Don&#8217;t book those trips to Turks and Caicos and tee times yet, people, because the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a> playoff hopes are still alive after one of the most epic comebacks in franchise history on Tuesday evening against the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/instant-reaction-vancouver-canucks-score-three-goals-final-minute-wild-ot-comeback-vs-dallas-stars">Dallas Stars:</a>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> are the first team in <a href="https://twitter.com/NHL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NHL</a> history to overcome a three-goal deficit in the final minute of a game. <a href="https://t.co/MOJc7c14XV">pic.twitter.com/MOJc7c14XV</a>
&mdash; Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1909805128124706960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Now, of course, this result will hold no meaning if the Minnesota Wild get another win, which quite easily could be tonight as the Wild take on the San Jose Sharks – not to mention they&#8217;re getting the likes of Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek back in the lineup.
However, Canucks fans will always be able to look back on this game and reflect on a great comeback that kept them in the hunt for at least one more day.
The Canucks&#8217; first two periods was less than inspiring. According to Natural Stat Trick, the numbers say the Canucks had the better chances. But the score would indicate otherwise, as they were outshot 20-17 and outscored 3-0 heading into the final frame.
But that&#8217;s when everything broke right for the Canucks. Whatever speech that <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/quinn-hughes-big-vote-confidence-vancouver-canucks-coaches-rick-tocchet-adam-foote">Rick Tocchet, Quinn Hughes</a> or whoever gave in the locker room during the second intermission, the message was clearly received because that&#8217;s when the Canucks started to play like a team, who has their season on the line.
Let&#8217;s get into the clips.
<h1>The Tape</h1>
We don&#8217;t have to wait long for the Canucks to mount their comeback:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExeDhzbTV3cTNmbXYwNWhnMGw5OWQ4bDFsdDJ5MWpvaHhidjk1cGpzOSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/0iQXgLkE8hbStH1b2c/giphy.gif" />
Hughes collects the puck behind the net and finds a streaming Conor Garland rushing up the right side boards. He cuts to the middle while Jake DeBrusk on the far side gains a step on his defender. Without a clear lane to attack the net and Casey DeSmith cutting off the shooting angle, DeBrusk acts as if he&#8217;s going to loop behind the net. Instead, he sees DeSmith not hugging the post and uses his opportunity to bank it off the goalie&#8217;s skate and finds the back of the net.
For most teams, that is a pretty routine zone entry. Garland gains the zone with speed and finds the open man on the opposite side for a chance. But for the Canucks, this was relatively new to gain the zone with ease and find the trailer on the far side with speed and it to amount to a goal.
Were the Stars playing a little lighter coverage with a three-goal lead? Perhaps. But you can tell by the Canucks celebration that there was still work to be done.
The Canucks would continue to generate a lot of offensive zone time, keeping the Stars on their heels.
After a Mason Marchment high-stick on Teddy Blueger, the Canucks were sent to a four-minute man advantage. The first unit struggled to produce serious scoring chances, but then the second unit hopped over the boards:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Jt2a4Av5nEVpVaPrxX/giphy.gif" />
Just wanted to highlight the movement by this second unit, consisting of mostly AHL forwards with Aatu Räty, Linus Karlsson and Victor Mancini paired with Nils Höglander and Filip Hronek.
Once the Räty shot goes into the corner, watch everybody&#8217;s movement. Karlsson gets the puck in the corner and feeds Räty in the slot, who makes the smart play to find Hronek at the point.
Now, Höglander moves down the lane, with Mancini circling back toward the middle of the ice for a back-pass one-time option. During that time, Karlsson keeps his stance open to the puck carrier, while Höglander kicks his leg and fakes the shot to pull the defender, opening up Karlsson. Hronek also pedals down and stays in the cross-ice passing lane, which is perfectly highlighted by this camera angle.
Karlsson ultimately keeps it for himself and takes a shot close in on DeSmith. But the movement led to a scoring chance with a lot of open ice for the puck carrier.
The same unit would get rewarded for their strong movement play:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/9gK64iWXoKTrWchkYb/giphy.gif" />
After a scrum in the corner, the puck finds its way to Räty along the boards, who shovels it out of danger to Mancini at the point. With two of the four Stars penalty killers finding their way back from the corner scrum, Mancini has all the time in the world to backpedal, square up his shot and pick his target to give the Canucks life again.
This was a great shift from Mancini. Not only for his movement from the first clip, but watch the clip again when the scrum is in the corner. Höglander leaked down toward the slot area and may have gone even further down had it not been for Mancini directing Höglander to cover the point as Hronek was in the midst of the battle. Then, he gets rewarded with his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck.
With time remaining on the first penalty, the Canucks had two more minutes of power play time after the goal. The top unit struggled to get set up, that was until the 14:11 minute mark. Vancouver would generate some incredible offensive zone time, hemming the Stars in their zone for the 1:40 of game time before Mancini mishandles the puck and pops into the neutral zone.
Despite all the pressure, they could not find the equalizer. However, to further illustrate the Canucks&#8217; dominance, they wouldn&#8217;t allow the Stars to gain the zone with the puck for the following 3:22 minutes of game time. The shots were 10-0 at this point of the game.
But as they say, hockey isn&#8217;t fair sometimes. The Canucks were controlling play, generating offensive zone time and outchancing the Stars, it was Dallas who found the next goal and gave themselves a two-goal cushion with under three minutes remaining:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/51QbcLdZgy9sZnkCKX/giphy.gif" />
Now, this was just a bad defensive breakdown where everybody was more focused on getting the puck back so they could get the puck back.
Mancini covers the right post in case the puck carrier behind the net pressures toward the front.
But the problem is that Hughes and Sherwood cover Hintz at the net front, which leaves a streaming Mavrik Bourque all alone in the high slot and buries it past Demko.
If all hope wasn&#8217;t already lost, then surely you knew it was over less than 25 seconds later:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/0a8gD21rkakzNZsJj0/giphy.gif" />
Three stars swarm around Höglander and force him to lose the puck. Matt Duchene finds the open Esa Lindell, who shovels it up to Mikael Granlund, who fires it into the empty net to give the Stars a three-goal lead.
But right when you think they&#8217;re down and out, the Canucks string it all together:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/kwnRYtHnT8Q02Jea0L/giphy.gif" />
Just watch Marcus Pettersson in the offensive zone. This has to be his best offensive play as a member of the Canucks.
Pettersson collects the puck at the point and does a quick deke to beat Bourque. He opens his stance and finds Elias Pettersson, who squares up for a wrist shot from the point. At this point, M. Pettersson is at the goal line. He makes a strong back check to strip Wyatt Johnston at the right hash marks, spins into a shooting position in the slot, and forgoes a premium shot attempt to find Räty at the side of the net, who finds the back of the net.
Canucks within two. One minute to go.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/DAjOwrSdXD7A4hq6Kj/giphy.gif" />
With Sam Steel pinning him to the boards, Brock Boeser gets the puck out of danger with a swift backhand pass to the middle for Hronek. He and Hughes go D-to-D and then swings it down to Garland.
Garland fakes a shot from the right circle, dekes Lindell and sends a perfect tape-to-tape pass to Suter in the slot, who makes no mistake beating DeSmith on the far side.
Canucks within one. 29 seconds to go.
Rick Tocchet calls a timeout to set up the perfect play. And who does he send out with less than 30 seconds left on the most important faceoff to save their season? Aatu Räty.
And what does he do? He wins the draw and sprints off the ice to get Suter back out there. Then the Canucks get back to work:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/rgeksmruTmRMDo730x/giphy.gif" />
After a lengthy scrum in the corner, Boeser finds Garland at the point and sends it to Hughes, who rips a shot toward the net with nine seconds remaining. Hronek, of all people, is down at the goal line, but he&#8217;s in the perfect position to grab the loose puck off the backboards and fires a prayer of a pass to the front of the net.
Sometimes prayers get answered, as it goes perfectly to the stick of Suter in the slot and buries his second in 25 seconds past DeSmith, who isn&#8217;t even looking.
That&#8217;s now two Canucks goals where Hronek has been grinding it out in a scrum in the corner that leads to a Canucks goal.
Canucks tied. Off to overtime.
Every faceoff at this point is the most important faceoff. And what does Tocchet do? Send his ace back out there in Räty with his two stud defencemen, Hughes and Hronek.
But in doing so, you run the risk of Räty getting waved out, and a defenceman now has to take the faceoff. And that&#8217;s exactly what happens. But fear not, Hronek ties up Mikko Rantanen and becomes the first defenceman to win a faceoff this season. Unreal.
Rantanen sent the Canucks on the power play in overtime. The top unit generated steady offensive zone time but could not capitalize. Although they didn&#8217;t convert, the Canucks dominated offensive zone time at 4-on-4, which led to the game-winning goal:
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/2MX4q1acplCOn50eWw/giphy.gif" />
Again, it&#8217;s another Canucks goal with a lot of movement in the offensive zone, particularly at the top. Hughes finds Hronek down low but has the puck poked off his stick, allowing Thomas Harley to shovel it to Matt Dumba.
However, Garland is a man on a mission, lifts Dumba&#8217;s stick to grab control and finds an absolutely naked Kiefer Sherwood left alone in the slot, who drops to one knee and before DeSmith can even face the shooter, the puck is behind him.
Canucks pull off the last minutes three goal comeback and keep their very, very slim playoff hopes alive.
There were so many players that helped contribute to the Canucks&#8217; massive comeback.
Filip Hronek, for his work down low in the board battles and his two primary assists on Suter&#8217;s goals.
<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/scenes-vancouver-canucks-morning-skate-garland-returns-massive-matchup-st-louis-blues">Conor Garland</a>, with his zone entry and cross-ice pass on the first goal and his dog mentality to pressure Dumba behind the net and find Sherwood on the game-winning goal – also his bunny-hop celebration on Suter&#8217;s second goal.
Victor Mancini and Marcus Pettersson, for their offensive zone contributions out of players you wouldn&#8217;t expect it from.
<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-aatu-raty-solidifying-his-role-everyday-nhler">Aatu Räty</a>, for his faceoff ability and the last-minute goal that sparked the comeback.
And, of course, Pius Suter, who&#8217;s always in the right place to capitalize at the net front for the two goals in the final minute to send the game to overtime.
<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/stanchies-vancouver-canucks-pull-off-historic-comeback-keep-slimmest-playoff-hopes-alive">It was certainly a third period to remember for the Canucks</a> this season. Their playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread, but as Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber said, &#8220;So you&#8217;re telling me there&#8217;s a chance!&#8221;
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&nbsp;

Don't book those trips to Turks and Caicos and tee times yet, people, because the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a> playoff hopes are still alive after one of the most epic comebacks in franchise history on Tuesday evening against the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/instant-reaction-vancouver-canucks-score-three-goals-final-minute-wild-ot-comeback-vs-dallas-stars">Dallas Stars:</a>
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https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1909805128124706960

Now, of course, this result will hold no meaning if the Minnesota Wild get another win, which quite easily could be tonight as the Wild take on the San Jose Sharks – not to mention they're getting the likes of Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek back in the lineup.

However, Canucks fans will always be able to look back on this game and reflect on a great comeback that kept them in the hunt for at least one more day.

The Canucks' first two periods was less than inspiring. According to Natural Stat Trick, the numbers say the Canucks had the better chances. But the score would indicate otherwise, as they were outshot 20-17 and outscored 3-0 heading into the final frame.

But that's when everything broke right for the Canucks. Whatever speech that <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/quinn-hughes-big-vote-confidence-vancouver-canucks-coaches-rick-tocchet-adam-foote">Rick Tocchet, Quinn Hughes</a> or whoever gave in the locker room during the second intermission, the message was clearly received because that's when the Canucks started to play like a team, who has their season on the line.

Let's get into the clips.
<h1>The Tape</h1>
We don't have to wait long for the Canucks to mount their comeback:

<img src="https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExeDhzbTV3cTNmbXYwNWhnMGw5OWQ4bDFsdDJ5MWpvaHhidjk1cGpzOSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/0iQXgLkE8hbStH1b2c/giphy.gif" />

Hughes collects the puck behind the net and finds a streaming Conor Garland rushing up the right side boards. He cuts to the middle while Jake DeBrusk on the far side gains a step on his defender. Without a clear lane to attack the net and Casey DeSmith cutting off the shooting angle, DeBrusk acts as if he's going to loop behind the net. Instead, he sees DeSmith not hugging the post and uses his opportunity to bank it off the goalie's skate and finds the back of the net.

For most teams, that is a pretty routine zone entry. Garland gains the zone with speed and finds the open man on the opposite side for a chance. But for the Canucks, this was relatively new to gain the zone with ease and find the trailer on the far side with speed and it to amount to a goal.

Were the Stars playing a little lighter coverage with a three-goal lead? Perhaps. But you can tell by the Canucks celebration that there was still work to be done.

The Canucks would continue to generate a lot of offensive zone time, keeping the Stars on their heels.

After a Mason Marchment high-stick on Teddy Blueger, the Canucks were sent to a four-minute man advantage. The first unit struggled to produce serious scoring chances, but then the second unit hopped over the boards:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Jt2a4Av5nEVpVaPrxX/giphy.gif" />

Just wanted to highlight the movement by this second unit, consisting of mostly AHL forwards with Aatu Räty, Linus Karlsson and Victor Mancini paired with Nils Höglander and Filip Hronek.

Once the Räty shot goes into the corner, watch everybody's movement. Karlsson gets the puck in the corner and feeds Räty in the slot, who makes the smart play to find Hronek at the point.

Now, Höglander moves down the lane, with Mancini circling back toward the middle of the ice for a back-pass one-time option. During that time, Karlsson keeps his stance open to the puck carrier, while Höglander kicks his leg and fakes the shot to pull the defender, opening up Karlsson. Hronek also pedals down and stays in the cross-ice passing lane, which is perfectly highlighted by this camera angle.

Karlsson ultimately keeps it for himself and takes a shot close in on DeSmith. But the movement led to a scoring chance with a lot of open ice for the puck carrier.

The same unit would get rewarded for their strong movement play:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/9gK64iWXoKTrWchkYb/giphy.gif" />

After a scrum in the corner, the puck finds its way to Räty along the boards, who shovels it out of danger to Mancini at the point. With two of the four Stars penalty killers finding their way back from the corner scrum, Mancini has all the time in the world to backpedal, square up his shot and pick his target to give the Canucks life again.

This was a great shift from Mancini. Not only for his movement from the first clip, but watch the clip again when the scrum is in the corner. Höglander leaked down toward the slot area and may have gone even further down had it not been for Mancini directing Höglander to cover the point as Hronek was in the midst of the battle. Then, he gets rewarded with his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck.

With time remaining on the first penalty, the Canucks had two more minutes of power play time after the goal. The top unit struggled to get set up, that was until the 14:11 minute mark. Vancouver would generate some incredible offensive zone time, hemming the Stars in their zone for the 1:40 of game time before Mancini mishandles the puck and pops into the neutral zone.

Despite all the pressure, they could not find the equalizer. However, to further illustrate the Canucks' dominance, they wouldn't allow the Stars to gain the zone with the puck for the following 3:22 minutes of game time. The shots were 10-0 at this point of the game.

But as they say, hockey isn't fair sometimes. The Canucks were controlling play, generating offensive zone time and outchancing the Stars, it was Dallas who found the next goal and gave themselves a two-goal cushion with under three minutes remaining:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/51QbcLdZgy9sZnkCKX/giphy.gif" />

Now, this was just a bad defensive breakdown where everybody was more focused on getting the puck back so they could get the puck back.

Mancini covers the right post in case the puck carrier behind the net pressures toward the front.

But the problem is that Hughes and Sherwood cover Hintz at the net front, which leaves a streaming Mavrik Bourque all alone in the high slot and buries it past Demko.

If all hope wasn't already lost, then surely you knew it was over less than 25 seconds later:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/0a8gD21rkakzNZsJj0/giphy.gif" />

Three stars swarm around Höglander and force him to lose the puck. Matt Duchene finds the open Esa Lindell, who shovels it up to Mikael Granlund, who fires it into the empty net to give the Stars a three-goal lead.

But right when you think they're down and out, the Canucks string it all together:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/kwnRYtHnT8Q02Jea0L/giphy.gif" />

Just watch Marcus Pettersson in the offensive zone. This has to be his best offensive play as a member of the Canucks.

Pettersson collects the puck at the point and does a quick deke to beat Bourque. He opens his stance and finds Elias Pettersson, who squares up for a wrist shot from the point. At this point, M. Pettersson is at the goal line. He makes a strong back check to strip Wyatt Johnston at the right hash marks, spins into a shooting position in the slot, and forgoes a premium shot attempt to find Räty at the side of the net, who finds the back of the net.

Canucks within two. One minute to go.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/DAjOwrSdXD7A4hq6Kj/giphy.gif" />

With Sam Steel pinning him to the boards, Brock Boeser gets the puck out of danger with a swift backhand pass to the middle for Hronek. He and Hughes go D-to-D and then swings it down to Garland.

Garland fakes a shot from the right circle, dekes Lindell and sends a perfect tape-to-tape pass to Suter in the slot, who makes no mistake beating DeSmith on the far side.

Canucks within one. 29 seconds to go.

Rick Tocchet calls a timeout to set up the perfect play. And who does he send out with less than 30 seconds left on the most important faceoff to save their season? Aatu Räty.

And what does he do? He wins the draw and sprints off the ice to get Suter back out there. Then the Canucks get back to work:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/rgeksmruTmRMDo730x/giphy.gif" />

After a lengthy scrum in the corner, Boeser finds Garland at the point and sends it to Hughes, who rips a shot toward the net with nine seconds remaining. Hronek, of all people, is down at the goal line, but he's in the perfect position to grab the loose puck off the backboards and fires a prayer of a pass to the front of the net.

Sometimes prayers get answered, as it goes perfectly to the stick of Suter in the slot and buries his second in 25 seconds past DeSmith, who isn't even looking.

That's now two Canucks goals where Hronek has been grinding it out in a scrum in the corner that leads to a Canucks goal.

Canucks tied. Off to overtime.

Every faceoff at this point is the most important faceoff. And what does Tocchet do? Send his ace back out there in Räty with his two stud defencemen, Hughes and Hronek.

But in doing so, you run the risk of Räty getting waved out, and a defenceman now has to take the faceoff. And that's exactly what happens. But fear not, Hronek ties up Mikko Rantanen and becomes the first defenceman to win a faceoff this season. Unreal.

Rantanen sent the Canucks on the power play in overtime. The top unit generated steady offensive zone time but could not capitalize. Although they didn't convert, the Canucks dominated offensive zone time at 4-on-4, which led to the game-winning goal:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/2MX4q1acplCOn50eWw/giphy.gif" />

Again, it's another Canucks goal with a lot of movement in the offensive zone, particularly at the top. Hughes finds Hronek down low but has the puck poked off his stick, allowing Thomas Harley to shovel it to Matt Dumba.

However, Garland is a man on a mission, lifts Dumba's stick to grab control and finds an absolutely naked Kiefer Sherwood left alone in the slot, who drops to one knee and before DeSmith can even face the shooter, the puck is behind him.

Canucks pull off the last minutes three goal comeback and keep their very, very slim playoff hopes alive.

There were so many players that helped contribute to the Canucks' massive comeback.

Filip Hronek, for his work down low in the board battles and his two primary assists on Suter's goals.

<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/scenes-vancouver-canucks-morning-skate-garland-returns-massive-matchup-st-louis-blues">Conor Garland</a>, with his zone entry and cross-ice pass on the first goal and his dog mentality to pressure Dumba behind the net and find Sherwood on the game-winning goal – also his bunny-hop celebration on Suter's second goal.

Victor Mancini and Marcus Pettersson, for their offensive zone contributions out of players you wouldn't expect it from.

<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-aatu-raty-solidifying-his-role-everyday-nhler">Aatu Räty</a>, for his faceoff ability and the last-minute goal that sparked the comeback.

And, of course, Pius Suter, who's always in the right place to capitalize at the net front for the two goals in the final minute to send the game to overtime.

<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/stanchies-vancouver-canucks-pull-off-historic-comeback-keep-slimmest-playoff-hopes-alive">It was certainly a third period to remember for the Canucks</a> this season. Their playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread, but as Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber said, "So you're telling me there's a chance!"

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&nbsp;

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