Vancouver Canucks Playoff Hopes Ride on Must-Win Game vs New York Islanders

For the last four to six weeks, the Vancouver Canucks have seen their odds odds to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs bounce up and down and with only 11 regular season games remaining, every night becomes a must-win if they want to make it to The Big Dance for a second straight year.

Despite their big win in New Jersey on Monday, results elsewhere around the National Hockey League haven't gone in Vancouver's favour, including St. Louis and Calgary defeating Montreal and Seattle, respectively, last night.

Tonight, the Vancouver Canucks will take on the New York Islanders in their fourth game of a six-game road trip and because of the Blues and Flames' winning last night, Wednesday's contest on Long Island has become a do-or-die scenario for Rick Tocchet's group.

On Wednesday morning, MoneyPuck released updated playoff odds for the Vancouver Canucks and other teams, based on different outcomes from tonight's set of games.

If the Vancouver Canucks win tonight in regulation, they'll see their playoff odds jump to over 21 percent and on the other hand, a regulation loss, those odds will be less than nine percent and very well could put them too far back in the race for a wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Regulation win vs New York Islanders: 21.5% (+6.4%)
Overtime win vs New York Islanders: 20.7% (+5.6%)
Overtime loss vs New York Islanders: 13.5% (-1.6%)
Regulation loss vs New York Islanders: 9% (-6.1%)

The Canucks skated this morning ahead of tonight's big game, but Rick Tocchet didn't reveal who would be getting the start, whether that be Thatcher Demko, who returned from injury on Monday or Kevin Lankinen, who was scratched against the Devils due to illness.

Puck drop for tonight's game against the New York Islanders is set for 4:30 pm PT and can be viewed across Canada on Sportsnet as part of their Wednesday Night Hockey broadcast.