NEW YORK – If the Vancouver Canucks had been as merciless as the hockey gods seem to be, they would have beaten the New York Rangers on Saturday by five goals.
But the most unyielding thing about the Canucks this season has been the constant torrent of adversity, albeit some of it self-inflicted, that has flowed into them like the Fraser River flows into Hells Gate in the B.C. interior.
On Saturday, desperate to maintain a decent chance of still making the National Hockey League playoffs, the Canucks outshot the Rangers 39-12, including 20-3 in the game’s first half. High-danger scoring chances were 16-3 for Vancouver.
But the Rangers, who were barely there at Madison Square Garden even when it was 1-1 while the shots were 21-4, scored three times on five shots in the third period and sealed a logic-defying 5-3 win when ex-Canuck J.T. Miller scored into an empty net with 17 seconds remaining.
