Has you heart stopped pounding out of your chest yet, Vancouver?
Standing on the brink of elimination, the Vancouver Canucks pulled off an absolute stunner of a comeback Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars, scoring three goal in the final minute to tie it before putting it away late in overtime to take the match 6-5. And if you’re thinking that must be some kind of a record, you’d be right.
According to NHL PR on X, the Canucks are the first team in NHL history to win after erasing a three-goal deficit in the final minute of regulation. The record of such a monumental comeback was previously held by the Montreal Canadiens, who erased a three-goal gap against the Ottawa Senators in March 2014, though their first goal en route to victory came with just over three minutes left. The Canucks did it in less than a third of that span.
It was not the start Vancouver wanted on Tuesday, going down 3-0 after the first two periods from three power play goals scored by Mikko Rantanen, Mason Marchment, and Matt Duchene. They responded by opening the third with goals from Jake DeBrusk and Victor Mancini in the first five minutes to shrink Dallas’ lead to one. But unfortunately Mavrik Bourque scored an insurance marker for the Stars with just under three minutes remaining, then Mikael Granlund added an empty netter 24 seconds later that looked to spell the end for the Canucks, an especially grim fate considering a regulation loss would have eliminated them from playoff contention.
And then, with their season on the line, they kicked it into high gear. With exactly a minute left in regulation, Marcus Pettersson found Aatu Raty open in the faceoff circle to snipe one past former Canuck Casey DeSmith. Exactly 30 seconds later, with the extra attacker on the ice, the Canucks pressured and it was Connor Garland to Pius Suter who buried it with the one-timer. Then with their backs up against the wall, they made one last push, and it was Pius Suter once again with the one-timer to tie it up with just seven seconds to go. Kiefer Sherwood played OT hero, putting it away with just over a minute left in extra time.
With the win, Vancouver avoids a season series sweep by the Dallas Stars and keeps themselves alive one more day. Now with four games remaining, they sit six points back from the Minnesota Wild who currently hold the second wild card spot. While they’ll need to be near perfect and hope for a catastrophic collapse from the Wild and the Calgary Flames, they’ll be looking to ride of the momentum of Tuesday’s huge win as far as it can take them.
