There are just too many teams competing for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. On Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks have a chance to put some distance between themselves and at least one of those teams, the Utah Hockey Club.
Utah simply won't go away. They've been nipping at the Canucks' heels most of the season and their 8-5-2 record since the beginning of February has kept them outside of a playoff spot but still in contention. With their youth, speed, and skill — not to mention very strong underlying numbers — it seems like only a matter of time before they put everything together and go on a winning streak.
The issue for Utah is that they might run out of games before that happens.
Sunday's game against Utah gives the Canucks an opportunity to build up a bigger lead in the standings just in case Utah does start stringing some wins together. The Canucks are currently four points up on Utah in the same number of games played but they can extend that lead to six with a win in regulation.
The one issue is that the Canucks have lost both of their games against Utah so far this season. The Canucks have struggled to score against the Utahns, losing 3-2 in overtime back in December, then falling 2-1 in February in a game where they only managed 16 shots on goal.
That doesn't bode well for the Canucks' chances on the second half of back-to-back nights but the Canucks are feeling their oats after a 6-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks and star forward Elias Pettersson is on a roll, with goals in three-straight games.
With Pettersson off the schneid, the next Canucks star that needs to find the back of the net is Brock Boeser, who has gone 11 games without a goal and has just three assists in that time.
What Boeser needs most of all is some shots on goal. In his 11-game goalless drought, Boeser has just 13 shots, barely averaging over one shot per game.
If Boeser can get going again the way Pettersson has, it would go a long way towards making the Canucks look legitimate again.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
The big question for the Canucks' lines on Sunday is the health of Filip Chytil. He took a late in the game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday and appeared woozy as he got to his feet.
As important as Sunday's game is, Chytil probably shouldn't play even if he feels fine. Given his concussion history, taking the time to ensure he's okay is essential for his long-term health.
UPDATE: Chytil is officially out with a concussion, which is brutal news for Chytil. On the plus side, he's at least feeling okay, but it's good that they're going through the proper concussion protocol and playing it safe.
Rick Tocchet says Filip Chytil is out tonight with a concussion. Said he felt okay today, but is in the protocol. They’ll see how he is over the next 48 hours before deciding if he’ll go on the trip.
— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey)
Jonathan Lekkerimäki will draw into the lineup with Chytil out.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines without Chytil:
There's a chance that Elias "Junior" Pettersson gets into Sunday's game to get some fresh legs on defence in back-to-back games. That would mean one of Derek Forbort or Victor Mancini will be scratched.
UPDATE: "Junior" Pettersson took the ice for warm-up but the Canucks are coming back with the same six defencemen from Saturday, so he will be scratched for a second-straight game.
The forward lines got shuffled a bit more than anticipated in Chytil's absence. The Pettersson and Suter lines will remain the same, but the other two lines will look significantly different, with Brock Boeser joining Teddy Blueger and Kiefer Sherwood, while Drew O'Connor drops down to the fourth line centred by Nils Åman, with Lekkerimäki on the other wing.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Kevin Lankinen after Silovs backstopped the Canucks to the win on Saturday.
Utah Hockey Club projected lines
Utah has a couple of dangerous top-end forwards in Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther, who have 23 and 24 goals, respectively. Keller has four points in two games against the Canucks this season and Guenther has scored a goal in each game, while Logan Cooley has three points in those two games. Shutting that trio down has to be a priority.
Here are Utah's projected lines, :
Clayton Keller - Alexander Kerfoot - Nick Schmaltz
Logan Cooley - Barrett Hayton - Dylan Guenther
Lawson Crouse - Jack McBain - Josh Doan
Micahel Carcone - Kevin Stenlund - Nick Bjugstad
Mikhail Sergachev - John Marino
Ian Cole - Michael Kesselring
Olli Määttä - Sean Durzi
Karel Vejmelka
Jaxson Stauber
Utah's starting goaltender is expected to be Karel Vejmelka, who has a .908 save percentage this season and was in net for both of Utah's wins over the Canucks.
