Loss of Horvat, Pettersson enough to render Canucks' playoff hopes a fantasy

Adam Lowry scored his 6th and 7th goals of the season and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 22-shots he faced, as the Winnipeg Jets blank the Vancouver Canucks 4-0.

The sports mantra “next man up” often seems delusionary to people outside of the team trying to fool itself into believing a major injury shouldn’t matter.

It depends who is injured and who is next up, of course. But most times, injuries matter. And the farther up the lineup they occur, the more they matter, especially for teams without superior depth.

The Vancouver Canucks do not have enough quality depth even when everyone is healthy.

When their captain – literally and figuratively – hobbled off the ice on Monday, Bo Horvat’s apparent leg injury meant there were no healthy centres left from the four who started the National Hockey League season for Vancouver.

Elite forward Elias Pettersson has been out since March 2 with a reported wrist injury that was initially regarded as day-to-day but will be going on four weeks, at least, before he returns. Third-line centre and penalty-killer Brandon Sutter, who had been playing through an undisclosed injury, was unable to play Monday against the Winnipeg Jets. Fourth-line centre Jay Beagle has missed six games with an unknown injury.

Winger J.T. Miller has filled in admirably at centre since Pettersson was hurt, so maybe we’ll see winger Brock Boeser play centre on Wednesday when the Canucks play the Jets again before, mercifully, Vancouver gets a six-day schedule break.

But you don’t have to count through four centres for the injuries to reach a critical mass for Vancouver. Losing Pettersson and now, apparently, Horvat are enough to render the Canucks’ push to cling to the North Division playoff race a fantasy.

Even with inspired moments from Miller and Boeser, and world-class goaltending from Thatcher Demko, it’s hard to see how the Canucks survive for any length without both Pettersson and Horvat.

They lost 4-0 Monday to the Jets, who burst playoff “Bubble Demko” with shots both excellent and lucky. The Canucks hit four posts around Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, and as Vancouver coach Travis Green said, it didn’t feel like a 4-0 game.

But the Canucks generated just 22 shots on target, giving them a total of 40 shots in consecutive losses to the Jets and Montreal Canadiens. Even before their improbable four-game winning streak ended with Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss in Montreal, the Canucks’ five-on-five play had begun to dip noticeably without Pettersson.

Monday was the 10th straight game that Vancouver has been outshot.

And now the Canucks appear to be without Horvat. Green offered a two-letter assessment when asked after the game if he could provide a medical update: “No.” But it looked serious as Horvat, standing in front of the net, was drilled just below his shin guard by teammate Alex Edler’s slapshot when it was only 1-0.

We’ll see what the Canucks can muster over the final 20 games, but if the medical science halts their playoff chase, the end point of Vancouver’s attempt to make the Stanley Cup tournament may well be the quick sequence of events early in Monday’s third period.

A minute after Horvat somehow pushed himself on one leg back to the bench – a couple of players at the Winnipeg bench reached out with their sticks to help propel their wounded opponent off the ice – the Jets doubled their lead when Adam Lowry’s attempted centring pass caromed off Vancouver defenceman Travis Hamonic’s stick and body, arced perfectly over Demko and tumbled into the top corner of the net at 2:07 of the final period.

It was the kind of shot you might see if someone were pitching horse shoes. Blindfolded.

“I knew it went up in the air,” Demko said when asked about trying to locate the puck. “Most times that puck just goes over the net. Or something.”

Three minutes after that, Canucks defenceman Jordie Benn drifted a wrist shot from the point past traffic and Hellebuyck only to ping the crossbar. Two minutes later, Adam Gaudette hit the post. Vancouver struck iron four times in the game.

The Canucks need all the luck they can get, and on Monday they had none.

“I was talking to the team after the game,” Green told reporters. “Sometimes when you lose 4-0, it can give you a different kind of feeling after the game. That's a good hockey team over there and obviously we've got some guys out. But I really thought our guys stuck with it. I'm not sitting here saying we outplayed the other team and we deserved a better fate. But I am saying that it didn't feel like a 4-0 game and I liked a lot of things in our game.”

But the Canucks are now missing two paramount pieces from their game. Top-six winger Tanner Pearson is also out four weeks with an ankle injury.

“Obviously, it's not something that you want to deal with,” Demko said of the injuries. “But at the end of the day, it's part of what's going to happen to teams. Whoever's ready to go, they've got to step in and we’ve got to go about our business the same way and prepare to win.”

Minor-league call-up Tyler Graovac, whose last NHL game was Dec. 1, 2019, dressed as Sutter’s replacement on Monday and played nine minutes, registering no shot attempts, no hits and went 0-6 on faceoffs.

Beagle was able to skate with the Canucks in a non-contact jersey Monday morning and may be able to play centre on Wednesday. It’s unclear who the next man up is at that position if none of Beagle, Sutter and Horvat can play. Pettersson remains on long-term injured reserve and won’t return until at least the end of the Canucks’ schedule break on March 31.

“It sucks to lose all of our centres at this point,” Miller said. “But this stuff happens. Guys are going to get an opportunity and we need guys to step up.”

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