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Canucks are division champs for first time in 11 years

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Apr 17 2024, 4:38 am
Canucks are division champs for first time in 11 years
Bob Frid/USA TODAY Sports

The Vancouver Canucks aren’t just heading back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, they’re doing it in style.

The Canucks clinched the Pacific Division title Tuesday night at Rogers Arena, beating the Calgary Flames 4-1 in their final home game of the regular season.

Thatcher Demko was excellent in his return to the lineup, stopping 39 of 40 shots faced and showing no signs of rust.

“I felt pretty good,” Demko said post-game. “Definitely some stuff that I want to clean up. I think the important thing is just getting back and seeing some game action.”

Vancouver’s first goal of the game came shorthanded by Tyler Myers, who ripped a shot past Jacob Markstrom 12 minutes into the first period. It looked like Teddy Blueger was going to dump the puck down the ice, until he heard Myers yelling.

“I don’t know if he was faking it or saw me at the last second but it looked like he was gonna dump it for a second,” Myers said. “So I gave a yell to him and he made a nice pass.”

Nils Höglander doubled Vancouver’s lead 1:28 later, finishing off a pretty passing play from Elias Pettersson and Ilya Mikheyev.

Höglander had an eventful game, as he was in the middle of a pair of scuffles. He cross-checked Brayden Pachal in the second period, and wrestled Rasmus Andersson in the third.

“He kind of got me up high and I’m lucky he’s kind of 5-foot-3, so it would have got me in the face otherwise,” Pachal said post-game, about Höglander.

For the record, Höglander is listed at 5-foot-9.

The Canucks blew the game open before the two-minute mark of the second period, when Dakota Joshua’s wrist shot beat Markstrom. It gave the Canucks a 3-0 lead they took into the third period.

Pachal scored midway through the third period to get Calgary on the board, but J.T. Miller answered back with a goal of his own with under five minutes left. Miller now has 103 points on the season, which is the seventh-highest-scoring season in franchise history.

Canucks looking ahead to the playoffs

The Canucks will finish first in the Pacific Division, and if the playoffs began tomorrow, they’d play the Nashville Predators. But their first-round opponent is not yet set. If the Dallas Stars lose in regulation time against St. Louis tomorrow, the Canucks will have a chance to top the Western Conference with a win in their regular season finale in Winnipeg.

If the Canucks finish first in the West, they’ll play either Vegas or Los Angeles.

Regardless of who they play, Canucks players can’t wait.

“It’s all of our first time playing a playoff game here. We got a million reasons to be excited,” Miller said post-game. “The atmosphere is gonna be unbelievable. I know the city and the crowd’s gonna be awesome.”

While players in the Canucks dressing room recognized that winning the division isn’t the ultimate goal, they did admit pride in their accomplishment. That’s certainly true for Miller, who has been through a lot in his five years in Vancouver.

“That’s cool,” Miller said when asked about fans naming him MVP and chanting his name. “I would say a year or two ago, it wasn’t exactly that way… it’s a special thing to be recognized by the fans that way.

“Such a passionate fan base, I can relate to that.”

This is the 11th time in franchise history that the Canucks have won their division, and the first time since the 2012-13 season.

“It means a lot,” Myers said of the accomplishment. “I’ve said it a bunch recently, but from looking back to where we’ve come from, guys buried their head, put the work in, really bought into what we were trying to do.

“To be rewarded with the division tonight, it’s pretty cool. We’re not satisfied by any means, but it means something for sure.”

 

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