Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Elias Pettersson and Adam Foote are down to one hard truth: if Vancouver loses to Colorado, 32nd place becomes official.
That is the bad news hanging over the Canucks right now. There is no soft way to frame it, and no scoreboard trick left to hide it.
Vancouver sits 32nd in the NHL with a 21-44-8 record and 50 points. Chicago is at 67 points, which leaves the Canucks with no margin at all.
So Wednesday is not just another late-season puck drop. It is a game that can lock the Canucks into the league basement before the schedule is even finished.
That makes Pettersson the center of the story again. He still has 6 points in his last 5 games, and Vancouver still leans on him more than anyone else to create something off the rush.
The problem is what comes after that first touch. The Canucks have scored 187 goals in 73 games, the fewest total on the matchup board against Colorado.
One more loss would stamp this season
Foote is coaching through a finish that has turned from disappointing to damaging. Vancouver is 2-8-0 in its last 10 games, and the slide has dragged every conversation back to the same place.
That place is the standings. The Canucks are not just near the bottom. They are already there, and another loss would remove the last bit of suspense.
Colorado is a brutal team to face in that spot. The Avalanche come in at 49-14-10 and average 3.75 goals per game, while Vancouver is sitting at 2.49.
The matchup gets even tighter when you look at recent leaders. Pettersson has 6 assists over the last 5 games, while Jake DeBrusk has 2 goals in that same stretch for Vancouver.
That is not enough support against a club with Nathan MacKinnon on one side and Martin Necas piling up 8 points in his last 5 on the other. Vancouver does not have room for another quiet night from its top six.
And there is no hiding from the special-teams gap either. The Canucks are running at 19.7 percent on the power play and 71 percent on the penalty kill, while Colorado is at 18.1 percent and 83.7 percent.
Those numbers tell the story of a team chasing the game too often and failing to clean it up after. Too many holes, too little push, too much pressure landing on the same few forwards.
If Vancouver loses, last place is no longer a threat. It becomes fact, and that label will sit over this roster all summer.
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Elias Pettersson and the Canucks are one loss away from finishing 32nd
Would an official 32nd-place finish force the Canucks into major roster changes ?