SB Nation - Henrik Sedin

Canucks Hold On To Beat Wild 4-3

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:34:21 -0000

Quietly, Henrik Sedin has scored 501 points in his NHL career. With 3 assists tonight he has moved into a tie with Marian Gaborik at 2nd place in League scoring. Individual stats are fine and dandy, but right now the team's stats are more important. The Canucks needed those 2 points:

1. To pull 3 points ahead of the surging Wild in the standings

2. To keep pace with the 6th, 7th and 8th seeds in the West (Coyotes, Predators and Stars). All 3 of those teams earned at least a point tonight. Damn!

The Canucks have now won 2 straight, 4 of their last 6, and 6 of their last 10. Only 3 teams in the NHL have 12 home wins: Phoenix, Chicago and Vancouver (12-4-0). Nobody has more.

-The Wild outshot Vancouver in all 3 periods, finishing with a 41-29 margin. Roberto Luongo was pretty solid.

-I have to give the Wild props. What a hell of a road game for them, even in a back-to-back scenario. Canucks take note! Sure, they lost, but they hardly let up. That is one tenacious speedy team.

-Marty Havlat...hate the guy.... but he scored a goal and 3 points tonight. I believe he is finding his groove.

-The game was entertaining, but too wide open for my liking. How many odd-man rushes did the Canucks give up? Is that how we are going to play? That won't cut it if we are looking for consistency.

-Kesler and Mitchell playing it up for the media pregame was priceless. You can see video footage of the scrum and the brotherly love here.

-No Rypien-Boogaard tilt. I have almost lost hope that it is going to happen. Then again, here are a few intriguing ice times: Hordichuk: 2:57, Rypien: 6:46, Boogaard: 4:13.

I still can't believe Boogaard tried to pull that interference stunt...and then got busted for diving. The guy bounced off Kevin Bieksa like a bus hit him! Are you kidding me? Is this guy a soccer player in disguise? Pathetic. 2 minutes for being stupid. And, Mason Raymond scored on the ensuing power play. On second thought: Dive Boogey dive!

BOXSCORE AND HIGHLIGHTS

NUCKS MISCONDUCT 3 STARS:

1. Henrik Sedin

2. Martin Havlat

3. Roberto Luongo

Next up: The Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Kings. That a misprint? Wow. Remember what I said about "too wide open". It would be best if the Canucks tighten it up a little against the high-octane Kings.

Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:45:33 -0000

More photos » by DARRYL DYCK - AP

9 days ago: Vancouver Canucks' Daniel Sedin (22) of Sweden, is stopped by Minnesota Wild's Josh Harding as Greg Zanon (6) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

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Minnesota Wild 3-4 Vancouver Canucks

Too little, too late? Ran into a hot goaltender? Played in front of a goalie who was fighting the puck all night? A couple tough penalty calls? No matter how you describe the outcome, the story of the game was how dramatically the Wild outplayed the Canucks tonight, even though they fell 4-3.

Martin Havlat seems to have turned his game around on this road trip. In his last five games, Havlat has seven points and now has four goals and 12 assists on the season for 16 points in 26 games. Still far below expectations, but he's on his way.

The Wild in general have really picked up their play, and, while still in last place in the division, have a respectable point total and are 8-2-1 in their last 11. In fact, with 41 shots tonight and 46 shots last night, the Wild had their franchise first consecutive 40 shot games, and even did so on the road. Things are certainly different now than a month ago.

Again, the Wild found scoring from unexpected places. Shane Hnidy notched his first ever goal in a Wild sweater, and with eight points, is well on his way to a career high (12). Greg Zanon not only scored, but did so by making a nice play to chip the puck over a defender's stick, carry it into the zone with speed, make a nifty drop pass to Havlat, then crash the net and knock the puck past Luongo into the net on the rebound. It was a class goal.

Unfortunately, Josh Harding was not very good tonight, and even said so himself. His poor play likely cost the team the two points. Poor penalty killing, and even worse power play opportunities didn't help matters, but is Harding was even mediocre tonight, the Wild get the win.

But, these kinds of games will happen. I'm concentrating more on the excellent play and the solid 3-2 road trip. I like the way this team looks right now, and they should pick up velocity going into the holiday and carry that into the new year.

Please read the game recap over at Nucks Misconduct

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Martin Havlat (1 G, 2 A, +3)
Henrik Sedin (3 A)
Kyle Brodziak (2 A)

Questions to Answer

Minnesota is playing well, or at least well enough to win, can they keep it up and get ahead of the Canucks tonight in the standings? Unfortunately not, especially considering how they outplayed Vancouver all night.
Can the Wild keep the Sedin's off the board? Of course not, don't be silly.
How will Josh Harding look in place of Niklas Backstrom? In a word? Overmatched.
Will Havlat continue to be on the 4th line all game, or will he move up if they are playing well, perhaps moving Sheppard down to the 4th? Havlat was all over the place tonight, playing with a few different lines, and this road trip has been really positive for Marty.
Vancouver has been injured all season, but now that they're finally healthy, can they find some consistency? Well, their power play was excellent (thanks in part to sloppy goaltending, and they looked much better than the first time the Wild played them, but they were outplayed tonight and still got the win.

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.

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?

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...

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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.

Keep Your Heads Up! Canucks-Blackhawks Preview

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:12:26 -0000

Willie Mitchell doesn't like Blackhawks. Especially not baby-faced Hawk captains. (H/T to Mike for the image)

View full size photo »

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

The Mortal Enemy: Second City Hockey

UPDATE (1:28 PM): Joel Quenneville said this about any potential retribution from Chicago:

"Our priority will be to win the hockey game and nothing else," Quenneville said. "Getting even on the scoreboard is the best way to get even."

-Chicago Tribune.

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

I'm going to focus quite a bit on Jonathan Toews to start this preview. A lot of this game and even the Hawks' recent success has revolved around him. On October 21, Toews had just played over 13:00 of hockey in a home game against the Canucks. He took a pass as he came out of his own zone and BANGO! Willie Mitchell, who had just stepped out of the penalty box, rang his damned bell, causing the Chicago's captain to miss 6 games with a concussion. Prior to that game against the Canucks, the Hawks had lost to the Stars, but had won 4 straight before that. The Canucks beat Chicago 3-2 that night and we all felt pretty good about it. In the 6 games that Toews missed at the hands of Big Willie, Chicago went 3-3. When Toews returned to the lineup on November 9th, his team went on a 6-game winning streak leading up to tonight. To say Toews is valuable to the Blackhawks team is an understatement.

He scored 2 goals and 1 assist against the Oilers Saturday night in a 5-2 victory.

Many wonder if the Hawks are going to seek some kind of retribution against Vancouver tonight for the Mitchell hit on Toews. It is quite possible. So they had better prepare themselves for a potential war tonight. There is no love between the 2 teams that's for sure. The animosity continues to grow.

Vancouver has the "luxury" of playing a Hawks team that is playing in a back-to-back situation. However, from what I saw in the Hawks-Oilers game Saturday night, Chicago disposed of Edmonton with relative ease. The Canucks have to come out hard and play them consistently aggressive in order to win. They have to wear them down as the game goes on without taking too many penalties in the process. Chicago is 2-0-1 in back-to-back scenarios this season.

Marian Hossa will not play against the Canucks. He's due to return sometime next week. But the return of Daniel Sedin has to boost the Canucks, especially Henrik Sedin. Now we'll finally see the cycle again! Woo! Hat tip to Hank for putting up an admirable effort in his brother's absence. He, although the points came sporadically, scored 10 goals and 8 assists in 18 games without his twin. Not bad at all, Hank. Now we shall see how the Canucks perform with the rejuvenated Sedin-Burrows top line and the Kesler-Samuelsson-Raymond second line. The team cannot take Daniel's return for granted. They all have to work hard and contribute in order to be successful. Dank may be a little rusty after missing so much time.

Speaking of hat tips: A big cheers to Tanner Glass for stealing the 4th line spot from Darcy Hordichuk...for now. He's not going to put up a shitload of points, but he's getting the job done and it's being noticed. In 18 games played this season, he may only have 2 goals and 3 points, but he has only been a minus once. Of course, he's matched up against the other teams' 4th line, but still, he's a tough, reliable guy.

Comparative Stats:

Goals Per Game: Chicago 5th, Canucks 12th in the NHL

Goals Against Per Game: Chicago 2nd, Canucks 10th

Who's better 5 on 5? Chicago 3rd, Canucks 10th

Powerplay: Canucks 6th, Chicago 9th

Penalty Kill: Chicago 1st, Canucks 24th.

Shots Per Game: Chicago 4th, Canucks 13th

Shots Against Per Game: Chicago 1st, Canucks 9th

Faceoff Percentage: Chicago 2nd, Canucks 7th

Cristobal Huet played very well against the Oilers. If the Hawks play Antii Niemi against the Canucks...well he's not so bad either. He has started 4 games this season, holds a 3-1 record, a 2.22 GAA and a .900 save percentage.

The Canucks are monsters at GM Place this season, with an 8-2-0 record. Chicago knows damned well that they need to work on their 4-3-1 road record. Kicking the Albertan teams' asses in their last 2 games is a great start. The Canucks still sit in 1th spot in the West, with a 12-10-0 record, now 4 points behind the Flames, who have played 1 less game, and 5 points behind the Northwest Division-leading Avalanche, who have played 1 more game than us. There isn't much room for error right now.

Let's go Canucks! Bury these bastards once again!

OK, So The Canucks CAN Score

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:08:29 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

"I know that's you Daniel. Hank would never score a hatty."

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I hope you all got to watch that game last night. The Canucks answered their critics by demolishing the Avalanche 8-2 in front of their own fans. What a game. The Canucks continued the effort that they showed in the loss to Detroit, except this time they made life hell for Craig Anderson (who was pulled) and Peter Budaj. They held a meeting after the Wings game and mentioned that they had to get more traffic in front of the opposing netminder. Well done!

-Only 2 Canucks forwards had no points: Kyle Wellwood and Rick Rypien.

-3 defencemen had no points: Christian Ehrhoff, Willie Mitchell and Sami Salo

-Ryan Johnson, who had 7 assists last year, tallied 3 against the Avs.

-Henrik Sedin scored his first hat trick in 667 games played.

-8 Canucks had multi-point games. Steve Bernier's hand got softer, as he scored 2 goals.

-Legendary Canuck-killer Milan Hejduk played over 17:00, had zero points and 2 shots. Suck it, Milan.

-Welcome back to the NHL, Tom Preissing! How's that -4 treating ya?

-Colorado outshot the Canucks 34-30, including 16-8 in the 3rd. The Canucks scored 4 goals on those 8 shots.

-The Canucks' power play went 1-for-6

-I may or may not have gotten drunk due to celebrating.

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

Canucks-Red Wings Preview

Sean Zandberg — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:46:39 -0000

"ATTACK!"

Canucks (10-9-0)

Red Wings: (8-5-3)

GAME TIME: 4:30 PM PST

TV: Canucks PPV

THE ENEMY: Winging It In Motown

UPDATE: 3:22 PM: I forgot to mention that Mathieu Schneider is in and O'Brien is out. C'mon Schneider! Burn your old team! Do it!

UPDATE: 11:12 AM: We told you the top 2 lines, and now the bottom 2 lines:

Glass-Johnson-Bernier

Pettinger-Rypien Hansen

UPDATE: 11:05 AM PST: Chris Osgood and Kirk Maltby are ill and will not play tonight. The newest Wing, Drew Miller, who was plucked off the waiver wire by Detroit earlier this week, will play. Jimmy Howard, who has a 2-2-1 record and a .893 save percentage, will start in goal.

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

Detroit had a few days to think about their 5-1 loss to the lowly Leafs on November 7. On Wednesday they took all that aggression out on Steve Mason and the Blue Jackets, destroying them 9-1. Concerning if you are a Canucks fan who just watched Vancouver lay a rotten egg in St. Louis on Tuesday.

Niklas Kronwall scored 2 goal and 1 assist in the win. Justin Abdelkader scored twice. Pavel Datsyuk, Todd Bertuzzi, Daniel Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg all had 2 points each. Despite the loss to the Leafs, the Wings have won 4 of their last 5. They now return home, where they have a stellar record of 5-1-1. The Canucks, as Mike pointed out in terrific, terrifying and in-depth fashion below, are lousy on the road with a 3-7 record. They have not found a consistency in their game at all away from GM Place. Slow starts are killing them.

On October 27, the Wingnuts beat the Canucks 5-4 in Vancouver. It was a great game despite the loss, from an entertainment perspective. AV's boys blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads. They were outshot 42-26. Generally, the Canucks 'get up' for games against Detroit, and we should see a much better effort from them tonight.

Roberto Luongo returns! Let's see if he has any rust on him after missing several games with a rib injury. The biggest factor is the team. They have a style of play that works. Now they have to, to a man, go out there and play that game.

We'll keep you updated on any roster adjustments. It looks like Darcy Hordichuk will serve his 1-game suspension tonight, even though he feels he is innocent, saying Cam Janssen dropped the gloves first. We could very well see Jannik Hansen make his regular season debut tonight.

The Province reported yesterday that AV was employing the following top 2 lines in practice:

Mason Raymond-Henrik Sedin-Ryan Kesler

Alex Burrows-Kyle Wellwood-Mikael Samuelsson

Burrows and Wellwood are being given a chance to shake their offensive futility. They had better get it going and quick.

Datsyuk: "I gotta...I gotta stop and go to the bathroom!"

Zetterberg: "Just go, man!"

The Blues Get Their Revenge

Sean Zandberg — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:03:26 -0000

More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP

Fair enough, Blues fans. Even Lou got Perrowned on this night.

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So the Blues got their revenge tonight, winning 6-1 in convincing fashion. Why am I not surprised? Before the game I said (in response to Temujin's 4-1 Blues win prediction):

Funny you say that, because I’m thinking along the same lines. If I was a betting man, which I am, I’d pick the Blues because:
-Revenge factor
-Hence the McDonald-Boyes shows gets going
-the layoff and possible lousy play in front of Raycroft = Blues goals.
5-2 Blues in an angry, penalty-filled night.

Well the prediction came true mostly. Andy McDonald scored 18 seconds into the game (assisted by Brad Boyes). McDonald had 1 goal and 3 points, Brad Boyes had 1 goal and 4 points, and some schmuck named David Perron scored 3 goals. The Blues got only their second win on home ice by playing a stellar game.

Already down 5-0 going into the 3rd period, the Blues outshot the Canucks 8-2 in the final frame and 30-23 overall. We never saw a Rypien-Janssen fight, rather, Tanner Glass and Darcy Hordichuk fighting the Blues' goon and perhaps those were the highlights of the night. To make this sound even more pathetic, Janssen handled himself pretty well in both tilts.

3 Canucks finished -3 tonight: Steve Bernier, Alex Burrows and Sami Salo. The Blues' Barrett Jackman, Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes managed a +3 rating. Chris Mason more than avenged his Game 4 flubbery by stopping 22 of 23 Canucks shots.

That was an absolute fail by the Canucks, pure and simple.

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

QUOTED:

"I don't know if it was too much time [off] or whatever — we weren't sharp," said Henrik Sedin, who scored the lone Canuck goal in the third period.

"We gave them too many chances and left Razor out to dry. It wasn't good enough. It's inexcusable. We didn't create a whole lot."

The rousing reception to the in-house game promotion said it all Tuesday.

Reminded that the St. Louis Blues needed one more effort to hit the five-goal plateau and reward the Scottrade Center faithful with free Big Macs, there was a fan frenzy. After all, Andrew Raycroft had allowed four goals on nine shots through the opening eight minutes.

Anybody hungry? -The Province