Senators and Canucks Battling for Playoff Berths
In the NHL Eastern Conference, there are at least 12 teams that still have a chance to qualify for the postseason. Therefore, it is hard to count out the Ottawa Senators just yet.
The Senators defeated the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday 4-2 to win the Tim Horton’s Heritage Classic for 2014. The win moved the Senators to within just three points of Detroit for the final Eastern Conference wildcard spot.
Just three days prior to their Sunday win, the Senators were humiliated by the Red Wings 6-1 before the start of their current four-game road trip.
The road trip continues on Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers and again on Wednesday against the Calgary Flames. The team concludes its trip on Saturday versus the Winnipeg Jets. However, the Senators will play 10 of the last 21 games at home.
If the Senators can play their last 21 games as they did on Sunday, the team should have no problems qualifying for the postseason. The team defended well during the third period when they were outshot 11 to 6 and held a one-goal lead for most of the 20 minutes.
The Senators blocked 12 Vancouver shots and only turned the puck over six times.
Vancouver is hoping they can qualify for the postseason as well. The loss on Sunday left the Canucks with 66 points, which is the same amount the Dallas Stars have. However, Dallas kept the final Western Conference playoff spot for now based upon playing three fewer games than the Canucks.
Vancouver also trails Winnipeg who also has 66 points but have one game in hand over Vancouver.
The Canucks have played 63 of their 82 regular season games, the most of any team in the West, which will make their road to the postseason that much more difficult than the Jets or Stars.
Part of the Canucks problem has been its lack of scoring. On Sunday, the two goals Vancouver scored in the first 20 minutes marked only the first time in its past 10 games they scored over 1 goal in one period.
The Canucks are 27th in the league in scoring at just 2.33 per game. The team’s power play is 27th sitting on 14%. Making matters worse, the team’s leading scorer Daniel Sedin missed the third period after a hard hit into the boards during the second period. His status is unknown.
Making things even worse the team could have a controversy in goal. John Tortorella, the Canucks head coach, started Eddie Lack a rookie in Sunday’s game ahead of Roberto Luongo the veteran. Lack has started in goal in each of the Canucks three games since the Sochi Olympics two week break.
Vancouver has won just once since the break and is 1-8-1 over its last 10 games overall. The team starts a road trip of two games on Tuesday at Phoenix followed by a Thursday night game in Dallas.
Vancouver will play 10 of its last 19 games on its home ice and that should give them a better chance of qualifying for the postseason.
