VANCOUVER – The way the St. Louis Blues are mowing down National Hockey League opponents, wins feel only like ties for the Vancouver Canucks these days in their nearly-impossible chase for a wild-card playoff spot.

Even on days like Saturday, when the Canucks set a franchise record with five goals in 4 ½ minutes and dumped the Anaheim Ducks 6-2, their season slips closer and closer to garbage time.

But for minor-league callup Max Sasson, Saturday was his biggest game of the season in Vancouver. And it was one of the best games of the year for rookie defenceman Elias Pettersson, another of the five Canuck skaters who faced the Ducks after spending the majority of this season in the American Hockey League.

These guys are playing for something more essential than a playoff spot; they’re playing for NHL jobs.

Rookie power forward Linus Karlsson made a pretty play to set up Pettersson’s first NHL goal, which triggered the Canucks offensive eruption at 9:40 of the first period. Top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki had a power-play assist on Brock Boeser’s goal that made it 3-1.

Fourth-line centre Aatu Raty went 6-2 on faceoffs and registered three hits, and Sasson scored the goal of the night when he stole the puck from Oliver Kylington at the Vancouver blue line, blew past the Anaheim defenceman and beat goalie Lukas Dostal with a deft five-hole deke in the third period.

It may be too late for the Canucks’ prospects to help the team make the playoffs, but they absolutely can help themselves and their future over Vancouver’s final six games.

“You never know when you get sent down when your next chance is going to come,” Sasson, the late-blooming 24-year-old who is near the end of his second pro season, said after scoring in his first NHL appearance since Jan. 27. “And that’s why you’ve got to just stay focused, work hard, and stick to your details down there (in the AHL) and play well, and give yourself the best chance to get called up.

“When I got that call, I couldn’t have been more ready. I think every guy who’s gotten called up, I think we all do a really good job of preparing and we’re all ready for this moment.”

Sasson’s speed was obvious, but the subtle details in his game seemed to be stronger after spending the last two months with the Abbotsford Canucks under coach Manny Malhotra and his staff.

After making his NHL debut on Nov. 23, Sasson spent 24 games and 9 ½ weeks with the Canucks before being returned to the minors. He believes in the axiom that it is hard to make the NHL, but even harder to stick.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried,” Sasson said of getting another NHL opportunity this season. “You never know when the next chance is going to come. I got called up (on last week’s road trip) and I didn’t play in Columbus or Winnipeg and was sent down again. So, yeah, I was probably thinking that I wasn’t going to get another game. But I did know that if I was going to get another game, I was going to be ready and not take the chance for granted.

“There’s so many good players (in Abbotsford), and there’s guys that haven’t even been called up yet that are really, really good. We’re all pushing each other. I think we have a really good culture down there of, you know, no one’s saying: ‘Why did that guy get called up?’ It’s always: ‘Good for him and hopefully he shines and shows there’s a lot of players in Abbotsford that are right there, too.’  I think we’re all really good friends. But we all know that we’re competing for the same job. At the end of the day, it is what it is and we’re all trying to just be our best whenever we get the chance.”

Young Elias Pettersson, “Junior” to teammates who already had an Elias Pettersson around, has been an extremely positive story for the Canucks this season.

In his first season in North America, Pettersson, 21, has developed more rapidly than expected. He made his NHL debut on Jan. 25 and has stuck with the Canucks since, making veteran left-side defenceman Carson Soucy expendable in a March 7 trade to the New York Rangers.

The fleet, hard-hitting Swede played his 22^nd game on Saturday, which he’ll remember for his first goal.

“I just got really happy,” Pettersson said of the moment after joining the rush as a trailer and zipping a shot past Dostal from the high slot. “A little shocked, but really fun. It was super cool. I’ve had some good looks. I was hearing it from Brock (for not scoring), but it was fun today.”

Actually, It was fun, which is saying something given the Canucks’ bleak playoff outlook: six points back of the Minnesota Wild with a game in-hand. The Blues? They were on their way Saturday to a 12^th straight victory and, presumably, would win the Presidents’ Trophy if there was enough time left in the regular season.

“It’s hard to catch a team when they win every game,” Boeser said. “I think we’ve been working really hard, and I feel like our effort level has been there and there’s been no quit in our team. Every team in the East seems to be losing in the wild-card spot, and every team in the West seems to be winning. So it’s been hard and it’s been frustrating. But I still believe that our team shows up to the rink with a good mindset.

“It definitely feels strange. With all the injuries and stuff, we need those young guys to step up and it’s definitely a different feeling (with them in the NHL). But they’ve been working really hard and really trying their best. So it obviously helps when they step up and we’re still winning hockey games.”

The Canucks face the Vegas Golden Knights Sunday at Rogers Arena before leaving Monday on their final road trip, to Dallas and Denver.

“You’re a young kid. . . every shift you get is an opportunity,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “I mean, everybody’s got to think that way, but especially young guys. I thought the young guys, since they’ve been up, they’re giving us all they’ve got. They’re playing hard for us. Yeah, there’s mistakes. But the effort from the young guys, to me, has been really outstanding.”

Filip Hronek, Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua had the other Canuck goals after Troy Terry picked a high corner on Thatcher Demko to open scoring just 1:21 into the game. Demko finished with 31 saves, and Quinn Hughes had a pair of power-play assists as Vancouver went two-for-two with the man-advantage.

Kevin Lankinen is expected to start in goal for the Canucks on Sunday.