Canucks chances...

[Magi]

Alright, so the Canucks have like 8 games down the stretch, and here's how things are looking:

3 Road games, 1 tonight and 2 more at the end of this month/beginning of next month.

of these 8 games, only 2~3 are against Stanley Cup contenders (Dallas again, San Jose, and L.A. who are sort of in limbo @ the moment) the rest are all against bottom feeders or teams which won't make it for sure (Chicago, Columbus, Phoenix, ANALheim, Edmonton).

We don't play any back to back games anymore except for tonight, and our last 2 games.

Here's the schedule:

Fri, Mar 19 @ Chicago
Sun, Mar 21 Columbus
Wed, Mar 24 L.A.
Sat, Mar 27 Dallas
Mon, Mar 29 Phoenix
Wed, Mar 31 @ ANALheim
Fri, Apr 2 @ San Jose
Sat, Apr 3 Edmonton


here's the current standings(as of Mar 19/04):

Western Conference
RK GP W L T OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY L10
1 DETROIT* 73 42 18 11 2 97 226 162
2 COLORADO* 74 38 19 12 5 93 220 176
3 SAN JOSE* 73 36 19 12 6 90 192 164
4 VANCOUVER 74 37 23 10 4 88 207 178
5 DALLAS 74 37 24 13 0 87 172 157
6 CALGARY 74 38 26 7 3 86 185 160
7 ST LOUIS 74 34 27 11 2 81 173 182
8 NASHVILLE 73 33 26 11 3 80 191 194


Teams we're trying to catch:

Colorado : Division Lead, and top 3 spot


Teams we're trying to avoid:

Calgary
Dallas

If any of those 2 teams catch us it's automatic no home ice first round. The way they've been playing lately, it's a scary possibility.


Of these 3 teams we're catching/avoiding, here's what their schedules look like:

Colorado has 4 road games, and they play the Leafs and Red Wings. In fact, they have a home and home against the Wings.
Nashville is the only other Stanley Cup team, aside from L.A., which they face. They also don't have any back to back games.

Dallas plays the Blues, Canucks, Flames, and Sharks. They play the Flames, Canucks and Sharks during a road trip (4 games) so that sounds brutal for them.

Flames play the Stars, Sharks, and they play the Kings twice.




In short, of the teams endangering Van, or the team(s) we're trying to catch, Vancouver has the easiest schedule, and we should be able to just stave off Cal/Dal and maintain home ice. If Colorado loses the 3 games against the Leafs and Wings, and Van manages to win all their hard games, then we could very possibly get the Division lead as well.

If you wanna be a doodoo however, take into consideration the fact that Vancouver plays better on the road :p AND we also do better against Stanley Cup contenders than bottom feeders :p and since those types of games are rare for use down the stretch...could be a "bad" thing.




Go Canucks Go

[Senior]

I guess it depends on which Canucks team shows up to play... Hopefully we get er going though!

[Senior]

Just to add to that a little, I still think that if the team can get reasonably healthy and a bit of momentum going into the playoffs they are still serious contenders.

[LaMzWeLL]

Things are not looking too good right now......if things are going the way they are going now..... calgary will pull ahead of us.... and that would be hurting as hell

[e_BoY]

yea it all depends what kind of team comes out for the rest of the season.

We play good we get home ice. we play bad we will lose home ice unless calgary and dallas play jsut as bad as us too.

Jovo and Henrik will be back soon which is good. Go Canucks

[Jblaze]

I dont see them going anywhere in the playoffs....

[puffpuffpass]

once jovo is back and playen like he was b4 he was injured....and getting hank back wit his bro will bolster the canucks lineup and hopefully add som scoring touch as they havent been scoring much since losing bertuzzi...in the playoffs however i think they have n outside shot at making it at least to the western finals...jus look how far minnesota n anaheim made it last year...in the end it all comes down to cloutier

[Hot Karl]

i'd rather be hot going into the playoffs than worry about the schedule.

besides last year everyone thought colorado had it easy with minnesota. we all know how that went.

[e_BoY]

if a team is going into the playoffs and their playing the hockey that they should be playing then nothing really matters. Canucks have obviously not been playing the hockey they should and can be playing but we'll see. 8 games left

[puffpuffpass]

its all about they've been without 3 of their top 10 players...bertuzzi being gone for good.....jovo comin back n same with henrik...with the addition of sanderson n rucinsky it gives som hope....but with cloutier with an injury?!? not playen tonite n they called up alex auld...hopefully jus to get cloutier rested up and in better game shape for the playoffs...

[e_BoY]

^^
lol funny avatar

clout is just day to day he'll be back soon

[Antenna_Boy]

Canucks will advance past the first round, after that it's up to the goalies to decide for the team if they are WORTH going past any other round in the playoffs :smoke1:

[KenJi]

^ its pretty true, a goalie can go so far in th eplayoff's.


i mean look at last years stanley cup final giguere against brodeur.

both goalies were exceptional from the first round of the playoff's on

[KenJi]

cluotier was ill in the st louis series even in the games we lost.

second round he was doing just fine till u know what happened

[Antenna_Boy]

I'd rather forget those shitty moments for Cloutier last year in 2nd round. But if we look at St. Louis or some other teams, most shots are also blocked by their D-Men, and are aggressive around the net. The lost cause for most goals is the lack of defence as well. Face it, we are desperate for Jovanovski to return :soak:

[Belms]

So Dallas won tonite. They beat St.Louis 3-1. Now their tied with us for 4th place. Home ice advantage might be lost if we fail to beat Columbus on sunday night.

[Antenna_Boy]

To beat the Columbus BJ's on sunday is the the best way for the canucks to start from scratch, and to start scratching their heads on how to beat shitty teams like columbus, and then columbus some more. But if they lose to them, they will have no hair left form scratching their heads and asses on how to beat ANY TEAM! :moon:

[Belms]

^
i think im now 10% stupider for reading that post.

[Antenna_Boy]

ROFLMAO!!!!! ^^^ sorry

[ppcock]

that's another loss

fuck. without bertuzzi they're nothing.

[decypher]

what a depressing game..

[crackdragon]

After tonights game my faith in the Canucks is seriously wavering. Not jumping off the band wagon, but with the level of play they have been putting forth I dont believe they will go far come playoffs

[GiggleyGal]

^^I agree, it seems like they have no motivation anymore. :(

[Antenna_Boy]

Maybe the canucks are feeling frustrated from lack of sex :070: and that is why they are losing?

[skittled]

[quote]Originally posted by Magi
of these 8 games, only 2~3 are against Stanley Cup contenders (Dallas again, San Jose, and L.A. who are sort of in limbo @ the moment) the rest are all against bottom feeders or teams which won't make it for sure (Chicago, Columbus, Phoenix, ANALheim, Edmonton).


You calling Edmonton a bottom feeder after they beat San Jose convincingly 5-3 on the same nite Canucks lose to Columbus?
Just watch it, its going to be Calgary vs Vancouver in the first round. With Flames sweeping them in four!!!