SB Nation - Daniel Sedin

Canucks Actually Move Into Top 8 In West With 4-1 Victory Over Predators

Sean Zandberg — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:40:40 -0000

Oh my. For the first time this season (I believe) we can finally say that the Canucks hold a playoff spot (image on left from Yahoo Sports). It may not last more than 20 hours, as both Detroit and Dallas (who are both 1 point behind Vancouver) play Wednesday night. A win for either team bumps us out again. But hey! Let's enjoy this while it lasts!

What a game. That was a tenacious, aggressive and consistent effort from the Canucks. It was almost predictable, considering how they play against red-hot teams. They killed Nashville's winning streak with style, out-shooting the Preds 36-21, and not being out-shot in any period. Hell, their 2nd period was fantastic, out-shooting Nashville 14-7, killing 2 penalties (and having no powerplays) and out-scoring the pesky Preds 2-0.

The Sedins had only 1 point combined in the previous 2 Canucks games. They combined for 6 points tonight and stole the show.

A few whack stats after the jump:

-Christian Ehrhoff was a -1 with no points and 5 shots.

-The much-scrutinized Kevin Bieksa still played less minutes (18:46), had 1 assist and was an even zero. Somebody mentioned in the game thread that he had not heard much from Bieksa tonight and that was probably a good thing. I guess so.

-Willie Mitchell and Sami Salo each finished a +3 on the night.

-Jason Arnott, Martin Erat and Steve Sullivan were no match for our top line. They each finished -3. Erat had a hat trick to obliterate the Canucks a couple weeks back, but had zero points and 1 shot tonight. It's OK to laugh at that.

-That was one of the best games I've seen Kyle Wellwood play all year. He's gotta shoot once in a while though.

-Dave Scatchard....you are a fail.

-What in the blue hell was up with the green men in the stands? That is some funny stuff right there.

BOXSCORE AND HIGHLIGHTS

NUCKS MISCONDUCT 3 STARS:

1. Henrik Sedin

2. Daniel Sedin

3. Roberto Luongo

Erat fails on the Salo shot that makes it 3-0

~~The Green Man Group.~~ A couple Green Man impersonators. Pretty funny hey Scatchard? Don't think Trotz was laughing though.

Kings Of The West Pay The Canucks A Visit

Sean Zandberg — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:20:21 -0000

KINGS (21-10-3) at CANUCKS (18-14-0)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: Sportsnet

THE OPPOSITION: Battle Of California

UPDATE (5:00 PM): Wellwood on being a scratch:

"There are some workhorses in here that somehow are battling every shift, every day, and you notice it in their personalities off the ice, that's for sure," Wellwood said. "That doesn't seem to be my strength.

"That's the challenge for me … I am laid back and when I get frustrated I can pull back instead of, you know, pushing forward.

"Obviously that can get me into trouble sometimes." -The Province.

Ugh. Woody can't compete at a consistent level and needs tough love to force him to do so. Hate to say it, but this will never change, unless, you know, he gets a lobotomy.

UPDATE (1:46 PM): Bieksa on the Kings: "We're looking to keep the score down, we're not looking to run and gun with them and if we key on their top guys we should be successful." - Vancouver Sun

UPDATE (12:47 PM): Tweeted by CTV Sports: Kyle Wellwood says he is playing tonight. Alain Vigneault says Woody is a game-time decision. No love. Nope. No love.

UPDATE (11:02 AM): The Canucks have recalled Aaron Rome today. He finished a 7-games conditioning stint and scored 6 goals and 7 points for the Moose. I like this guy. He should slot in over Mathieu Schneider, IMO.

UPDATE (10:53 AM): Dan's the man! Daniel Sedin has been named the NHL's 2nd star of the week. Kings' Jon Quick was the first star.

Funny piece in the Sun today about how Alain Vigneault can finally tell the Sedin twins apart. When asked how he could he said:

"I wouldn't know." All I know is I can finally tell them apart and I can't figure out how come it took me four years. For me, right now, they don't even look alike."

********************

If somebody would have told me back in late September that the Los Angeles Kings would be perched on top of the Western Conference standings 34 games in I would have asked them what kind of pot they were smoking. But that is what is happening. The Kings are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games played. The last time they lost in regulation was on November 26 against the...Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks also

beat the Kings 2-1 in a shootout on October 29. ~~Roberto Luongo~~ Andrew Raycroft was solid in that game and Mikael Samuelsson scored the tying goal in regulation and the winning goal in the shootout.

Oh, Samuelsson, where have you gone? He had 14 points in his first 16 games as a Canuck, but only 7 points in his last 16 games played.

We were warned that he was inconsistent. Now we are seeing it first-hand.

The Canucks are off to a flying 2-0 start on their long homestand. They stopped the red-hot Wild in their tracks on Saturday, but this will be the first time in 3 games they face a rested team who has not played back-to-back. Jonathan Quick is smokin' right now. As Canucks.com puts it: he is 7-1-1 with a 2.15 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in his last nine starts for the Kings.

The Kings will be without Wayne Simmonds for a while as he suffered a lower body injury against the Stars last game. RudyKelly at Battle of California called Simmonds the Kings best player over the past 2 weeks. This brings joy to my heart. He has 9 goals and 20 points in 33 games this season, nearly matching his total of all last season.

Look down the Kings' scoring leaders though. There are plenty of guys who can put up points.

I wouldn't think that Alain Vigneault would change the lineup, but I, like many of you, am wondering why he is playing Darcy Hordichuk for only 4 or less minutes per game. Why not fill that spot with someone else (and no, not Wellwood)?

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 4th, Kings 6th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME : Canucks 9th, Kings 21st

5 ON 5: Canucks 3rd, Kings 16th

POWER PLAY: Canucks 2nd, Kings 11th

PK: Canucks 27th, Kings 28th. WTF??

SHOTS PER GAME: Canucks 12th, Kings 22nd

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Kings 4th, Canucks 10th

FACEOFF WINS %: Canucks 11th, Kings 21st

If you are scoreboard watching tonight: The Red Wings play the Coyotes at home tonight. If the Wings win they bump Dallas out of 8th spot. If they lose in OT and the Canucks win, there will be a 3-way tie for 8th with Dallas having played one less game. I want to see a Wings loss in regulation and a Canucks victory to tie us with Dallas. Piss off Bertuzzi!

Oh My..The Canucks DO Have A Pulse!

Sean Zandberg — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:21:39 -0000

That was a game the Canucks didn't have to win, but needed to. I'm sure they had a bit of fatigue issues themselves, having arriving in Vancouver the day after the Preds game, but they still took it to the Thrashers, who were playing in a back-to-back situation. I'll keep this in point form.

-I don't think Ilya Kovalchuk liked being limited the way he was. His anger boiled over at Ryan Kesler late in the game. Kovalchuk played 27:03 (wow), had 1 assist and only 3 shots and a -2. Rich Peverley continued his point-producing ways, tallying 2 assists, 2 shots and was a +1. Nik Antropov scored a goal, was a -2, and played over 23:00. Many of those minutes he was on the ice too long, to the dismay of Atlanta coach John Anderson. John Shorthouse and John Garrett said he looked like the Leafs version of Antropov more than the Thrashers version. I laughed. Nothing doing for Maxim Afinogenov either. The Thrashers tried for the stretch passes all night long to spring breakaways but the Canucks would have none of it.

More after the jump

-Thanks to yoata, Steve Bernier's middle name is now "Almost". That guy just can't bury his chances lately. Not consistently anyway. He still finished with 1 assist, 3 shots and a +1.

-It's all about the Sedins tonight. When they play games like that, we win. Daniel had several chances to score 4 goals. He finished with a hatty and 10 bloody shots! Whoa!

-Brother Hank had 2 assists. He is now 3rd in NHL scoring with 38 points, 1 behind Marian Gaborik and 4 behind Jumbo Joe Thornton.

-2 assists for Alex Burrows tonight. He could have scored a couple but was either snake-bit or missed the net.

-This game could have been a worse result for the Thrashers if not for Ondrej Pavelec. I thought he looked pretty good after the Canucks scored a few flukey ones on him earlier in the game.

-With Kyle Wellwood benched, Darcy Hordichuk got the call. But all he did was get into a fight, show some hustle, and play a MERE 4:29. Huh.

-For a supposed tired team...the Thrashers looked pretty quick throughout the game, but mentally their game was not there.

-Look at the shots on goal (click on the BOXSCORE link). The Canucks never let up on these guys.

Great game!

-For the record: the Canucks PPV channel (once they go off the air) turns into a "fireplace" channel. That's so smart. Now I can cozy up all by myself to a fake fire because my wife left me because I watch too much hockey. Thanks, Canucks! How about you put a vintage Canucks game on instead? You know...so I can get the best bang out of my $13.00?

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

MY 3 STARS:

1. Daniel Sedin...duh

2. Henrik Sedin

3. Rick Rypien. That's throwing the champ a bone. He didn't get a lot of ice-time, but was a force every time he was on the ice. Ripper...I love you man! Is his killing of Boris Valabik on YouTube yet? Why yes it is. Here ya go:

And just to throw in a screen capture...check out the Van fans after the Ripper fight...

Yeah..don't EVER eliminate fighting from the game. Ever.

Martin Erat's hat trick leads Nashville to 4-2 win over Vancouver

Dirk Hoag — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:17:02 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

Nashville Predators left wing Martin Erat (10), of the Czech Republic, shoots and scores his third goal of the game as Vancouver Canucks center Henrik Sedin (33), of Sweden, tries to block him in the third period.

Browse more photos »

This is the type of game that David Poile and Barry Trotz have been referring to when talking about Martin Erat developing into an offensive leader for the Nashville Predators. With an empty-net goal, Erat completed just his 2nd career hat trick as the Preds knocked off the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 in a hard-fought game.

After the jump you can check out the video highlights, recap, and advanced even-strength statistics...

This was easily Erat's best game this season; he was opportunistic (banking in his first goal from behind the net), showed great speed (as on the breakaway that led to his second goal) and moved the puck decisively (shown on the power play goal by Hornqvist midway through the 3rd). If Nashville can get him scoring on a consistent basis, it could add enough punch to make the Preds a more dangerous team over the long haul of the regular season. In his last four games, the Czech winger now has 5 goals and 3 assists.

Erat wasn't the only star, however. Pekka Rinne was very solid, stopping 34 of 36 Vancouver shots and giving up very few rebound opportunities. Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin each scored once and led the charge up front, with 8 and 6 shots apiece. Steve Sullivan and Jason Arnott each got two assists as the new top line of Erat, Arnott and Sullivan provided constant pressure. The game-winning goal came on a slick tic-tac-toe passing play that led to an easy tap-in for Patric Hornqvist, his first score since November 12 at St. Louis.

Jerred Smithson was sent off in the 2nd period, receiving a major and a game misconduct for a hit on Alex Burrows. The refs called it Charging, but it was basically Boarding; a shoulder-to-shoulder hit that spun Burrows nastily into the dasher from a couple feet out. Burrows shook it off and was back in action two minutes later, but initially the hit looked pretty dangerous.

A Hornqvist penalty a few minutes later led to a 5-on-3 power play for Vancouver, and a goal for Kesler. In general the Nashville penalty killing was very strong. Team discipline also played a factor, as the Preds enjoyed 5 power plays to Vancouver's 4 (and one of those lasted only 1 second due to overlapping penalties).

In the third, Nashville stretched their lead to 3-1 on the Hornqvist power play goal, but the Canucks drew to within 3-2 as Daniel Sedin scored just after killing a penalty. From there on it was mostly about the Preds playing it safe with the puck and waiting for Vancouver to pull Roberto Luongo out of the next for the extra attacker, after which Erat completed his hat trick. It was the first hat trick for Nashville since February 28, when Jason Arnott pulled off the feat in the memorable 8-0 victory over Detroit.

Looking at the advanced even-strength stats, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter had strong efforts (Shea playing for the hometown fans watching on TV back in BC?), as did the new third line of Jordin Tootoo, Marcel Goc, and J.P. Dumont. David Legwand and Joel Ward had the tough task of dealing with the Sedins, and were able to minimize the damage despite giving up a fair portion of shots. Alexander Sulzer looked fine in his first NHL action since November 7 at Los Angeles.

Even Strength		Individual Totals					Team Totals While Player Is On Ice
Player	Pos	EV TOI	Shots	Shts Blkd	Missed Shts	Blocks	SOG For	SOG Ag	SOG +/-	Tot SF	Tot SA	Corsi
Martin Erat	R	14:24	1	0	2	0	9	6	3	16	8	8
Jason Arnott	C	15:28	0	2	0	0	8	8	0	16	12	4
Steve Sullivan	L	14:31	0	0	1	1	8	6	2	19	9	10
David Legwand	C	13:48	1	1	1	2	5	8	-3	13	21	-8
Jerred Smithson	R	7:32	0	0	0	0	1	3	-2	2	8	-6
Joel Ward	R	13:29	1	0	0	0	3	10	-7	8	21	-13
Marcel Goc	C	12:20	0	1	1	2	5	6	-1	16	11	5
Jordin Tootoo	R	8:41	0	0	2	0	2	6	-4	12	9	3
J P Dumont	R	10:14	2	2	1	0	4	5	-1	16	8	8
Cal O'Reilly	C	7:27	0	0	0	0	2	5	-3	4	9	-5
Patric Hornqvist	R	8:31	3	0	0	1	3	6	-3	5	11	-6
Ryan Jones	L	8:06	0	0	0	0	4	3	1	9	9	0
Shea Weber	D	18:23	2	4	2	0	8	7	1	23	11	12
Ryan Suter	D	17:17	2	0	1	1	8	8	0	23	13	10
Kevin Klein	D	15:10	0	0	1	1	2	8	-6	7	18	-11
Francis Bouillon	D	14:09	1	3	2	1	8	9	-1	17	17	0
Dan Hamhuis	D	16:32	0	0	1	3	3	11	-8	8	23	-15
Alexander Sulzer	D	10:05	3	0	0	0	6	5	1	11	10	1

Poll

Who is your Predator of the Game?

Martin Erat, 3 goals 1 assist

92 votes

Patric Hornqvist, game-winning PP goal

0 votes

Pekka Rinne, 34 saves

6 votes

98 votes | Poll has closed

Vancouver Canucks 2010 Olympic Preview

Yankee Canuck — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:26:58 -0000

Let's flip a coin. [Tenders Lounge]

View full size photo »

We already one great post at Olympic hopefuls for Vancouver but, as you may have seen, the SB Nation Hockey group has been running a series of previews as well, so Sean and I have to run one more least the higher-ups flog us.

We disagree on some of these too but that's the fun part. Here's our take on the Vancouver Canucks who - for the first time ever? - have the easy commute.

Pack Your Bags & Walk To Work

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 205

Born: Apr 04, 1979

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Roberto Luongo	20	1124	10	9			48	2.56	531	483	.910	1

Roberto Luongo (Canada) - Let's get the big one out of the way. The meltdown that was the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino left a bad taste in Lui's mouth. Everyone knows he's been eying these winter games in his own city like a fat kid froths at a cake from 100 yards off. Let the haters hate on him, but he's a lock and we all know it. But the starter? Probably not. Brodeur is still the pony to bet on and his November numbers were ridiculous (8-2-1, 1.67 GAA, .939 S%). Expect Luongo to pass Fleury and be Canada's #2 man between the pipes.

Daniel Sedin

#22 / Left Wing / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Born: Sep 26, 1980

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Daniel Sedin	8	1	6	7	3	4	0	0	1	0	30	3.3

Daniel Sedin (Sweden) - I don't think any other team can offer what Vancouver offers Sweden: an entire scoring line. Daniel had four points in eight games in 2006. And unlike in Vancouver, Daniel won't necessarily have to shoulder the offensive load with guys like Alfredsson, Backstrom, Eriksson, Zetterberg and Holstrom around. And I didn't even have to mention that Forsberg character either.

Henrik Sedin

#33 / Center / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 190

Born: Sep 26, 1980

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Sedin	26	14	14	28	5	18	3	1	3	0	57	24.6

Henrik Sedin (Sweden) - Yeah, see above. Same deal with points from 2006. Creepy.

Mikael Samuelsson

#26 / Right Wing / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 213

Born: Dec 23, 1976

500 Internal Server Error

Mikael Samuelsson (Sweden) - What does Sammy offer? Prior Olympic experience? You betcha: in 2006 he added four points in eight games for team Sweden. Stanley Cup experience? Check. Can sort of tell the Sedins apart? The jury's probably out on that one.

Sami Salo

#6 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 215

Born: Sep 02, 1974

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Sami Salo	19	0	2	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	30	0.0

Sami Salo (Finland) - Great grandma's fragile chinaset Batman...the last thing poor Sami needs is MORE icetime. Finland's blueline isn't too deep as far as the NHL goes (only Timonen, Pitkanen and Koistinen spring to mind) and they can always elect to raid the European elite leagues or the KHL for replacements (Ossi Vaananen!!!). Salo has played in 10 Olympic games and has scored one goal and added three helpers.

Christian Ehrhoff

#5 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 205

Born: Jul 06, 1982

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Christian Ehrhoff	28	6	11	17	9	10	3	0	0	0	59	10.2

Christian Ehrhoff (Germany) - Blastoff is one of the few shining stars for Team Germany. This will actually be his third appearance in international play: he was the second youngest player back in 2002 and had two points in five games back in 2006. He'll join Schuber and Seidenberg on the blueline and get a truck load of work since Germany is, well, awful (they haven't finished higher than sixth in damn near 20 years).

Nearly A Lock

Ryan Kesler

#17 / Center / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 205

Born: Aug 31, 1984

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ryan Kesler	28	5	21	26	2	28	2	0	1	0	72	6.9

Ryan Kesler (USA) - Sean disagrees with me and I can certainly see why. However he wasn't a lock when the roster was first looked at this summer. He needed to go into camp, gel with the linemates and prove his worth. He's had a strong season so far and, though guys like Kane and Parise have past him on the scoresheet, Kesler has more points than both Brown and Backes so chances are he'll make it. He better too since he already went ahead and guaranteed a medal.

Work To Do

Pavol Demitra

#38 / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-0

Weight: 200

Born: Nov 29, 1974

Pavol Demitra (Slovakia) - I'm sure Demo would like nothing more than to join Hossa, Gaborik and Chara representing Slovakia, but obviously he has to be able to play first. It's probable he could be replaced by someone like Nagy or Satan if he can't make it. And, even then, I'm curious how Vancouver would feel letting him go play for the Olympics when he has yet to skate for the team. Demo clearly has the most work to do of all the current roster players.

Alexander Edler

#23 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 220

Born: Apr 21, 1986

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Alexander Edler	28	3	19	22	2	12	1	0	0	0	51	5.9

Alexander Edler (Sweden) - Edler's slow start coupled with a deep Swedish blueline (Lidstrom, Ericsson, Ohlund, Kronwall and maybe Hedman) probably nixes him from consideration.

Introducing Your New-found Road Warriors: The Vancouver Canucks

Sean Zandberg — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:03:57 -0000

Wow. That is nearly all I can say about this Canucks team. They defied the odds against a well-rested Flyers squad tonight and soundly beat them 3-0 in their own harsh building, leaving Philly with a chorus of boo's as they left the ice. I thought the Canucks looked somewhat sluggish after the first period, but they seemed to gain momentum as the game went on. That was not exactly indicative of a team who was playing the 2nd game in as many nights on the road. Vancouver killed more penalties than the Flyers did, and in the end scored NO powerplay goals but bettered the Flyers 5 on 5 to take this one.

The Flyers are a struggling team that isn't getting any breaks. Hell, how many times did they hit the post or not convert on one-timers in this game? Too many to count. In the end, the Canucks got the game-winning goal from an unlikely source: Willie Mitchell. "Kind of get scared when he wanders off near the other team's net," Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo said with a laugh. "You never know what could happen."

No shit. Luongo was solid in net but the Canucks limited the quality scoring chances against. Where they faltered, Lou was there to stone a helpless Flyers team.

Final shots: Flyers 38 Canucks 29.

Jannik Hansen was promoted to the second line, while Mikael Samuelsson was demoted to the 3rd line to start the game but did not produce. That is unfortunate.

In consecutive nights, the Canucks made the highly touted (or, currently hot goalie) look human. Brian Boucher allowed 3 goals for the first time since October 25th.

The Canucks' top line of Burrows and the Twins combined for 1 goal and 3 assists. So, it really is good having Dank back in the lineup. Burrows is lighting it up since his return no doubt.

Don't look now! The Canucks have won 5 of their last 7 games, including 3 straight wins on the road. I believe they are now 6-8 over all on the road. It just keeps getting better and better. Look at the Western Conference standings. Woo!

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

My 3 Stars:

1. Roberto Luongo

2. Henrik Sedin

3. Kevin Bieksa

OK, Canucks fans...are you stoked yet? I have a few questions for you:

- would you leave the current forward lines intact as they are? Does Hansen get another chance on line 2?

- how do you rate Shane O'Brien's play over the last 2 games? Has he earned another game in a Canucks uni over Mathieu Schneider?

- Raycroft is probably going to play against the Canes on Saturday. How much faith do you have in him and the teams' ability to play in front of him?

My answers:

- YES I AM STOKED. I would leave the current forward lines as is. Shane OB has looked just fine to me. I would leave him in the lineup and old man Schneider can sit. He has earned it. No minor penalties for him?? Nice!

- I have already said that if the Canucks beat the Flyers that they would lose to Carolina on Saturday. I will stand by that. Faith-less aren't I?

The New Jersey Devils Lose Ugly against Vancouver Canucks, 5-2

John Fischer — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:25:32 -0000

More photos » by Rich Schultz - AP

Hey look, it's Colin White standing by as Alexandre Burrows deflected a puck past Martin Brodeur while being right in front of him. This was the first goal of the game and the first of a bad first period. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

Browse more photos »

Tonight was very disappointing.

The New Jersey Devils opened the month by hosting the Vancouver Canucks. The Devils were coming off 3 straight wins from the last week and won their last 6 home games. In my preview for the game, I raised the question that if the Canucks look good on paper, why are they 4-8-0 on the road? Needless to say, that record and New Jersey's streaks meant nothing tonight. The Devils looked very poor in both ends of the rink, and the Canucks took advantage in a big way to cleanly win 5-2. In a nutshell, that's what happened.

For the Canucks-based reaction to tonight's game, which must be a very positive one, Nucks Misconduct is where you should check out. If you want a straight overview of the game with boxscores and other stats, NHL.com has you covered with this recap. Read on for my further thoughts on the game.

First and foremost, here is a video of all the highlights from tonight's game from NHL.com, including all of the goals and big saves. That is, of course, you would like to see all of these over again, or even for the first time.

Where do I even begin with all of this? Martin Brodeur did not have a good night, period. I will say that up front. He's had better games, he's had games where he stops some of those goals against. This was definitely not a game that helped his stock for Team Canada. Not that Roberto Luongo was great; but Luongo made the game-shifting-in-hindsight saves that absolutely robbed Zach Parise at point blank in the second period (see 3:45 on the above video). Had Parise get one past Luongo - and maybe he should have done better - that would have been the equalizer and tonight could have been an entirely different game.

Of course that didn't happen, Luongo robbed him, and the Canucks maintained their lead through the second. However, Luongo had the help of his skaters playing fairly solid defensive hockey. The defensemen in front of him were generally first for rebounds. On defense, the Canucks broke up their fair share of Devils' passes and collected way more than a few bad Devils' passes and dumps.

That said, while I don't think he played well, Martin Brodeur cannot necessarily say the same of his defense (or backchecking forwards). Sure, Alexandre Burrows' deflection was point-blank and perfect; I get that one going in. While Alexander Edler's shot took a deflection off of Rob Niedermayer (who played tonight, no really, he did, I swear to you he did), the puck did go 5-hole on Brodeur. Regardless of Brian Rolston giving up the puck during a line change that led to the Vancouver attack, I feel that shot should have been stopped.

But the other ones, well, Brodeur can't say the guys in front of him helped him out on those. Not after Mike Mottau tipped in Sami Salo's shot for Vancouver's second goal; not after getting left hung out to dry on a bad line change leading to a goal by Daniel Sedin; and definitely, absolutely, positively not after Colin White made the boneheaded decision to go after a puck carrier on a two-on-one, leaving Jannik Hansen wide open for a beautiful goal against. I don't care if they only allowed Vancouver to 26 shots. When opportunities and deflections like those come a team's way and leads to 5 goals on the scoreboard, the number of shots on net isn't so important.

Really, Colin White? You have a legendary goaltender who can take on any shooter and instead of letting him challenge the shooter, you leave the other man open? Really? I thought that was textbook defending; and you managed to forget that basic . I know it ultimately didn't affect the outcome, the Devils were losing anyway; but the fifth goal against falls on you in my opinion.

This is not to say the Canucks were just fortunate. Oh, no. They played well. They were given opportunities to score and they came through big time. They looked more confident on the ice, they were calmer with the puck, and their passes weren't a mix of "good idea, poor execution" and simply duffing the pass. All traits the Devils did not really show for much of this game.

Thankfully, the Devils got lucky late in the first period and scored their only two goals of the game. Good heads up plays by Niclas Bergfors and Travis Zajac to finish off the opportunities. Good work by Andy Greene and Jamie Langenbrunner for making them happen. They made the game an actual "game." But they were really the benefits of good bounces going the Devils' way. Bounces that didn't come at all in the rest of the game. The Devils had a few more opportunities - Zach Parise being robbed in the second, a 5-on-3 power play where some bad bounces prevented some high quality scoring chances - but Luongo reacted very well to everything and the defense cleaned up the mess the Devils' offense made. What was notable was that Zajac had 8 shots on net, Parise had 5 on net, Patrik Elias looked vigorous but didn't get much for his efforts, and Brian Rolston looked nothing at all like he did in the previous two games and helped Vancouver get their offense going that led to Edler's game winning goal. Everyone else was sort of forgettable outside of the goals.

We may be able to take solace in the fact that in the long run, this game may not be so important. We know that the Devils can do better, we've seen them do better, and they will do better. Regardless, it really was a bad performance and a bad loss to take. It wasn't a failure for 60 minutes, I felt the game was very even in the second period - perhaps some edge to the Devils, but the Canucks clearly won the first and third periods and did so quite easily. But I'm getting the impression that this is leading to a blueprint on how to beat the Devils: Get a 3 goal lead, force New Jersey to keep turning over the puck via clearances or bad passes, keep attacking if they mount a comeback, and hold on. While the Devils have made comebacks from deficits, they have yet to win after going down 3 goals in a game. That appears to be the mark that opponents should be aiming for.

The fans, small crowd as it was due to it being a midweek game against Vancouver, were right to boo, sigh, get indiginant, and/or leave early. By mid-way through the third period, this game was pretty much in the bank for Vancouver. I can't blame them at all, the Devils played very sloppily - far and away different from what Devils fans saw on Saturday against the Islanders. The few Canucks fans in the crowd, as well as the thousands across the continent, have every right to be happy with their team's victory. Jacques Lemaire has already said that the team clearly needs a "good practice," as reported by Tom Gulitti.

Me, I just want to see the Devils I've seen in the past month at the Rock. To me, I was just waiting for the "real" Devils to show up. The Devils team that gave consistently strong shifts even if the situation wasn't in their favor. What I actually saw tonight was just an ugly performance that reminded me of a Buffalo game at the Rock from October 28. That too was a bad loss (4-1) and hard to watch. I don't think that is a coincidence.

Thanks to Steve for the GameThread, the commenters who joined in, and, of course, the readers. Please feel free to leave your thoughts, complaints (and I know you'll have a few), and other feelings about tonight's loss in the comments.

How Will the Olympics Affect the Canucks?

nucksandpucks — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:55:13 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Soon to be enemies...

Browse more photos »

It's less than three months until the 2010 Olympics kickoff, and speculation is rampant about the makeup of the Canadian and other national teams. It appears that a number of Canucks will skate on "home" ice in February, as a few players are likely to make their respective national teams. After the jump I give a rundown of what Canucks we can expect to see skating on GM Place ice during the Olympics, and raise some questions about the impact this might have on the latter part of the season.

Canada

Locks: Roberto Luongo

Other possibilities: none (sorry Kyle Wellwood)

United States

Locks: Ryan Kesler

Other possibilities: Mathieu Schneider (a dark horse, but maybe a PP specialist)

Sweden

Locks: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alexander Edler

Other possibilities: Mikael Samuelsson

Russia

Locks: none

Other possibilities: Sergei Shirokov? Okay, maybe not.

Finland

Locks: none

Other possibilities: Sami Salo (If he's healthy he should be on the team)

Germany

Locks: Christian Ehrhoff

Other possibilities: none

Slovakia

Locks: none

Other possibilities: Pavol Demitra (if he's healthy); Mario Bliznak (I don't know what Slovakia's depth is like, but hopefully they don't need to dip too far into the AHL ranks to ice a team)

If Only They'd Qualified

Locks: Michael Grabner (Austria); Jannik Hansen (Denmark)

So the Canucks could have up to 10 regulars playing in the Olympics. While it will be awesome to see our boys putting it on the line for their country, how will the team fare coming out of the Olympic break? The Sedins, Kesler and Luongo will all potentially be fatigued. Who will step up for Vancouver? We'll need Raycroft to shoulder a bigger burden, which he has demonstrated the ability to do. Secondary scorers like Alex Burrows, Mason Raymond, Kevin Bieksa and Steve Bernier will need to step up. Wellwood will have spent two weeks laying by the pool, so he should be good to... oh, wait, never mind.

It will be an interesting time for the Canucks, as it will for other teams with significant international contingents. Throw in Canucks' epic pre- and post-Olympic road trip, which will rival the journeys of Odysseus, and the new year looks like a giant wildcard for Vancouver. How do you think the Canucks will respond? Will the Olympics help us? Hurt us? Make no difference? Hopefully one of our boys can pull the rare Olympic Gold and Stanley Cup feat in 2010. I'm looking at you, Luongo.

Sharks 4 Canucks 2 In A Snoozfest

Sean Zandberg — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:23:41 -0000

It was hard to give the Canucks much hope of winning this game against a superior team and in a back-to-back game scenario. The Canucks started well but started mentally breaking down after the first period. That was quite evident in period 2, where they offered the Sharks 3 consecutive (lazy) penalties in the first 7.5 minutes: hooking, hooking and holding by Samuelsson, Edler and Daniel Sedin respectively. Damned Swedes! (haha) Dan Boyle scored the go ahead goal on the Edler penalty, and the Sharks went into a defensive shell after that. They outshot the Canucks 15-4 in that period.

Canucks were 0-for-4 on the PP. Yes their power play looked lame.

Sharks were 1-for-5.

Lots of turnovers, bad passes, and inability to get the puck to the net by the Canucks after that. If I could single out one player, I'd say that Mathieu Schneider did not look good out there.

On the positive side, the game was close until the 17:25 mark of the 3rd when Manny Malhotra put the Canucks out of their misery. I thought Kyle Wellwood and Jannik Hansen looked especially good tonight. Wellwood scored a goal and an assist and was a team-best +2. Hansen scored once, had 3 shots, and was an even +/-. There was a brief stint where Hansen played with the Sedins and looked good. Might be worth giving him a chance on line 1, AV.

The Big 3 Sharks players (Marleau, Thornton and Heatley) were limited to 1assist (Thornton) and 5 shots.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: The crowd at GM Place sounded lifeless. At one point I swear to God I could hear a Wellwood bowel movement. Sure, there was a wave and a short-lived "Go Canucks Go" chant with less than 10:00 left in the 3rd, but that doesn't cut it, boring game or not. The team was in need of some form of boost and the crowd could have offered that.

"You'll find more cheer in a graveyard"

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

MY 3 STARS:

1. DAN BOYLE. 24:34 played, 4 shots, 1 goal, a PP freak

2. JOE PAVELSKI. 2 assists and 5 shots.

3. KYLE WELLWOOD

Evacuate The Dance Floor: Blackhawks 1 Canucks 0

Sean Zandberg — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:10:57 -0000

More photos » by Darryl Dyck - AP

I don't know where he is, Bryan! All I know is that he has a long stick and he wears #8! Hold me!

Browse more photos »

Final shot count: Canucks 30 Hawks 17

It what was projected to be perhaps a goal-fest turned into a chess match between evenly (?) matched teams. Sure, Antii Niemi stole the show tonight, but I have to be honest here: he had to be solid not GREAT. Niemi was solid along the ice with his saves and that is where the Canucks put most of their shots tonight. It reminded me of a recent Andrew Raycroft game or two where he was "dominant". That is where you can also credit the rest of the Blackhawks team for limiting Vancouver's quality chances. However, they were hardly any better than we were.

Ugh. To have the game decided by a lousy-bounce goal by Bryan Bickell....depressing. I can hardly fault the Canucks' play except that they couldn't present a formidable scoring chance on Niemi except for Steve Bernier's breakaway, which was stopped by Auntie....along the ice.

Daniel Sedin may need another game or two to get into his groove. Kyle Wellwood especially is running out of chances. No shots or points for him tonight. That is all I have to say about this mishap. So unfortunate. Now we wait until Thursday for the next game to see what our team is made out of.

Chicago got their "revenge", and no taxi drivers were hurt in the process.

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

3 Stars:

1. Aunti Niemi

2. Jonathan Toews

3. Roberto Luongo