass the Predators to become the first wild card team, nor can the Vegas Golden Knights; Nashville has more regulation wins than both squads and that’s the first tiebreaker should they be tied on points.
(Vegas could yet pass Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific, but that would simply bump L.A. down to the second wild card and the eighth overall spot in the west.)
A Vancouver-Nashville series is expected to have an ugly schedule, for whatever reason.
As first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and confirmed by a league source to Postmedia on Monday evening, a Canucks vs. Predators series wouldn’t likely start until April 23, a surprising twist given the scheduling challenges created by Rogers Arena’s limited availability in the first week of May.
There is only one booking at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena next week: an Apr. 25 Tim McGraw concert.
But Rogers Arena has no bookings between Apr. 20 — when the playoffs begin
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— and Apr. 29, when Justin Timberlake is performing.
An Apr. 20 start would have been very unfair to the Canucks, who close the season Apr. 18 in Winnipeg and deserve to get some rest after a strong season. That’s why many speculated an Apr. 21 start as ideal, with game two days laster. (The source said an Apr. 21 or 22 start was also still possible.)
In such a scenario, the Canucks and Predators would then get two days off before resuming play in Nashville on Apr. 26.
But an Apr. 23 start would mean game two would either be the next night, Apr. 24, or Apr. 25 at the latest.
That would mean that games three and four would be back to back — Apr. 27 and 28. If game five were necessary in Vancouver, they’d play at Rogers on Apr. 30.
If games six or seven were necessary, things would continue to be hairy. Game six would be back in Nashville — no bookings at Bridgestone between Apr. 29 and May 4 — but a potential game seven in Vancouver would have to happen on May 3 because Pearl Jam is booked to open their 2024 world tour at Rogers on May 4 and 6.
In other words, game six would be on a back to back, either behind game five or in front of game seven.