The Vancouver Canucks look to take another step toward their first Pacific Division championship when they play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
Vancouver defeated the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins 3-2 in overtime on Saturday, snapping a season-long four-game losing run.
The Canucks entered the game tied with Boston in terms of points (80).
Despite their recent slide, the Canucks have been incredibly steady this season, scoring 27 points in their first 20 games (13-6-1), another 28 in their second 20 (13-5-2), and 27 in their most recent 20 (12-5-3).
The Canucks’ four-game losing streak did not cost them any ground in the Pacific Division race because their closest competitors, the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers, were also 4-5-1 in their previous ten games heading into this week, allowing them to maintain a nine-point lead over the Golden Knights.
The Canucks trailed 2-0 to Boston at the start of the third period when Brock Boeser scored at 12:49, Filip Hronek with 1:11 remaining, and Thatcher Demko was pulled for an extra attacker.
Boeser, who had only scored one goal in his first ten games since appearing in the NHL All-Star Game on February 3, won the game in 1:34 of overtime. This was his second goal of the game.
“Our bench was rather quiet, in the sense that we were not panicked. “I like that,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet stated. “The last three or four games, the bench would have looked a little different, with slamming sticks and other signs of frustration. I didn’t see that on Saturday night. There was no frustration, even though we were down 2-0.”
J.T. Miller, who had three assists against the Bruins, said it felt like the Canucks outplayed the Bruins the whole game, despite trailing for the majority of it.
“Let’s not make it more than it is, it’s just a hockey game in February, but timing-wise it feels good just for the way it’s been going a little bit lately,” he told reporters. “Whether we won or lost, I thought that we just played an awesome 60 minutes.”
With two days between games, the Canucks were able to complete a full practice on Sunday for the first time since February 16.
The Penguins, meanwhile, went back and forth with the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday before winning 7-6.
Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby got a goal and three assists, and Drew O’Connor scored for the third straight game, as the Penguins look to win three in a row for the first time in 2024.
On Monday, Pittsburgh was still seven points behind the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division and seven points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the last wild-card slot.
The Penguins have not missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since a four-year span from 2002 to 2006.
“You want to start building something solid because it’s just going to get harder and harder,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “If you (get into the playoffs), it’s going to be even harder, so you have to create a solid identity for your team, and right now is the time to do it.”
When these clubs last met on January 11 in Pittsburgh, Boeser and Crosby both scored two goals. Elias Pettersson scored an extra goal to give the Canucks a 4-3 win.
