SB Nation - Kyle Wellwood

Blues 3 Canucks 1: Character In Question

Sean Zandberg — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:10:57 -0000

Ugh. Ryan Kesler mentioned a bubble of positivity in the Canucks' locker room on Sunday, saying that the world is full of negativity and the Canucks were having no part of it. But let's call a spade a spade here...BULLSHIT! I thought Kesler and his line were fine tonight, even though they finished an even zero and 2 assists. They showed a lot of hustle generally. But where in the blue hell was everyone else? The Canucks will rely on the top line for scoring on most nights, but they were hardly a factor tonight, finishing a -3 with 8 shots and no points.

The Blues' power play finished 1-for-3. The Canucks were terrible with the man advantage and 0-for-4.

The 2nd period curse reared it's ugly head again tonight, where the Canucks were outshot 14-7 and outscored 2-0. There is your game right there. Where was the Canucks' wheels? In a scrap yard somewhere. Their character, after shutting down and beating the Capitals on Friday now remains in question. They failed to get a playoff spot once again. Their record against Central Division teams is 1-7. Fail. Fail. Fail! And just like that, the Blues are no longer in the Western Conference basement.

BOXSCORE AND HIGHLIGHTS

My 3 Stars:

1. David Backes. 2 goals and over 19:00 played

2. Ty Conklin

3. Paul Kariya. He was a force in the first half of the game.

Kevin Bieksa: Go away!

Kyle Wellwood: Hit the waiver wire!

Alain Vigneault Post Game.

I don't care about Alex Burrows' botched "kick in" call. The team wasn't in it.

I'm out.

Ovie And The Caps Come To Town: Canucks-Capitals Preview

Sean Zandberg — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

Hey Canucks, watch your knees! Ovechkin's out there!

Browse more photos »

CAPITALS (21-7-6) VS CANUCKS (19-15-0)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: TSN

THE ENEMY: Russian Mob: aka Japers' Rink

UPDATE (11:00 AM): Thought this was funny. Sami Salo talking about his son loving Ovechkin: "Maybe when I’m retired I’ll buy him an Ovechkin jersey," Sami said. "He doesn’t have to wear mine, but I’m not going to buy him an Ovechkin jersey as long as I’m playing for the Canucks." - Vancouver Sun

UPDATE (1:42 AM): Wanna see a pic of Cody Hodgson carrying the Olympic Torch in his hometown of Markham Ontario? Check it out. Back seems fine. Faker. (I kid)

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Changes will be made to the Canucks' roster when they play Washington tonight. For starters, Kyle Wellwood will replace Darcy Hordichuk. Once again, Alain Vigneault kept Hordichuk's minutes to an ultimate low last game (2:22), and Darcy had got into a tussle with George Parros. Aaron Rome will take the place of Mathieu Schneider. He is 14 years younger then Schneider and I would bank on him being more reliable in his own end as well. Schneider has struggled here, and it appears that rumors of his future with the team are about to begin.

Rome has scored 6 goals and 7 points in 7 games with the Moose this season. Pretty good for a defenceman! Welcome back, Rome. Make it count! Vigneault, according to the Province, would not say what his defensive pairings would be against the Caps, but the pairings at practice were: Mitchell with Salo, O'Brien with Ehrhoff and Rome with Bieksa.

So how about those Capitals?

More after the jump...

Well, they are duking it out with Pittsburgh right now for who is the best team in the NHL. The Penguins lead them by one point after beating the Flyers on Thursday night. Yeah, the Penguins, who only have 1 OT loss to their credit. The Capitals boast an impressive 11-5-3 road record this season. They have won 8 of their last 10, out-scoring their foes 39-22 in the process. No one is even close to scoring as many goals as they have this season (124). The Canucks have scored 106 goals. The Caps' 95 goals against puts them in the middle of the NHL pack. The Canucks have allowed 88.

Who's cookin' for Washington? Duh!

-Ovechkin has 3 goals and 8 points in his 5 games back since his suspension for knee-ing. Can we contain him?

-Nicklas Backstrom has 4 goals and 7 assists in his last 6 games played

-Alexander Semin has 2 goals and 7 points in his last 6.

-Tomas Fleischmann has 5 goals and 3 assists in his last 6.

-Mike Green has 3 goals and 3 assists in that span.

-Brendan Morrison has cooled off of late, with only 2 assists his his last 6 games played.

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Capitals 1st overall, Canucks 5th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 10th, Capitals 13th

5 on 5: Capitals 1st, Canucks 3rd.

POWER PLAY: Capitals 1st, Canucks 3rd. That could be the game story in this one.

PENALTY KILL: Canucks 20th, Capitals 21st

SHOTS PER GAME: Capitals 6th, Canucks 12th

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 10th, Capitals 13th.

FACEOFF %: Capitals 6th, Canucks 11th.

There are a lot of categories there where the 2 teams match up pretty evenly. Regardless, the Canucks cannot be coming out flat, trading chances in a wide-open game, or turning the puck over against a monster team like Washington. Hell, look how bad it was against the Ducks. I expect a much better and consistent effort from Vancouver tonight. They are going to need it. The Caps have had 3 days off.

-Roberto Luongo has a 15-10-3 record in 30 career games against Washington, with a 2.26 GAA, .930 save percentage and two shutouts. -Canucks.com

-The last time these 2 teams played eachother was in Washington, October 13, 2008. Ovechkin was kept off the scoresheet, but Michael (I priced my ass out of the NHL) Nylander and Mike Green made the Canucks pay in a 5-1 route. The Capitals out shot the Canucks 35-10! Are you kidding me? True story.

Wingless Ducks Pay Canucks A Visit

Sean Zandberg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:00:23 -0000

Ducks (12-13-7) vs Canucks (19-14-0)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: TSN

THE OPPOSITION: Battle of California, Anaheim Calling

UPDATE (4:00 PM): Word is that Rypien will move up to the 3rd line to center Glass and Bernier.

UPDATE (1:15 PM): The Canucks are not taking the Ducks lightly, plus, Jonas Hiller will start in goal for the Quacks.

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You probably know this already, but Kyle Wellwood will be a healthy scratch against the Ducks. Alain Vigneault stated that he wants to ice a grittier team against the Ducks. So Darcy Hordichuk will most likely draw in. Wellwood said after practice on Tuesday that he isn't surprised he's riding the pine because he didn't have a great game against the Kings and was on the ice for their lone goal. Wellwood only played 9:38 and was a -1. I wonder where the Canucks' patience level is with him. Time is running out for the pint-sized slumping center.

The Canucks are looking to win 4 in a row for the first time this season. They seem to have found their groove back. Their home record is now a stellar 13-4-0. They have outscored their opponents 11-6 in the last 3 wins. Speaking of the number zero, their zero points in the overtime loss section continues to be an eyesore. They sit in 10th spot in the West while being 5 games above 500. Dallas, who has 10 overtime-shootout losses, sits in 9th.

More after the jump..

Detroit, who sits in 8th spot, 1 point ahead of the Canucks, has 5 OTL's. The Canucks' 104 goals for ranks them 3rd in the West. Their somewhat impressive 85 goals against ranks them 3rd best in the West. Their 19 wins ties them with San Jose, Colorado, Calgary, Nashville and Phoenix. That is a 6-way tie for most wins in the Conference. It's frustrating to look at, but it is what it is. They just have to continually plug away and get into the playoff hunt. These wins are going to count for something (like a tie breaker perhaps) towards the end of the season.

Speaking of madness: the Ducks' 12-13-7 record puts them at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, only 8 points out of a playoff spot. They have won 2 of their last 3 games after losing 5 straight. They have had 4 days off since beating Columbus 3-1 on the 12th.

Despite losing Teemu Selanne (broken hand) and Joffrey Lupul (back issues) recently, the Ducks may be turning a corner. They are finally getting scoring from the second line (sound familiar?), and at lot of that has to do with some guy named Dan Sexton, the Ducks' undrafted free agent signing who they recently called up due to the Selanne injury. He and Koivu are clicking. Sexton has 4 goals and 1 assist in his last 4 games. Koivu has 2 goals and 3 assists. Bobby Ryan has 1 goal and 4 assists. These guy have carried the Ducks over the past few games, as the top line has cooled off.

Jonas Hiller, who stopped 35 of 36 shots against the Blue Jackets last game, may get the start for the Ducks. However, he has been anything but stellar this season.

Corey (Canuck-Killer) Perry has 4 goals and 12 points in his last 5 games against the Canucks.

The last time the Canucks played the Ducks was October 30th in Anaheim: a 7-2 loss as poor Andrew Raycroft and Cory Schneider were hung out to dry. The Canucks had built an early 2-0 lead in that game and then completely crumpled. Time to make amends for that travesty!

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 4th, Ducks 16th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 8th, Ducks 25th

5 on 5: Canucks 3rd, Ducks 16th

POWER PLAY: Canucks 2nd, Ducks 4th (uh-oh)

PENALTY KILL: Canucks 21st, Ducks 24th

SHOTS PER GAME: Canucks 12th, Ducks 22nd

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 10th, Ducks 27th

FACE OFF PERCENTAGE: Canucks 11th, Ducks 22nd

If you are new here, some of us predict the scores, winning team and winning goal scorer each Canucks game. The leaderboard is on the left sidebar on the main page. Bragging rights! And I got 'em so far!

The Hottest Team In The West Comes To Town: Canucks-Wild Preview

Sean Zandberg — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:00:23 -0000

Wild (15-13-3) vs Canucks (17-14-0)

Game Time: 7:00 PST

TV: CBC

The Opposition: Hockey Wilderness

Update (2:12 PST): Dan Murphy is reporting on Twitter that Josh Harding will start for the Wild tonight and Canucks 1st round draft pick from 2000 Nathan Smith will take the place of the injured Owen Nolan.

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The Minnesota Wild may have won 5 of 14 in October and 5 of 11 in November, but they have won 6 of 7 in December, including an 8-1-1 record in their last 10. The only other NHL teams that are cookin' like the Wild are the Capitals and Bruins. I managed to watch the 3rd period and OT of the Wild-Flames game last night. The Wild are still playing well defensively, but are utilizing a super speed and aggressive game as well. You'll see it when they play the Canucks tonight. This is a team that is rising from the Western Conference basement and making a push for a playoff spot.

It's madness. Only 6 points separate 8th place Dallas from 14th place St. Louis, and the Canucks are right in the middle of the dung heap. It further emphasizes the point that the Canucks need to get on a roll...and quick. Once again, Vancouver plays a team that is playing the 2nd game in 2 nights. That is not something to take for granted, as I had mentioned Minny's speed game is intense.

More after the jump...

The Wild are now 6-10-2 on the road this season. That almost mirrors the Canucks' road futility (6-10-0).

Martin Havlat has not found his game in Minnesota yet. However, right when the play-by-play guys were mentioning his 2 goals, 9 assists and -17 rating this season, Havlat bagged the OT winner tonight. He finished with a goal and an assist and a +2 rating against the Flames. How unlike him. He now has 1 goal and 4 assists in his last 8 games. He's slowly heating up.

More Wild player stats over their last 8 games:

-Andrew Brunette has 1 goal and 8 assists

-Mikko Koivu has 3 goals and 4 assists

-Antii Miettinen has 5 goals and 1 assist

Complete list of Wild player stats here.

The last time the Wild played in a back-to-back scenario, Josh Harding, who's stats are nowhere near as good as Niklas Backstrom's, got the start in a 5-3 win over the Predators on December 5th. I wonder if Harding plays tonight.

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 4th, Wild 24th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 8th, Wild 17th

5 on 5 F/A: Canucks 3rd, Wild 27th

POWERPLAY: Canucks 4th, Wild 19th

PK: Wild 8th, Canucks 27th

SHOTS PER GAME: Canucks 10th, Wild 17th

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Wild 8th, Canucks 10th

The Canucks are 2-0 against the Wild this year, winning 2-1 on October 17th and 5-2 on November 5th.

Mike Gillis is not so happy with the Canucks' efforts so far this season, and he let them hear about it on Thursday. He challenged the players to "look in the mirror".

"There was a sense of complacency," he said. "I think our guys thought, OK, let's just get back in the playoffs and redeem ourselves for what happened with Chicago and forgot you've got to play 82 games to get into the playoffs. I think now it's been imparted to them that no one's happy with where we sit today. I believe this team is a better one than we had last year and we've yet to show it on a consistent basis."

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.

Kesler Hits "Rock Bottom"

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:33:05 -0000

After the 5-3 loss to Carolina Ryan Kesler told the media:

"When the team loses and you're looked for to provide offence and you're not able to, that makes this loss even tougher for myself," said Kesler, who instantly knew it's been 14 games since he last scored. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't (frustrated). "I think this is rock bottom for me." It's only up from here." I'll keep staying positive and I'll get out of this slump."

Despite his 14-game goal-scoring slump, Kesler still has 5 goals and 20 assists in 29 games, 79 shots on goal and a -1 rating. His 20 assists rank him 17th overall in the NHL. It is fair for him to be a bit hard on himself, but there are others who should perhaps be a little more critical of themselves. Regardless, in his first 10 games of the season, he scored 3 goals and 5 assists. In the next 10 games he registered 1 goal and 8 assists. In his last 10 games he has no goals and 8 assists. While I can understand his desire to score goals, at least he is putting up assists

and decent point totals.

I hate seeing him nearly crucify himself in front of the media when guys like Mikael Samuelsson ( 2 goals and 4 assists in his last 10 games played), Kyle Wellwood (2 goals and 4 assists in his last 10), Steve Bernier (4 goals and 3 assists in his last 10) or Mason Raymond (2 goals and 6 assists in his last 10) are not doing the same. I know it's a contract year for Kesler, but he's not that much worse than several others.

Hang in there, Keslord, you'll bag one soon. Until then, keep up your great efforts.

Hurricanes 5 Canucks 3: Sloppy Seconds

Sean Zandberg — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:04:59 -0000

I said in the game preview: Should be an automatic win, right? Nope. That depends on how lightly the Canucks take these guys. They have to go out there and pretend those guys are wearing Devils jerseys.

Didn't happen.

A so-so first..outshooting the Canes 14-6 but not capitalizing on 2 power play chances, and bagging one past Manny Legace (Jannik Hansen).

An atrocious 2nd period..getting outshot 13-6, coughing the puck up, hanging Andrew Raycroft out to dry (which Alain Vigneault alluded to after the game), and surrendering 3 goals. Yeah, the refs should have blown the play dead on that Mitchell-Raycroft fiasco, but really, the score could have been 6-1 at that point anyways.

The 3rd period was all Canucks,

as they put the heat on Carolina, who have had a terrible time in 3rd periods this year. It almost worked. The Canucks almost erased a 4-1 deficit and pulled within a goal, but Erik Cole, who, thanks to us, has awoken from his slumber and bagged his hat trick goal into the open net to seal it.

Final shots: Canucks 36 Canes 27.

8 points combined for Erik Cole, Eric Staal and Ryan Whitney.

Can you believe that Christian Ehrhoff finished a +3?

I thought Kyle Wellwood looked alright out there today. He was rewarded with over 15:00 of ice time. His line kickstarted the Canucks in the 3rd, and I thought dominated that period.

You almost can't fault Andrew Raycroft on any of those goals. But then...as myself and others have said many times before: he goes down into the butterfly position so quickly all the time. The Canes picked corners on him. Maybe a tremendous save or 2 were in order. I think it's fair to say that. None came.

BOXSCORE (bring barf bag)

HIGHLIGHTS (stab your eyes out first)

My 3 Stars:

1. Erik Cole. (Rise from your grave)

2. Ray Whitney (1 goal and 2 assists)

3. Manny Legace (Yeah, yeah, 3 goals against but I'm going to throw him a bone for giving his team a chance to win it especially in the first)

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

Back To The Back To The Beat Y'all: Canucks-Oilers Preview

Sean Zandberg — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:55:08 -0000

More photos » by Darryl Dyck - AP

Luongo's so good, he can use the force to change the puck's direction.

Browse more photos »

Oilers (10-12-4) vs Canucks (13-11-0)

Game Time: 7:00 PST

TV: CBC Hockey Night in Canada

The Enemy: The Copper and Blue. Also known as The Black and Blue. Lowetide.

"There is no way we should have lost this hockey game," Oilers coach Pat Quinn said. "We did some really good things but what has been our problem here from day one is we don't cover well against our net. We have a group that stares at the puck and doesn't recognize danger."

That is what Oilers coach Pat Quinn said after his teams' 5-4 shootout loss to the Sharks last night. Yeah, that's right, last night. The Canucks are once again playing a team who played a game the previous night. This is like winning some form of lottery isn't it?

The Oilers received some treacherous news on Friday when they learned that they have lost Ales Hemsky for the remainder of the season due to shoulder surgery. He had 7 goals and 22 points in 22 games at this point. Maybe Pavol Demitra will have a new swimming partner? The Oilers are in trouble. They had a 7-6-1 record in October, but now a 3-6-3 record in November. They are quickly heading for the Western Conference basement.

They now begin a 6-game road trip, starting in Vancouver, where the Canucks are 9-3-0 this season. Edmonton is 2-7-2 away from Rexall Place. Cause for concern for Oilers fans no doubt.

Let's look at some of the 2 teams' team stats.

PowerPlay: Oilers 14th in the NHL, Canucks 8th.

Penalty Killing: Oilers 15th, Canucks 22nd.

Goals Per Game: Oilers 14th, Canucks 15th. Actually, the teams are tied.

Goals Against Per Game: Oilers 25th, Canucks 8th best.

Shots Per Game: Oilers 28th, Canucks 11th.

Shots Against Per Game: Oilers 25th, Canucks 7th best.

The Canucks hardly have much bragging rights over Edmonton this year so far. They have played each other twice this season with both teams winning. The Oilers won 2-1on October 19, and the Canucks won 2-0 on October 25. The Canucks sit in 10th spot in the West, 3 points behind 8th place Phoenix. They have to continue their winning ways.

You have to like the Canucks' chances tonight. The Kings looked a bit sluggish last game after playing 2 nights in a row. The same could happen to Edmonton as the game wears on. If Roberto Luongo continues the stellar play that we saw against L.A. the Coilers are in trouble. After this game, the Oilers will get a 5-day rest between games. Sound familiar? I would then assume that the starting goalies would be as follows, as Nikolai Khabibulin remains sidelined with back ailments:

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

GP: 18

Wins: 9

Losses: 8

GAA: 2.45 and dropping

Save Percentage: .912 and rising

Last 5 Games: 3-2-0

Jeff Deslauriers

#38 / Goalie / Edmonton Oilers

GP: 8

Wins: 3

Losses: 3

OTL: 2

GAA: 2.58

Save Percentage: .914

Last 5 Games: 2-2-1

Any other slumping Canucks want to get it going? Let's see if Kyle Wellwood really did get that monkey off his back, or if another one will take it's place.

Word is that Mathieu Schneider will be the guest on After Hours after the game. Send him some questions! Like:

-How do you get your teeth to be THAT white?

-How many times per day do you shave?

-Does any Canuck call you dad?

Don't forget the game score predictions. You guys have some catching up to do! Yours truly guessed the right score, winning team and winning goal scorer last game. I gotta than the Captain for that one.