The Vancouver Canucks' playoff position is in a precarious state.
With 26 games remaining, the Canucks are just barely in the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Their 26-19-11 record has them just three points up on the Calgary Flames but their Albertan rivals aren't the only team looming in their rearview mirror.
The Utah Hockey Club, formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes, are three points behind the Flames, so six points back of the Canucks. The Canucks would love to put some distance between themselves and teams like Utah and the Flames, so Sunday's match-up in Utah is the proverbial four-point game.
Utah may be a .500 club with a 24-24-9 record, but they're not to be taken lightly. They have some serious top-tend talent in their lineup, led by Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz, and Dylan Guenther, with Mikhail Sergachev providing some firepower from the backend.
"They're a really good rush team," said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. "Keller, Schmaltz, Cooley — young guys that when there's a turnover, they capitalize. I think they're one of the best rush teams in the league, so we've got to be careful there."
The Canucks could use more from their own top-end talent, who have been kept quiet in recent games.
Brock Boeser leads all Canucks forwards in scoring but has just two points, both goals, in his last seven games. Conor Garland is pointless in his last five games and has just three points, all goals, in his last 12 games. And the tribulations of Elias Pettersson are well known at this point: he has no goals in his last ten games and just four assists in that time.
It hasn't been all bad. After all, the Canucks have won six of their last nine games, so they're doing something right. It would just be a lot easier to be confident about the team's ability to keep winning games if their best forwards were scoring.
"I've liked our play without the puck the last 2-4 weeks, so that's a good part," said Tocchet, "but we've got to put the puck in the net."
It would be nice to see a big game from Boeser, who is three goals away from 200 career goals. His line with Filip Chytil and Drew O'Connor has frequently looked like the Canucks' most dangerous forward line in recent games.
They won't get any help from Quinn Hughes, unfortunately, as he'll miss another game while recovering from his oblique injury. Considering he was hopeful to return for Saturday, one has to wonder if he has had a setback.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
Both Utah and the Canucks played on Saturday, so they're both on the second half of back-to-back games. That means fatigue shouldn't be a factor but the Canucks are still making some changes to their lineup to get some fresh legs on the ice.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
Arshdeep Bains will enter the lineup for Nils Åman. While Tocchet praised the work of Nils Höglander on Saturday, he wanted to see more from his fourth line as a whole.
"We need more stuff in the offensive end: hold pucks, make the other team tired," said Tocchet. "I think a guy like Bains, he's played well down there, I've heard, so here's an opportunity to see if he can hold some pucks and supply some offence."
On defence, Victor Mancini will step in for Carson Soucy to play his first game with the Canucks.
"From the reports, he's played well down there," said Tocchet. "He's a big kid. He's 6'4", he's got a bomb — he's got a great shot — he moves the puck well, and he skates well. That's a guy you want in your lineup on defence. He's a young guy and we've got to get a sample size and see, but we want to give him a chance."
Soucy looked dreadful on the Vegas Golden Knights' first goal on Saturday, so there might also be a message-sending component to scratching him. It's been a tough season for Soucy, with the Canucks reportedly putting him on the trade block.
UPDATE: With Mancini coming in, the Canucks will shake up their defence pairings a little bit.
Marcus Pettersson and Tyler Myers will remain together, but Elias Pettersson is getting a promotion to a pairing with Filip Hronek, while Derek Forbort will play with Mancini. This puts a veteran with each of the Canucks' two rookies and should mean more minutes for the junior Pettersson, who has played very well since getting called up but has had limited ice time.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will also be fresh, as Arturs Silovs will step in for his first start since November 27. Silovs has struggled in the NHL this season with an .847 save percentage but he's found his game in the AHL of late. Hopefully, he'll be able to give Kevin Lankinen a full game off.
Utah Hockey Club projected lines
Logan Cooley has been activated off the injured reserve but he's reportedly a game-time decision for Utah. We'll see if he draws into the lineup.
Here are Utah's projected lines:
Clayton Keller - Alex Kerfoot - Nick Schmaltz
Michael Carcone - Barrett Hayton - Dylan Guenther
Lawson Crouse - Jack McBain - Josh Doan
Liam O'Brien - Kevin Stenlund - Nick Bjugstad
Mikhail Sergachev - John Marino
Ian Cole - Michael Kesselring
Olli Määttä - Sean Durzi
Karel Vejmelka
Connor Ingram
Utah's starting goaltender is expected to be Karel Vejmelka after Connor Ingram started on Saturday. Vejmelka has been the better of the two goaltenders by far, with a .909 save percentage compared to Ingram's .882.
