Tipsheet: Blues create four-way battle for final playoff spot with late surge

After returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the Blues rallied to turn the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot into a four-way battle.

They’ve earned points in nine of their past 10 games (7-1-2) to catch the pack.

The Calgary Flames held the slot through Wednesday’s play with 71 points in 64 games, but the Vancouver Canucks (71 points in 65 games), Utah Hockey Club (69 points in 65 games) and Blues (69 points in 65 games) are within arm’s reach.

On Wednesday, the Canucks edged the Flames 5-4 in a shootout, and the Utah Hockey Club defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 to keep things tight.

The Canucks had lost six of their previous nine games to put this playoff slot into play. They had been dealing with myriad issues, including injuries to defenseman Quinn Hughes and goaltender Thatcher Demko, plus Elias Pettersson’s baffling slump.

“You’ve got to knock somebody out to get in, and we’ve always known on some level that Vancouver was one of the teams we knew we could push to get in,” Flames forward Blake Coleman noted. “Now they’re in a pretty similar spot.”

Hughes returned after missing four games with a lower-body injury to help lead the Canucks to an uplifting victory in Calgary.

“Obviously a really important game,” Hughes said. “A very excited group. Individually, really fun to get back into the swing of things and feel confident in my body. A big win tonight. Really excited for our team. We’ve just got to keep climbing.”

Pettersson came to life with a goal and an assist as Vancouver rallied against the Flames.

“Both teams know we’re going at each other,” Pettersson said. “We’re tied in points. They have one game in hand. It’s going to be tight all the way to the last game. Every game matters. Every point matters.”

Utah extended its point streak to four games (2-0-2) by defeating the Ducks (with ex-Blue Ville Husso in goal) before heading to the road to play at Seattle, Vancouver and Edmonton.

Meanwhile, the Blues play three games in the next four days — at Pittsburgh and Minnesota, then home against Anaheim — with plenty on the line.

Here is what folks have been writing about the NHL:

• IAIN MACINTYRE, Sportsnet: “For most of this season, the Vancouver Canucks’ most compelling battle cry has been: ‘Hey, we’re still in it.’ Goalie Thatcher Demko’s off-season lasted until December, Elias Pettersson ‘trained around’ his sore knee in the summer, and winger Dakota Joshua had cancer. Then Derek Forbort lost his dad and his health, Brock Boeser got concussed and J.T. Miller took his leave of absence. And that was just the first month. But the Canucks were still in a playoff position. Filip Hronek got injured, Quinn Hughes got injured and Pettersson got worse, then got injured, too. And the Canucks were still in it. Miller got traded and Pettersson vanished.

“And even (this week), with Demko and Hughes still out of the lineup with their third injuries of the season, and Boeser goal-less in nine games, and Pettersson just scoring his second in 18, and Joshua and Nils Hoglander at nine goals combined (after amassing 42 last season), Vancouver is still in the National Hockey League playoff race. But the battle cry becomes less hopeful by the day, and time is seriously undermining the Canucks’ dream about getting suddenly healthy and blasting off and surging into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a puncher’s chance of upsetting someone who finished a time zone ahead of them in the standings.”

• ADAM PROTEAU, The Hockey News: “Calgary has been one of the more compelling stories of the 2024-25 season, but the Flames aren’t assured of a postseason berth. They’re likely to be in a dogfight with their Pacific Division rivals, the Vancouver Canucks, right through the end of the regular season . . . Calgary’s big in-season trade that saw them acquire center Morgan Frost and left winger Joel Farabee from Philadelphia. Farabee has three points in 13 games, while Frost has five, so seeing more offense from them should give the Flames the firepower to stay in the playoff hunt. The Flames will need star rookie goalie Dustin Wolf to continue to give them a chance of succeeding, but it’s now on Calgary’s veterans — center Nazem Kadri, left winger Jonathan Huberdeau, and blueliners MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson — to do the heavy lifting and outlast the Flames’ competition.”
• RYAN S. CLARK, ESPN.com: “The Predators were going to retool their roster after an aggressive offseason was followed by a disappointing regular season. (Gustav) Nyquist was a pending unrestricted free agent who brought back a 2026 second-round pick. Trading (Tommy) Novak and (Luke) Schenn to Pittsburgh returned (Michael) Bunting and a 2026 fourth-round pick. Granted, Schenn was later traded to the Jets for a 2026 second-round pick and 2027 fourth-round pick — which raised questions about whether the Preds should have received more for Schenn. Still, it amounted to them clearing cap space ahead of the offseason, where they can address their remaining needs; they are projected to have more than $18 million to do so.”
• LAUREN THEISEN, The Defector: “(Mikko) Rantanen surely lost some money by staying off the open market, but in Dallas, as a Star, he can at least say that he seized his own destiny. And frankly, for as much as Rod Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes have been a model franchise over his tenure, who wouldn’t want to play for the Stars? Longtime GM Jim Nill, tasked with maintaining interest in a non-traditional hockey city, is not a believer in slow rebuilds. His aggressive mentality has fostered a team that made the conference final in back-to-back years and is itching to go even farther. The way they continue to mix excellent young talent development with extended primes for guys in their 30s should make them the envy of the rest of the league. Add to the mix Rantanen’s ability to both make his teammates better and create for himself, and Western Conference leaders Winnipeg must feel breath on their necks.

“Even with injuries to 25-year-old defensive backbone Miro Heiskanen and 33-year-old scoring stalwart Tyler Seguin, you have to work pretty hard to find faults in these Stars. Matt Duchene, at 34, could be outpacing himself a little with his 25 goals. ... Jason Robertson, their offensive leader from the wing, is riding an eight-game point streak. The precocious Wyatt Johnston is showing no signs of slowing down in his third year in the league. Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov are both contributing at age 35. And Roope Hintz, despite getting bloodied on Saturday, has spent most of his year confounding defenses with his trademark bursts of speed. Without Mikko Rantanen, Dallas is a really good team. With him for the next eight years? The stars are the limit.”

Megaphone

“We didn’t burn it down. You have to have a little bit of a step back at times. Did we know this morning that we’d end up making all of these moves? No. But we were prepared if the things that we liked were presented.”

Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney