There was a time when the Vancouver Canucks had a comfortable cushion on the teams that stood outside the playoff picture, but that has quickly vanished.
Injuries to Jacob Markstrom and Brock Boeser have seriously affected the Canucks, who bring a four-game losing streak into Friday night’s home tilt with the Colorado Avalanche. Vancouver currently holds the second wild card spot with 74 points, thanks to tiebreakers over the Nashville Predators, Arizona Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets due to less games played.
The Canucks are barely holding off those three teams, but they’re still only three points behind the Calgary Flames (with two games in hand) for third in the Pacific Division.