The Vancouver Canucks will play a critical matchup when they take on the New Jersey Devils Monday at the Prudential Center.

The Canucks playoff hopes took a beating over the weekend, as the St. Louis Blues went 2-0, while Vancouver suffered a painful 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday. To make matters worse, Elias Pettersson and Nils Höglander both left Saturday’s matchup with injury and are both questionable for this matchup.

I’ll detail the relevant game notes, as well as outline my favourite betting angle below.

If it were earlier on in the season, it would be easy to take some solace from the fact that the Canucks completely dominated the Rangers on Saturday and deserved a better result. But with the Canucks in such desperate need of two points from that game, it doesn’t offer the same level of encouragement. The Canucks held an 18-4 edge in high-danger scoring chances and outshot the Rangers 39-12.

If Vancouver can win eight of its remaining 12 matchups, it would finish with 92 points, which could potentially still not be enough to earn the final playoff spot.

The potential absences from Pettersson and Höglander come at a particularly bad time, as both had been in much better form while playing together on the top line. With Filip Chytil also likely to remain out of the lineup due to injury, the Canucks’ centre depth is currently a massive concern. Aatu Räty was recalled from AHL Abbotdord under emergency conditions ahead of this matchup to fill the hole left by Pettersson.

Quinn Hughes was completely dominant in Saturday’s matchup, recording one assist, nine shots on goal, and 15 shot attempts in 28:25 of time-on-ice. The Canucks generated 3.78 expected goals with Hughes on the ice and allowed only 0.62 expected goals against.

In the month of March, the Canucks hold a 54.13% expected goal share and hold a record of 5-5-1. It does appear that Vancouver has elevated its game slightly during its desperate pursuit of a playoff spot, but a team save percentage of just .858 has masked that fact.

Thatcher Demko was a full participant in Sunday’s practice, and it has been rumoured that he will get tonight’s start. Last year’s Vezina runner-up has been out since February 8, when he left in the first period with an injury against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Demko has battled injuries all season, holding a 6-6-3 record with a 2.87 goals against average and a .891 save percentage with one shutout through 17 games this season.

Barring a shockingly bad finish to the season, the Devils will finish as the third seed in the Metropolitan division and faceoff against the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 1. The Hurricanes certainly can’t feel too upset with that matchup, as since Jack Hughes’s injury, the Devils arguably don’t look any better than any of the teams likely to earn the Eastern Conference Wild Card berths.

In the time since Hughes’ season-ending shoulder injury, the Devils are just 4-5-0 and have scored just 2.78 goals per game. The Devils are also without Dougie Hamilton, who plays a key role in driving offence from the back end and typically quarterbacks a power play, which was one of the Devils’ greatest strengths earlier on in the season.

The Devils are also without Joonas Siegenthaler, who is one of the more underrated defenders in the league and has arguably been New Jersey’s best shutdown defender this season.

In the month of March, the Devils have allowed 3.20 xGA/60 and 27.03 shots against per 60. Earlier in the year, the Devils were one of the best defensive teams in the league, including a historic streak of allowing less than 20 shots on goal in seven consecutive games, but they have regressed significantly down the stretch.

Jacob Markstrom is expected to start in goal. He holds a +3.5 GSAx and .901 save percentage in 42 appearances this season.

The Devils have looked overvalued in the betting market recently, as they now hold one of the league’s more lethargic offences and have also taken steps backward defensively. If the Canucks can author a performance similar to Saturday’s, it should certainly lead to a better result, but Vancouver’s lineup is looking pretty iffy if Pettersson and Höglander join Chytil on the sidelines.

At +123, the Canucks would be my lean in terms of a side in what could be a low-event coin-flip type matchup.

This does seem like a good opportunity to back Quinn Hughes recording over 2.5 shots on goal at even money after his nine-shot, fifteen-attempt performance in New York.

The Canucks Captain continues to try his absolute best to drag his team to success and will likely end up playing close to 30 minutes once again in tonight’s matchup, and as noted, the Devils have taken significant steps backwards defensively in recent matchups.