[Hyack]

Vancouver at Anaheim

65

CANUCKS (27-30-7) at DUCKS (33-21-10)

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Richard Bachman will make his first NHL start since earning a 4-3 road win for Vancouver against the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 30, 2015. Bachman was recalled Feb. 28 from Utica of the American Hockey League, where he was 12-11-0 with a .909 save percentage, when Jacob Markstrom was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. Ryan Miller started in a 4-3 win at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and coach Willie Desjardins opted not to play him in the second of back-to-back games. "We don't want to risk anything with [Miller], and I've got lots of confidence with Bachman anyway," Desjardins said. Forward Sven Baertschi scored two goals against the Kings, his second game since missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. Bo Horvat and Loui Eriksson have combined for a goal and five assists while playing on a line with Baertschi the past two games. "That line's a good line," Desjardins said. "They've got some good pieces to it. Bo plays hard, Loui's starting to pick up his game. He's starting to play better, and I think Baertschi's played good since he's come back." The Canucks are seven points behind the Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. "We know we can play a little better," Desjardins said. "I think our team has good parts right now. I don't think we've played as well as we can play. I think we've got more."

Puck drop at 5:00pm PT

[Hyack]

The Canucks will take a 1-0 lead into the 2nd period thanks to a goal by Horvat at 14:09, his 20th goal of the season.

[Strutz]

So far so good.

Bachman has made a couple of very nice saves too.

[Hyack]

Markus Granlund scores his 17th of the season at 13:25 of the 2nd to make it 2-0...

[Strutz]

[N_Fiddledog]

And now they're ahead by 2 in the third so it's like they turn to each other and say "OK guys, time to start taking stupid penalties."

[Hyack]

Badly out shot again, 43-27, the guys managed to hold on to win this one 2-1. The Canucks start a 5 game home stand on Tuesday when Montreal comes to town.

[Strutz]

Well... how about that?

Good one tonight

[Alta_redneck]

Good over all effort this weekend.

[N_Fiddledog]

Hung in there.

[N_Fiddledog]

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

Good over all effort this weekend.

Yeah, who are these guys and what have they done with our Canucks.

Me like though.

[Strutz]

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

Good over all effort this weekend.

Yeah, who are these guys and what have they done with our Canucks.

Me like though.

Me too.

Let it keep rolling.

[Hyack]

In the chase for a Wild Card position, the Canucks with 63 points are 6 points behind St Louis(69), who have a game in hand on us, and 13 points behind Calgary(76) who we have a game in hand over. With only 17 games left to play for Vancouver the odds are not looking good on the team making it into a playoff position this year. While catching up to St Louis is a possibility, there are still 2 other teams ahead of the Canucks in the Wild Card race, Los Angeles with 68 points and Winnipeg with 66 points. To have any chance of making the playoffs this season the guys are going to have to keep up the pace they set on this road trip, winning at least 2 out of every 3 games, something they haven't been able to do all season. Here's hoping they can keep up the pace for another month!

[N_Fiddledog]

Well, actually...

Wouldn't a top 3 draft choice be nice this rebuild year?

I like watching them win, but then I think 'Nolan Patrick, Nico Hischier, Gabriel Vilardi.' Go ahead and tank guys.

On the other hand it's kind of fun...

One can just relax, watch the game, and enjoy. No matter what happens.

[Strutz]

It's true that our chances are slim. It's so tight and competitive as always in our conference but you can't help but hope for that shot.

For now it's entertaining and good to see some of the younger guys gaining some confidence out there and growing.