WE MADE IT! 82 GAMES LATER AND WE'RE GONNA BE PLAYING FOR REALS!
What an amazing journey this season has been. Unbelievable start. Believable post ASB dip. And here we are with a loss and we just don't care. And we not care in the best, most caring way.
It wasn't the best place to finish the season. Perhaps not even the best place to play mid-season. Doesn't matter.
What matters is some Nucks got some extra rest. Some NM gamethreaders got some rest.
And for the lucky Nucks who played in the Peg, the most important thing, was to NOT get injured. Win or Lose, not getting hurt is the biggest win.
Nucks opened the scoring in the 1st, with Gnarly's 20th goal of the season.
Garland gets his goal!
Westy
Nucks lead 1-0 for almost 6 minutes. And the 1st ends in a 1-1 tie.
In the 2nd, Winni takes the commanding 2-1 lead. Until... it's a last regular game miracle!
Yes, it's a Nucks PP goal! Even better, Lindy tips a Huggie shot for the commanding 2-2 tie.
WOOOO the rare PP goal! Lindholm with the tip!
Twitch
In the 3rd, the home team broke the tie and led 3-2 until the final minutes when the Nucks put on some extra pressure and the Jets got an extra goal into the vacant net.
It feels good when we are losing and I am happy.
Atty
I am used to the last game being the most meaningless. We did that for the past 10 years..
4-2 Jets in game 82.
OBSERVATIONS
Keen observation.
Back before the start of the year, I wrote an article about the Canucks record against the East and how they needed to get more points from those games to get into the playoffs. They were 10-20-2.
This year's Canucks team was the Western team with the best record against the East, going 21-7-4.
A 26 point improvement.
Westy
Another keen Pete observation.
So, Petey playing today is the proof that he is not hurt.
Atty
Capt'n Huggie finishes the regular with 92 points and a plus +38. He's pretty good at this hockey thing.
Nucks PK got lots of practice. The good kind. Went 100% on 8 minutes of stingy practice fun. Nucks have 14 consecutive successful PKs to finish the season. Will there even be that many calls in the 1st round? Stay tuned, because the Nucks have So Many Men!
LAST REGULAR HIGHLIGHTS
Shortie on the road. His last road game of the month? Hope not.
GAME STATS
SHOTS
| CANUCKS | Period | JETS |
| 9 | 1st | 8 |
| 6 | 2nd | 8 |
| 5 | 3rd | 10 |
| 20 | TOTAL | 26 |
PLAYER POINTS
| GOALS | ASSISTS | +/- | |
| GNARLAND | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| LINDHOLM | 1 | 0 | |
| HUGHES | 1 | -1 | |
| Saves | Shots | SV% | |
| DEMKO | 22 | 25 | .880 |
TACO TALK
"Not bad... couple mistakes in the 3rd...gotta move on... the big prize now is playing on Sunday... 'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be a fun time for the guys. I want them to enjoy it. We've got some work to do the next two or three days to prepare, and it's going to be exciting." - Coach Taco
Watch Taco's last regular road presser at NHL.COM.
7pm Pacific, Sunday. It's game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Canucks! For us! Wooo!
