Are the playoffs over for the Vancouver Canucks?
Calgary's Mayor Naheed Nenshi says 'the Canucks are toast' — and he's probably right
Was it all a dream? That sense of cautious optimism that washed over Canuck Nation after a better than expected regular season?
The feeling the Calgary Flames were the best (easiest) opening round playoff match-up for Vancouver?. Plucky yes, but eminently beatable, with a roster full of rosy-cheeked youngsters lacking playoff experience.
Fast forward to reality.The Canucks are down 3-1 to the kids and coming off two disheartening losses in Alberta where they were badly outplayed.
Flames fans are ecstatic. Calgary's mayor is gloating. The Vancouver Canucks are toast.
Does experience really matter?
As for all that experience the Canucks like to talk about? It doesn't seem to be amounting to much.
Perhaps a more telling tale is in the numbers.
- The Canucks have won only two of their last 15 playoff games, going back to Game 6 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final series.
- In those 15 games, they've scored a total of 26 goals. That's an average of 1.7 goals per game. It's hard to win when you can't score.
- According to NHL.com, a team trailing 3-1 in a best-of-seven series comes back to win only 8.7 per cent of the time.
Never say never but...
Of course a comeback is still possible. The Canucks strung together three straight overtime wins in 1994 to eliminate Calgary from the playoffs. So never say never.
But so far there's little indicate the 2015 Canucks have any of the magic, the Bure-Linden-McLean bunch did 21 years ago.
These Canucks look old. And slow. And incapable of making adjustments to deal with Calgary's hard forechecking and hard-nosed style.
If that's what 'experience' looks like, then the only logical conclusion is this: Experience is overrated.
Canuck roster updates
Alex Burrows is out for the series. Burrows hurt a rib fighting Kris Russell in Game 3, and was subsequently hit by a puck in the same area the following morning. He flew back to Vancouver on Wednesday after spending the night in a Calgary hospital.
Former Flame Sven Baertschi will be in the lineup for the Canucks Thursday in Game 5, likely playing with Radim Vrbata and Nick Bonino. It's Baertschi's series and NHL playoff debut. Hope is he can spark some desperately needed offence for Vancouver.
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