VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The Vancouver Canucks’ playoff dreams were dashed Friday night. That doesn’t mean they’re packing it in during the final few games of the season.
Markus Granlund scored in the eighth round of the shootout, leading the Canucks to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
“We just want to play well and win,” coach Travis Green said. “We want a team that wants to win, whatever they do, whenever they play.”
Tim Schaller and Sven Baertschi scored in regulation for the Canucks. Jacob Markstrom made 38 saves.
Granlund’s goal was the only score in the shootout, which ended when Mattias Janmark missed for Dallas.
“It’s just nice to play good teams and teams that play,” Markstrom said. “It’s competitive games and good practice for us because they’re in the spot where we want to be. It’s been a long year, but we’ve got to keep grinding here these last three games.”
Andrew Cogliano and Alexander Radulov had goals for the Stars, who fell short of pulling off a playoff spot-clinching win after erasing a 2-0 deficit in the third period. Dallas also saw its three-game winning streak stopped.
“It’s huge right now,” Radulov said of the point the Stars earned with the shootout. “We’ll take that. Our goal is to make the playoffs, so we are one point away from it, so we shouldn’t wait for anybody. We’ve just got to go get that point or two next game and go from there.”
Schaller opened the scoring when he scooped the puck from behind the net and wrapped a back-handed shot around, poking the puck under Anton Khudobin’s pad 4:52 into the game. It marked the third goal of the season for Schaller, with all three coming against the Stars in games this month.
Baertschi made it 2-0 11:16 into the first, picking up the puck at the blue line, streaking into the offensive zone and sniping a wrist shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle. The shot beat Khudobin five-hole and marked Baertschi’s first point since returning from symptoms of post-concussion syndrome that kept him sidelined for 23 games.
“It’s been a hard year for him,” Green said. “To see him get a goal and a big goal, you’re happy for him.”
Markstrom stopped every shot he faced through nearly 2 ½ periods before Cogliano beat him with a wrister 9:14 into the third period.
Radulov added another goal 14:11 into the final frame, sending a long wrist shot sailing toward the Canucks net. The puck appeared to bounce off Vancouver defenseman Troy Stetcher and in.
Tyler Seguin nearly ended the game with less than two minutes left, snapping a closer-range shot at Markstrom, who trapped the puck under his arm to force overtime.
NOTES: Radulov extended his points streak to five games. … Canucks RW Jake Virtanen missed the game with a lower-body injury. … Seguin’s six-game points streak was snapped. The Dallas center had scored four goals and six assists during the stretch.
