It's all but over for Canucks
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
VANCOUVER - The chances of the Edmonton Oilers now managing to miss the playoffs are about the same as the odds of anybody hitching a ride on an alien ship travelling behind the comet Hale-Bopp.
The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks played a game here last night which had death written all over it for both teams.
The fans and media have been shooting at the Canucks for over a week now, but they just won't die.
A loss to the Flames would have done it here last night, made it official, eliminated the Canucks from the playoffs and you could have billboarded tonight's visit by Vancouver to the Coliseum in Edmonton as `Dead Men Skating.'
But they didn't die. It was a tie.
None of the Canuck players appear to actually believe they still live. And the 3-3 tie may have killed the Calgary Flames with them. But mathematically they both still live.
But the tie helped the Oilers.
Edmonton's magic number went from two to one.
Now any combination of Oiler wins and Flame losses totalling one, and the Oilers playoff position is official. They can now put it away tonight.
But the Flames aren't looking at the Oilers (although they were the night before cheering Edmonton over Chicago, a rare occasion when all of Calgary was cheering an Edmonton team to beat somebody.)
The Flames, with the tie, moved within two points of the Blackhawks. Both teams have four games to go including a home-and-home series.
It's tough to figure out this Vancouver team which is travelling over the Rockies for a Hockey Night In Canada date with the Oilers tonight.
Calgary had been waving the white flag down the stretch, losing three of their last five going into this game. The Canucks have knocked off the Flames twice and were 3-1-1 in their last five going into this one despite basically being dead in the water.
It's been open season on the Canucks for the past week here.
It all started with a Vancouver Sun story in which unnamed players, who successfully managed to get coach Rick Ley fired last year, were quoted pointing fingers at Tom Renney.
Then Wednesday, GM Pat Quinn, in a much-quoted speaking engagement at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon, blasted the unnamed players for pointing fingers.
The media have been pointing fingers on their own - at Renney, at Quinn and at the players. A headline in yesterday's Vancouver Province: `Will dissension finish the Canucks?'
"It's been a big negative,'' said Canucks goalie Corey Hirsch, offering his reaction going into the game here last night.
"What's said in the dressing room should stay here. It's the low point as far as I'm concerned. It hasn't made me proud of the season. It's garbage.''
The bottom line is that this season is over for the Canucks.
"I've never missed the playoffs before in my career, not even in junior,'' was how veteran blueliner Dana Murzyn phrased it before the game last night.
"It doesn't feel very good. It feels pretty empty.''
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