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 The defenseman's goals, 1:38 apart in the second, led the Canucks to
a 5-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Arena.
A dejected Coyotes crew, meanwhile, talked only of next year.
"There was a lot on the line," said Weber, who scored his 10th and
11th of the season after never previously topping six goals. "We
want to have good playoff habits. I think that was our mentality
today.
"We played a complete game. Maybe not at the highest level of
hockey, but we battled."
With Calgary eliminating the defending Stanley Cup champion Los
Angeles Kings earlier Thursday night, the Canucks know they will
face the Flames in the opening round of the Pacific Division
playoffs.
The only question is who will have home-ice advantage.
The Canucks are two points ahead of Calgary, but the Flames would
hold the tiebreaker advantage if they win their regular-season
finale and Vancouver loses its last game in regulation. That
scenario would give Calgary one more regulation or overtime win than
Vancouver, the first tiebreaker.
Calgary plays at Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon, and Vancouver hosts
Edmonton on Saturday night.
"I'm excited to be playing Calgary," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins
said. "They're a real good team, I have a lot of respect for them.
"Look at the games they've won. They won a lot of tough games. They
didn't get in through luck."
Canucks goalie Eddie Lack, who played in 22 of 23 games since
starter Ryan Miller injured his knee Feb. 22, stopped 28 shots for
his second shutout of the season.
Desjardins indicated Miller would start Saturday against the Oilers.
"You have to have two goalies going into the playoffs," Desjardins
said. "It would be tough on Ryan if he ended up playing in the
playoffs without having played in so long."
Left winger Daniel Sedin, with his 19th of the season, opened the
scoring Thursday, taking a long drop pass from his brother, center
Henrik Sedin, and snapping a long wrist shot past Coyotes goalie
Mike Smith at 16:22 of the first.
Rookie left winger Ronalds Kenins, called up midseason from the AHL,
scored his fourth of the season to make it 2-0 at 6:51 of the
second.
Then the Canucks' power play, 3-of-4 on the night, went to work.
With 13 seconds of five-on-three advantage, Vancouver executed a set
play for Weber's first goal, a hard shot from the point that beat
Smith low to his stick side at 15:42 of the second.
Weber followed with almost the exact same shot at 17:10 to make it
4-0 and chase Smith from the net.
Defenseman Dan Hamhuis, also on the power play, scored his first
goal of the season at 16:49 of the third period to round out the
scoring.
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"The power play came through with two big ones in the second,"
Daniel Sedin said. "It's big going into the playoffs for sure, get
some goals, and guys are confident and we know it's working for us."
The Coyotes, in free fall in the standings for two months, fell to
24-49-9. Arizona has 56 points, two more than the Buffalo Sabres,
who are in last place overall in the NHL.
Do the Coyotes deserve to be in the thick of the lottery hunt for
the first pick in the June draft?
"That a hard question to answer," said defenseman Oliver
Ekman-Larsson, holding steady at 23 goals after his Swedish
countryman Lack stopped him four times. "I don't think so, I don't
think we're that bad, but I'm already looking forward to next year."
And so is his coach.
"I'm ready to wrap it up on Saturday, for sure," Dave Tippett said.
"It's time to start fixing the mess."
Calgary and Vancouver last met in the playoffs in 2004, with the
lower-seeded Flames winning Game 7 in overtime before making it to
the Cup final, only lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games.
The Sedins are the only remaining Canucks from the series.
"It's going to be awesome," Daniel Sedin said. "All-Canadian
matchup, you can't ask for anything more.
"Hopefully we get home ice and it's going to be a lot of fun."
NOTES: Vancouver extended the contracts of LW Derek Dorsett (four
years) and D Luca Sbisa (three years). ... The Canucks qualified for
the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years when Edmonton beat
Los Angeles on Tuesday. ... Canucks LW Daniel Sedin quietly made an
appearance among the top 10 scorers this week, the first time he's
been in the top 10 since he won the NHL scoring race in 2011. ...
The Coyotes had won just five games in their preceding 26 (4-21-1),
one of them a 3-2 shootout victory over the Canucks on March 5 in
Phoenix. ... Canucks G Ryan Miller dressed for the first time since
he injured a knee on Feb. 22 at the New York Islanders. G Jacob
Markstrom (1-1-0, 3.08 GAA, .879 SV percent) was returned to the AHL
Utica Comets. ... C Shawn Matthias was an injury scratch for
Vancouver, RW Shane Doan was for Phoenix.
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