Stars lose to Canucks, fail to clinch playoff berth

VANCOUVER --The Dallas Stars failed to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after losing 3-2 in a shootout to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Dallas (41-31-7), which went 3-0-1 on a four-game Canada road trip, are four points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference and three points behind the St. Louis Blues for third place in the Central Division.
"A lot of guys wanted to step up and be the hero (in the shootout)," Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. "Unfortunately, didn't happen, but just the way we dig in as a team right now is building a lot of confidence in this room. To lose in a shootout when you can clinch is tough, but we got one point and we can go clinch at home."
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Canucks highlights]
Andrew Cogliano and Alexander Radulov scored in the third period, and Anton Khudobin made 29 saves for the Stars.
"It was a great road trip," Cogliano said. "It shows what our team is about. Came from behind (in 3-2 shootout win against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday) and tonight came back from behind. That's a positive sign and that's what you want to see in a team at this time of year, you want to see fight and we have it."

Markus Granlund scored the only goal of the shootout in the eighth round, and Jacob Markstrom made 38 saves for Vancouver (34-35-10), which has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Granlund won it with a backhand deke that went five-hole on Khudobin.
"They're a good team and they've got a lot to play for," Markstrom said. "It doesn't matter where you are in the standings, they're all going to be competitive games. You want to win."
Tim Schaller, who scored his first two goals of the season in Dallas on March 17, jammed in a backhand between the left post and Khudobin's pad from behind the net to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 4:52 of the first period.
After a turnover by the Stars in the neutral zone, Sven Baertschi skated down the right wing and scored with a wrist shot five-hole on Khudobin from low in the right circle to make it 2-0 at 11:16.
"It felt great. It's been a long time," said Baertschi, who was playing in his third game since missing 23 because of recurring symptoms from a concussion. "I saw [Elias Pettersson] on the other side and I think he has enough goals this year so I just shot it myself."

Cogliano converted his own rebound from the top of the crease to cut it to 2-1 at 9:14 of the third period after Markstrom made the initial save on his deflection at the side of the net.
Radulov tied it 2-2 at 14:11 when his pass from the top of the right circle redirected in off the skate of Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher.
"It's good that we came back and got a point," said Radulov, who has six points (three goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak. "It's huge right now. We'll take that. Our goal is to make the playoffs, so we are one point away from it, so we shouldn't wait for anybody. We just got to go get that point or two next game and go from there."

They said it

"I don't think you feel pressure. You feel the playoffs are imminent because we know (we're in) if we score. Everybody went out there confident and Markstrom was incredible. So was [Khudobin]." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery on the shootout
"I thought our team was great tonight. That's a good hockey team over there. They take away time and space. I know we had the lead, but we had a lot of chances to score also in the third and put it away. I thought we were resilient as well in certain areas." -- Canucks coach Travis Green

Need to know

Khudobin started his second straight game because Ben Bishop is day to day with a lower-body injury. … Radulov has 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in his past 13 games. … Stars forward Tyler Seguin had his point streak end at six games. … Dallas forward Tyler Pitlick had one shot in 4:48 of ice time in his return after missing 30 games (wrist surgery).

What's next

Stars:Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, NBCSP, NHL.TV)
Canucks:Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, NBCSCA+, NHL.TV)