Although it’s not a divisional matchup, the Utah Hockey Club’s game against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday could have playoff implications.
The Canucks are in a wild-card spot and Utah HC is three points out. A regulation win for either team would kill two birds with one stone, gaining points for themselves and preventing one of their closest competitors from doing the same.
It will be Utah HC forward Matias Maccelli’s 200th NHL game.
The Canucks are a highly skilled team. To put it into perspective, they had seven representatives at last year’s all-star game. They made it to game seven of the second round of the playoffs, ultimately losing by a goal to the Edmonton Oilers, who would go on to lose in the Stanley Cup Final.
This year, the Canucks’ hope is to go even further than that. Injuries have restricted their roster a lot this season, but with players getting healthier by the minute, they’re producing some big wins. They beat the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 4-0 on Thursday and they knocked off the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday.
“Hopefully we can hold on,” said Utah HC head coach André Tourigny after the team’s practice on Monday.
Tourigny compared the Canucks to the Avalanche, specifically in the sense that they’re good in the offensive zone. He’s also wary of their forecheck and the amount of possession time that they generate.
You’re probably already familiar with players like Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, JT Miller and Thatcher Demko. But let me add another one to your radar: Kiefer Sherwood.
Sherwood broke his career high in goals with a hat trick against the Avalanche on Monday — and he still has 52 games to go. Oh, and that was a 3-1 game, meaning he scored all three of the Canucks’ goals.
The first career hat trick for Kiefer Sherwood, and it's a natural hat trick! 👏
Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstrazenecaUS pic.twitter.com/Sr4qzVDxKQ
The Canucks picked him up in free agency this summer after facing him and the Nashville Predators in last year’s playoffs. They loved the intensity that he brings to games — the same thing they like about Miller.
If you follow Utah HC closely, you already know about Kevin Stenlund’s current hot streak. In the five games since he found out he wouldn’t play for Team Sweden at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, he has four goals and five points. For context, he had just one goal and four points in the 25 previous games.
Stenlund’s record against the Canucks is well above his career average: a goal and three points in seven games.
All that being said, the offensive zone is not where Stenlund provides his highest value. He’s a defensive specialist who kills penalties and wins faceoffs. His current hot streak is just a bonus for Utah.
In the summer of 2021, the Canucks acquired Conor Garland and Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, the ninth-overall pick in that year’s draft, and a pair of picks in the following draft. The ninth-overall pick turned into Utah HC star Dylan Guenther.
It’s been more than three years since the trade, but many Canucks fans still consider Guenther as the one that got away. Garland is a great player and is having another impressive season, but Guenther’s projected career arc has Canucks fans wondering what could have been.
Guenther has a lot of respect for his counterpart.
“He’s a pretty hard competitor,” Guenther said of Garland. “(He) competes hard, wins battles, has some pretty good skills, so he’s a good player.”
The game, which starts at 8 p.m. MST, will be broadcast on Utah HC+ and Utah 16. Tickets are available, starting at $48 on Ticketmaster at the time of writing.
It’s not the Canucks’ first — or even second — visit to the Delta Center. They played the Los Angeles Kings in a pair of preseason games there in 2018 and 2019.
