Canucks – Golden Knights Game Day Exclusive – DeBoer Shares

After the Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights morning skate media scrums, Vegas Head Coach Pete DeBoer did a one-on-one with a single media entity … Vancouver Hockey Now. We wanted a little more information for Canucks fans on this crucial hockey game Tuesday night, the third in the last ten days between these two NHL Pacific Division rivals.

The big news is the potential return of Golden Knights captain Mark Stone to the line-up after missing forty-plus games to injury. We already heard DeBoer’s answer on the topic, “a game-time decision”, so we asked him the question in a different way to garner a more thorough response. We also talked about the return last game of veteran forward Max Pacioretty, another victim of a 40-plus game absence.

Yes, injuries happen, and NHL head coaches often say they can’t use it as an excuse, but let’s face it, this Vegas team is very likely already locked into a playoff position if it hadn’t lost hundreds of man-games to injury. DeBoer joked about having an exorcism during the season to solve the bad luck.

The Golden Knights beat the Canucks on April 3rd at Rogers Arena in overtime by the score of 3-2 on a Shea Theodore game winner. Vancouver turned the tables and out-played Vegas 5-1 at T-Mobile Arena on ‘the Strip’ three nights later.

Tonight’s game wraps up the season series between these two clubs on the outside of the playoffs looking in and a win will prove urgently valuable to the victor.

Here’s how the playoff chase looks heading in:

3rd Place – Pacific Division – Los Angeles Kings – 74 games played, 86 points (The Kings visit Chicago tonight)

1st Wild Card – Nashville Predators – 72 games played, 87 points (The Predators host the San Jose Sharks tonight)

2nd Wild Card – Dallas Stars – 72 games played, 86 points (The Stars host the Tampa Bay Lightning this evening)

Vegas Golden Knights – 73 games played, 84 points

Winnipeg Jets – 74 games played, 81 points

Vancouver Canucks – 73 games played, 80 points

Puck drop is a little after 7 pm for the Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights on ‘Canucks for Kids’ Telethon Night.