Anaheim @ Vancouver preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 25, 2019 ) Anaheim 0, Vancouver 4

The Vancouver Canucks barely have a pulse in the race for the second wild card in the Western Conference despite a schedule that was set up to allow them to make a late-season charge. Coming off a pair of feeble offensive performances over the weekend, the Canucks resume their seven-game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

Vancouver managed only one goal in consecutive home losses to Calgary and Columbus and trails eighth-place Colorado by seven points with six games remaining. "That wasn't our strongest game at all," Canucks forward Bo Horvat said after Sunday's 5-0 drubbing by Columbus -- the team's NHL-leading 10th shutout defeat. Anaheim, which is two points behind Vancouver in 14th place in the West with only five games left to play, is making the second stop of a four-game road trip. The Ducks have won two of three meetings against the Canucks this season but dropped a 4-0 decision in Vancouver on Feb. 25.

TV: 10 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver)

ABOUT THE DUCKS (31-36-10): Anaheim fell off the map after a stretch in which it lost 19 of 21 games, leading to the dismissal of coach Randy Carlyle, but the team is 10-10-1 since general manager Bob Murray moved behind the bench. "It hasn’t been the season that we’ve wanted, but I think the way we’ve been playing now, everyone’s coming to the rink with the attitude that we need to continue to play for each other,” forward Cam Fowler said. Captain Ryan Getzlaf sat out Saturday's loss at Los Angeles but accompanied the team to Vancouver.

ABOUT THE CANUCKS (32-34-10): Forward Sven Baertschi returned to the lineup Sunday after missing 23 games with concussion-related symptoms. Baertschi, who also missed 30 games earlier in the season when he suffered a concussion, admitted he has some catching up to do after failing to register a shot in more than 16 1/2 minutes. “You realize how fast the game is,” Baertschi said. "But I was super excited. This has been hard and a real difficult time for me and my support system. Just being able to play again this year has been unbelievable.”

OVERTIME

1. Canucks F Brock Boeser has scored in four of his last eight games but has one assist in the past four matchups versus Anaheim.

2. Ducks F Rickard Rakell has three goals in the past two games and 11 points in the last 12 contests.

3. Canucks G Jacob Markstrom posted his lone shutout of the season against the Ducks on Feb. 25.

PREDICTION: Ducks 3, Canucks 2