Looking at the numbers, the Vancouver Canucks have not been outstanding lately. Yet, they are extremely close to the wild-card playoff spots. A lot of that is likely due to the weak schedule in January and could change very soon.
In January, the Canucks played eight of their 12 games against teams that were outside of the playoff spots. For any team with playoff aspirations, those are without a doubt must-win games. And, the Canucks actually managed to win a fair share, putting them within three points of the wild-card spots with three games in hand over the Calgary Flames.