Canucks’ elimination least surprising moment in season full of them - Sportsnet.ca

Nils Hoglander scored two goals as the Vancouver Canucks went on to beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-1.

As the National Hockey League was confirming the Saturday start of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs late Monday, the Canucks were beating the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 after the Montreal Canadiens’ single point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers guaranteed that Vancouver would miss the post-season for the fifth time in six years.

The Canucks never envisioned a 6-11-0 start, never knew that when star centre Elias Pettersson left the lineup on March 3 with a day-to-day injury that he wouldn’t play again.

The end came Monday not with a thunderclap, but a muted celebration of a win in Winnipeg and resignation about how different things are now than they were last August, when the surprising Canucks won two playoff series and took the Vegas Golden Knights to Game 7 in another.

The Canucks are 13 points behind the fourth-place Canadiens, who have only one game remaining.

Rathbone was also deployed on the right side of the Canucks’ power play, launching left-shot one-timers from quarterback Quinn Hughes’ passes as Green went with two defencemen on a unit that was on a 0-for-15 hibernation.

The new-look power play generated four shots on its lone advantage, and Rathbone finished the game with three shots on net, three hits and four blocks.

It's probably the best our power play has looked in a while.

The Canucks and Jets play again Tuesday?

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