The Canucks are six points shy of the second and final wildcard spot in the Western Conference with three games left, starting with Tuesday’s home game against the expansion Seattle Kraken.

“We’ve been pushing from Dec. 5 until now, and I expect us to keep pushing again for the next three games,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said, referring to the date on which he took over from the fired Travis Green. “But we know that our ultimate goal will probably not be achieved.”

The Canucks (38-30-11, 87 points) have lost three straight, including a 6-3 loss Saturday at Calgary.

Vancouver’s Conor Garland tied the game 2-2 at 5:36 of the third period, but the Flames regained the lead just 14 seconds later and edged the Canucks 4-1 in the final 14:10.

“When we tied it down I was like, ‘OK, let’s move on to the next five minutes’ and even though it was a game where you could go to extra time, we didn’t care if they got an extra point or not.” , he added. Boudreau said. “But they score on the next shift and that kind of let go for the next four or five minutes. It was just a really big sock in the header guy thing.”

Still, the Canucks are 30-15-9 since Boudreau took over.

“We’ve (bounced back) all year, so that’s what we’re going to keep doing,” Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “There’s no giving up in this (locker room). We’ve shown it so many times this year. Take one game at a time and see where it takes us.”

Quinn Hughes of Vancouver had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s loss to tie the franchise record for most points in a season by a defenseman with 63, set by Doug Lidster in 1986-87. Hughes also set the Canucks record for assists by a defenseman with 56.

The Kraken (26-46-6, 58 points), long since eliminated from the playoffs, posted their first three-game winning streak last week.

But they blew a two-goal lead in back-to-back losses to Minnesota (6-3) and Dallas (3-2) on Friday and Saturday.

Matty Beniers saw his five-game point streak on Saturday, one shy of the NHL record shared by Wayne Gretzky for the longest streak to start a career on an expansion team.

The Kraken allowed three goals in the second period against the Stars after giving up five in the same frame to the Wild.

“We’ve been playing some good hockey lately if you strike out the last two seconds,” Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger said. “Our group is working towards really positive things, and we just have to take the next step.”

The Canucks have won the first three games between the teams and will be looking to sweep the season series. In the only previous meeting in Vancouver, the Canucks won 5-2 on Feb. 21 as Tyler Motte had a goal and an assist.