There's no quit in the Vancouver Canucks.
Even as the Canucks have been wracked by injuries and came up short in crucial games on their recent six-game road trip, they never quit in any of those games. They mounted comebacks late in the third period of three of those games, two of them in the last minute.
Making the playoffs at this point is a nigh-impossible task, reliant on a team like the Minnesota Wild to completely fall apart down the stretch. But the Canucks aren't giving up hope.
"We know what position we're in; it's not necessarily a favourable one," said Thatcher Demko after Tuesday's practice. "But we've got to focus on one game at a time. You never know: these things can change quickly. We win one tomorrow, focus on the next one, maybe get one then, and see how things unfold."
That's the priority for the Canucks right now: just win one game and worry about the next game later. The bigger picture has to be pushed out of their minds.
"That's your mindset throughout the whole year," said Demko. "If you look at an 82-game schedule, it can be overwhelming. It's the same thing now. We've got eight games and we're pretty close to needing all of them. You can't win them all tomorrow, so we'll focus on one at a time."
The first game they need to win is Wednesday night against the Seattle Kraken, their first home game in two weeks. All of their games are must-win games at this point, but they especially can't lose this one against a team well below them in the standings. The Canucks will have tougher tests in the coming two weeks; they can't afford to stumble versus Seattle.
One positive for Demko on an individual level is that he's feeling more comfortable and confident in his health despite — or partially because of — missing six weeks with a groin injury. Dealing with his unusual popliteus injury over the offseason prevented him from doing a lot of the foundational work to prepare for the season, which led to some of the other injury complications he's faced over the past months. Being forced to take more time off gave him an opportunity to work on some of those elements.
"Part of the process was not only just rehabbing but also making sure that we were identifying things that I had to improve overall," said Demko. "Obviously, it was just a five or six-week window, so there's still some work to be done, for sure – things I feel that I can get better at — but that was definitely part of the focus."
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
Nils Höglander was once again in a red non-contact jersey at Wednesday's morning skate, which means he has not yet been cleared for contact. On Tuesday, head coach Rick Tocchet said, "We've got to be careful," about override taking appropriate cautions with his injury, so it's unlikely he gets in the lineup.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
The one change to the lineup that we might see is on defence, as the Canucks practice with Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers together on the top pair and Marcus Pettersson and Filip Hronek on the second pair. That's not a huge change, of course, as the Canucks have frequently swapped those pairings during games recently.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Thatcher Demko. In nine games against the Kraken in his career, Demko has a 5-2-1 record with an .899 save percentage.
Seattle Kraken projected lines
The Kraken have been officially eliminated from the playoffs but should not be taken lightly, as they still have a lot of young talent that will likely be eager to play spoiler and prove they can be part of the future in Seattle.
Here are the Kraken's projected lines:
Jaden Schwartz - Matty Beniers - Kaapo Kakko
Jani Nyman - Chandler Stephenson - Jordan Eberle
Jared McCann - Shane Wright - Andre Burakovsky
Eeli Tolvanen - John Hayden - Mikey Eyssimont
Vince Dunn - Adam Larsson
Ryker Evans - Brandon Montour
Jamie Oleksiak - Cale Fleury
Joey Daccord
Philipp Grubauer
The Kraken shook up their lines a little in their last game, swapping Eeli Tolvanen and Jani Nyman, so it's possible that Tolvanen will skate with Chandler Stephenson and Jordan Eberle against the Canucks.
There may also be further changes to the lineup. Jaden Schwartz was absent from the team's morning skate and the Kraken have called up Ryan Winterton from the AHL on an emergency basis.
The Kraken's starting goaltender is expected to be Joey Daccord, who is 1-2-1 versus the Canucks in his career , with an .866 save percentage. His one win, however, came this season, as 6-3 on March 1.
