Utah @ Vancouver preview

Utah at Vancouver

Last Meeting ( Feb 23, 2025 ) Vancouver 1, Utah 2

With the clock ticking on the regular season, the Vancouver Canucks and Utah Hockey Club need to make the most of every opportunity to earn a point as both pursue a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

And each team will have a huge opportunity when the clubs meet Sunday in Vancouver.

The gap got bigger Saturday when the Canucks defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 at home, a night after Utah fell 4-2 on the road to the Seattle Kraken.

Utah and Vancouver enter their Sunday showdown separated by four points in the standings, with the Canucks (73) holding the second and final wild-card spot in the conference.

Utah (69 points) would need to jump over the Canucks as well as the Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues (71 each) to advance to the postseason.

Vancouver has won two straight games and has alternated between successive wins and successive losses for the past eight games.

Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland and Pius Suter each had a goal and an assist, and Nils Aman and defensemen Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers also scored for Vancouver against Chicago.

Nils Hoglander, Kiefer Sherwood and Teddy Blueger had two assists each, and Arturs Silovs made 17 saves in his first start in seven games.

The Canucks produced six goals for only the second time this season.

"It's definitely a boost for us," Pettersson said.

Four of the goals came from the Canucks' third and fourth lines.

"Those guys really have done a great job for us all year long, and I'm glad they got rewarded, and we're going to help them keep going," said Hughes, who is also the team's captain. "We got 16 (games) left now, and it's going to have to be all of us."

Goals by Aman and Suter in the middle of the third period came eight seconds apart. That ties for the second-fastest two goals in franchise history. Greg Adams and Cliff Ronning scored six seconds apart on Feb. 6, 1992.

Pettersson scored for the fourth time in five games.

Filip Chytil left with 4:56 remaining in the game after taking a hit into the boards from the Blackhawks' Jason Dickinson and went directly to the locker room.

Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet did not have an update on Chytil's condition after the game.

"It's a pretty bad hit, so we'll see how he is," Tocchet said.

Myers played after missing the previous game with an undisclosed injury. Fellow defenseman Marcus Pettersson was in the lineup after leaving Wednesday night's game against Calgary because of an elbow to the head.

On the other side of the ice, Utah has lost four of its past six games (2-2-2).

Against Seattle on Friday, Utah led 2-1 after Kevin Stenlund's goal 7:35 into the second period, but the team couldn't hold the lead.

"Our execution was not there. I don't think we had our usual transition game, our usual offense, our usual inside presence," Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. "It's one of those off nights where you put the tape right in the trash and move on."

Stenlund also had an assist, and Nick Schmaltz also scored. Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves for Utah.

"I thought we battled hard. It stinks to come out on the wrong end of that one," Schmaltz said. "We've got to turn the page quick. I mean, obviously, every game feels like do or die at this point. We've got to control our own destiny, play how we want to play, and take care of business."

Utah forward Liam O'Brien left the game with an undisclosed injury in the third period. There was no update after the game.

Utah beat Vancouver 2-1 on Feb. 23 and 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 18, with both games in Salt Lake City.

--Field Level Media