After their worst homestand of the season the Vancouver Canucks set off to California to begin a five game road trip. They would face five teams who were battling for their playoff lives in the tight Western Conference. The end result was the franchise's first 5 game road trip sweep since 1992.
With 12 regular season games remaining the Canucks have an 8 point lead over Philadelphia (14 games remaining) in the race for the President's Trophy. Their lead over Detroit (13 games remaining) in the Western Conference is 9 points. If the Canucks were to finish out their final 12 games playing .500 hockey Detroit would need to go 10-2-1 and Philadelphia would need to go 10-4-0 to catch the Canucks.
Can the playoffs please start tomorrow?
There is no doubt that this is the best team in franchise history. From top to bottom the team has never been this deep. That depth was on full display during the road trip as they got key contributions from everyone. The display of depth was capped off in Calgary where not a single player played fewer than 11 minutes. Yes, Alain Vigneault now has a 4th line he has confidence in.
Finally, there's a story that isn't getting much attention around the NHL... there's a strong possibility that the Sedin's could finish 1-2 in the NHL scoring race. After 40 mediocre years the Canucks have their best chance at a Stanley Cup and could conceivably take home back-to-back Hart and Art Ross Trophies. Dare to dream?
