It took a bit of luck but, for the second straight year, Vancouver will enter the playoffs as the NHL’s top seed.
The Canucks beat Edmonton 3-0 on Saturday to capture the 2012 Presidents’ Trophy -- though they did get some help along the way. A series of fortunate results (St. Louis’ 4-1 loss to Phoenix on Friday night, the Rangers’ 4-1 home defeat to Washington on Saturday) gave Vancouver control of its own fate heading into the Oilers game.
And to their credit, the Canucks took full advantage.
Henrik Sedin scored what would prove to be the game-winner midway through the second, his 14th goal of the year, before Samuel Pahlsson and David Booth added insurance markers in the third. Roberto Luongo stopped all 17 shots he faced for his fifth shutout of the year -- his highest shutout total since 2008-09 -- and barely broke a sweat in a game Vancouver dominated. The Canucks out-shot the Oilers by 25 on the night, including a 12-shot dispartiy (17 to five) in the opening frame.
Some notes about the Presidents’ Trophy win:
-- Vancouver becomes the first team to win back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies since Dallas did it in 1997-98 and 1998-99. (Note: Detroit won in 2003-04 and 2005-06, missing the year between due of the lockout.)
-- Since the NHL began handing out the Presidents’ Trophy in 1985-86, only seven teams have gone on to win the Stanley Cup: Edmonton (1986-87), Calgary (1988-89), New York Rangers (1993-94), Dallas (1998-99), Colorado (2000-01), Detroit (2001-02) and Detroit again (2007-08).
-- Last year, the Canucks became the first team to win the Presidents’ Trophy and lose in the Stanley Cup finals since the 1995 Red Wings.