“Stay alive or be dead”: Boudreau hoping to pull off crazy Canucks run

Mathematically, the Vancouver Canucks still have a chance. 

And regardless of how slim those odds are of punching a ticket into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, coach Bruce Boudreau is going to believe. 

“I think every game is a ‘stay alive or be dead’ moment,” Boudreau told media today. 

“At the most, we can afford to lose one game. Obviously we don’t want to lose that one game. We want every game to be relevant from here to the rest of the year I think is a great growth for the organization.

“If we can do that and just keep winning then you never know.”

Head Coach Bruce Boudreau meets with the media in Arizona before tonight's game against the Coyotes. #Canucks | @theprovince pic.twitter.com/v2JSds6f9D

— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) April 7, 2022

The Canucks pulled out a season-saving 5-1 win at the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday, prompting the familiar ‘Bruce there it is‘ chants. The victory pulled Vancouver to within seven points of the Dallas Stars for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. 

Dallas has played two fewer games and the Canucks would still need to leapfrog Vegas — which is six points up after Wednesday.

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Not the easiest of roads to the postseason.

“I’ve been in situations where things happen that are pretty crazy,” Boudreau said. “This could be one of those crazy moments, I hope.”

MoneyPuck, a popular public analytics site, puts Vancouver’s chances of qualifying at 1.4%. SportsClubStats, another public outlet, puts the Canucks at 2.9% after their latest win. 

The Athletic places Vancouver’s odds at 2%. 

So there’s a chance. 

But it’s understandable why Boudreau figures his group can only sustain one more setback over the remaining three weeks of the season.

Running the table over the remaining 11 games would put the Canucks at 98 points — three above the typical projected cutoff mark of 95. 

But even at that mark, there’s no guarantee. 

Dallas projects to 98.6 points this season and the Los Angeles Kings — third in the Pacific Division and another team target for Vancouver to hunt down — are on a 97.9 point pace. 

“Right now we’re at a point where we can’t lose too many games,” forward Conor Garland said this morning. “We understand that every game is a must-win at this point. We’ve got a lot of belief in our room that we can do it.

“We know what the math looks like and what we have to do, but we truly believe in there we can do it.”