Who's this guy?

Sami Salo

Position: D

Shoots: Right

Height: 6-3

Weight: 212 lbs.

Born: September 2, 1974 ( thats right, '74! ) in Turku, Finland

Drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the 9th round (239th overall) of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. Has been a Canuck since the 2002 offseason, when he was acquired from the Sens for Peter Schaeffer in one of the better deals in Canucks history. Its no Naslund for Stojanov, but its still pretty great.

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Who is this guy?

Jannik Hansen

He nickname history is long and convoluted, but from the time we heard him speak, he was Beaker to a large number of Canuck fans. Also was and is called the Great Dane, Jank, and , once we heard it was what his teammates call him, Honey Badger. He is at his best when he plays like he "just don't give a ______" .

Position: RW

Shoots: Right

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 195 lbs.

Born: March 15, 1986 in Herlev, Denmark

Hensen was drafted 287th, in the now non existent 9th round ( 4th from last ) in 2004

What did he do?

He played most of the season running up and down the lineup to lesser and greater impact, but found his niche on an at times dominant third line with Samuel Pahlsson and Chris Higgins. Oh yeah, he also set career highs in goals, assists, and points (16 / 23 / 39 ) , all the while maintaining a shooting % that went from 8 last year, to 11.7%.

More after the break...

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The final missive from the file is a little more circumspect that we hoped, thats for sure. Watching playoff hockey and not having a game today, I thought it time to wrap this little series up in a little bow.

This one will be a little more humbling than I thought. I had visions of that final game being the one with a parade of the chalice around the ice that is the last thing for the fans and this team to experience. They will be contenders for it for the foreseeable future, but sadly, this was not the year for that. Unless of course you put stock in the "window" theory, which I don't, the future is pretty bright.

Who thought that we would be watching the Panthers try to finish the Devils and not be feeling that tingle of excitement. ( well, maybe a little, Samuelsson and Jovanovski, Weaver, a wee bit with Sturm, Canucks South is one of the teams I will follow with interest, for sure )

Not me.

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So, a congrats to the L.A Kings. In a wild game where the refs called everything ticky tack at the start, and then nothing later on, the Kings rode a magnificent performance by Jonathan Quick to keep it within a goal, played hard in the third to get the tying goal, and then took advantage of a WTF moment from our most consistent defenseman to get the series winning goal.

As a Canuck fan, I can sit here and tell you several reasons why it should not have been, but how do you do that without sounding like sour grapes? One thing I can do, is send a hearty go #$@& yourselves to the entire passive aggressive CBC crew. I will be watching playoff hockey because I am a hockey fan, but I won't be watching CBC if I can help it.

Cory Schneider will be a wonderful goalie in the NHL, and he may be the man here next year. Thats for another time. But he made a mistake on the tying goal that was exacerbated by the mistakes of his teammates in front. The game winner? Well, maybe he lost his short side a little, but that was a helluva shot. He picked the corner, and that is something that the Canucks were trying to do on Quick and just could not cash them in.

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A little on the nose? perhaps. I would posit that Three Dog Night is a Canadian band and probable Leaf fans that know how lonely One really is for hockey fans. How much hope and fan bravado comes from it will be another thing, until Sunday. Its one game. A big one. One in which we finally saw the Canucks playing their game instead of reacting to the Kings game. But they have to just put it in the past, repeat the game of periods two ( some luck helped ) and three ( lockdown for the most part ), and do it on home ice to even really get in the Kings heads. Make no mistake though, the Canucks were the better "team" tonight, no matter the shots ( 44-30 deficit ) on net.

It did not look that way after twenty minutes, but Cory Schneider built a Wall early. And kept adding bricks throughout a fantastic game for #35.

In honour of the win, and because I have been waiting for one to pull it out, here's a much delayed A-B-C breakdown of a huge win. Rinse and repeat guys.

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When everyone was saying that the Kings were dangerous, I was one that agreed, but went, "come on, the Canucks have TWO excellent goaltenders". This is a top offensive team in the NHL, even without the now very obviously bad loss of Daniel Sedin to that asshole Duncan Keith's attempt at elbow dentistry. Maybe he would not have helped score tonight. But it would not have hurt!

I was always a little worried about Quick though. The guy had a GAA under two, and that is never a good thing for a team needing a goal. I thought that perhaps his bad performances in playoffs past would be the difference. Evidently, the young man has learnt how to get past that. Jonathan Quick is an excellent goaltender. It definitely helps that the Kings play a defensive style so severe that a shock goes off in their collars when they hit the red line, but you have to give it to them. They got the one goal, and then battened down the hatches in front of their goaltender. He made 41 saves. Thats impressive no matter how shitty the ice, or how zealously the five other skaters fall back around the net.

Now, to the more contentious stuff. Just be quiet Kings fans. Its decidedly gauche to try and make a thing of "diving" when you have three of the worst in the league at it in Dustin Brown, Mike Richards, and Drew Doughty. All three have reputations at least the equal of Kesler, and in Doughty's case, he is far more notorious. Richards pulled a horrible dive when the Canucks were on a power play, and you all cheered like loons when it worked (its called "gamesmanship" then though). Yes, we all saw what happened with Ryan Kesler. It was about the only time in the game he went down easy, and he had been cross checked three times. It deserved a penalty. Trying to ignore that kind of thing in your own team while whining about it for the other team is maddening. Yes, diving is bad. In the playoffs, it is also rife. Watch some other games and see how often it happens. Watch your own team without the purple glasses on, and you have to admit that it happens every night. I know that we have admitted that here! Its a lazy narrative, and its wrong unless it cuts both ways.

Focus on your team being up 3-0. Thats the big thing. Really, enough of the narrative building. ( I don't totally blame you sometimes however. Hell, our national broadcaster is worse at it versus our team than the local US one! ) All three of the above had more than one time where they fell to the ice looking for the call. But by all means, lets show Kes' hitting the ice multiple times and ignore that. It has to be said. The "this guy dives" or "that one dives worse" is specious and silly. Hockey is a game played at high speed, with colliding bodies, unbelievable speed, and by the best athletes in the world. Not every time a guy falls off that less than a 1/2 inch of steel that he is on ( On BOTH sides, in ALL games ) is a dive, an embellishment, or anything else. Sometimes its just a guy falling down.

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It has to be said. I loved the Tweet from the LA Kings after Game One. No apology was needed. It speaks to the cocky confidence of another dangerous #8 seed that the Canucks need to beat. To do that, Game Two had to be all about shaking that confidence and crushing the confidence. They failed to do that entirely, and lost. But there was some reasons for hope, small as that may seem right now.

Ryan Kesler was the man that had to put his controversial performance in Game One behind him and just play hockey. He did so tonight, but caught a bad break on a late penalty that cost a goal. That was better from the Canuck talisman. His work ethic is what is needed from all of them in Game Three.

As an aside to that, while the first game took me by surprise, subsequent watching of a veritable feast of playoff hockey in the last couple days has shown that NHL playoff reffing is a strange and wonderful phenomena. Rather than get the angst of bitching about something over which there is little control, I'm going to abstain, hope the Puck Gods reward my team more than their team, and hope my team, at least, just skates away from the distractions. Ryan Kesler got outplayed in the first game by Mr Richards playing the game he has to. Drive them nuts, but be focused. Tonight, he was far better. The AMEX line was playing hard, and will be together for Game 3.

But when your power play is so inept that it costs you two goals, one on probably Alexander Edler's biggest mistake in a while, and the Kings get one goal greasier than day old fries, and another just maddening in how Trevor Lewis outoworked three guys, it might be more than just confidence. They will need to limit those breakdowns from here on in.

Perhaps Canuck fans can take some confidence from the fact their team was the best on the road this season ( tied with NY at 24-12-5, just above those Flyers at 22-13-6. Look how they are doing, right? ). They have the skill to win both at Staples Center. The trick will be maintaining the confidence to do so, against a team that will be brimming with it.

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I'll be honest. The LA Kings played a good game. Not a great one, but a pretty good one. They did have a fantastic second period, and played their system well. They also got a few bounces to get the win. But after watching this game, I am hopeful the Canucks have much more to give. Some of the setbacks they did to themselves were self inflicted. That is not to say the Kings don't deserve to have a 1-0 lead in the series after this one. Just that they had a little help.

Anyone that watched this game, and was not a biased to one team or the other, would have thought the national broadcaster absolutely hates the home team for some reason. It was brutal. I only lasted one period before syncing up with Shorty on TEAM ( he also told it like it was, but without the bullshit ), and I fully encourage everyone else to do the same for however many games that remain. From the first goal for the Canucks, where Craig Simpson accused Ryan Kesler of embellishment (on the play, he stepped around the pad of Quick from behind the net, the goalie put his arm out and he went through it. Thats it ), to a scrum where Richards reached in and , quite hard, speared Roberto Luongo in the upper chest and neck. Mr Simpson called that a dive for a call. Even after the replay clearly showed that was unfair. The obstinate SOB was just getting started, if my Twitter timeline was any indication. ( Seriously folks. Just freeze the PVR at the first puck drop, start it again when Shorty calls the play, and you are golden. Its more enjoyable too! )

Look, I get that everyone is entitled to their opinions, and that haters are gonna hate. It was quite jarring to see the intensity of that bias, and that it was not just Craig, a good Alberta boy, but about all of them, all night.

Get used to it. Narratives are a funny thing. And when the guys that write that narrative do it from an ivory tower 3500 miles from where we live out here, well, lets just say it was surprising how much the CBC was "all in" on forcing us to #EmbraceTheHate so early. Here we thought they would give the Canucks some love this year!

Not if tonight is any indication. Maybe they were just putting us uppity, arrogant Vancouverites in our "place".

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Like the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, the Canucks are an acquired taste. We love our ( well, most of us, the media tends to love to overplay the fringe element to the detriment of the majority, but I digress ) back to back President's Trophy winners, sure, but thats us. This did seem to be a more impressive topping of the league, compared to last year when they ran away with it. The Canucks finished the season as the hottest team in the league, going 8-1-1 in their last ten to nip the Blues and Rangers at the finish line.

More importantly, like HGTTG, they know the job is unfinished. Mr Simpson certainly reminded us of the fact that the Los Angeles Kings can be a dangerous team for the Canucks in the post game, and I suppose the Alberta boy has a point. Their goaltender can be dangerous, like just about every damn team the #1 team in the NHL will have to go through just to get out of the West.

We'll embrace their opinions and show the rest of the league that the fans here are not like those that tarnished the final act. Hell, the crowd was doing the wave as they watched their team dismantle the Oilers tonight. Its not like there was any angst in the building. Lets keep it that way all the way through. AV said as much on After Hours ( will add the link when it hits Youtube. He kept Scott Oake in line tonight! ) while answering multiple questions about the goaltending in Vancouver. How he knows the fans are really behind the team. Now that the second season is here, these silly questions about how the sky is going to fall can wait until the sky actually, possibly falls, right?

Having two elite goaltenders should trump having just one, shouldn't it?

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As fans and hockey players alike look forward to the best time of the year, the intensity of course gets ramped up with it. The corollary to the final scene of this modern standard of comic book villain and hero is perfect for the hockey fan in any city. It all depends on who is the Joker and who is Batman. Which makes the playoffs a Stanley Cup Gotham, and how cool is that?

The hyperbole will get ramped up, from all sides, to mythic levels. Talk of potential opponents, hopefully along a long road for Canuck fans, will be a popular topic for a Canadian media that will inevitably paint the plucky Senators as a dark horse. Allusions will be made that our particular hockey team is the most hated in all the land, and this will be once again a topic foisted upon us. This time, they will have a year in which the team itself had perhaps the "cleanest" ( the only team not fined or suspended, and the one with some of the longest suspensions for some of the dirtiest plays all year being victimized ) season to give them a stark contrast with the "reality". Expect, for instance, that Ryan Kesler will become almost comically described as the main sailor aboard the Good Ship DoucheCanuck.

OK, perhaps they have a point there. He could talk less between whistles. ( I thought we were over this last year! ) Never mind the fact that every other team that has got this far has guys that play the same way. That talk more, are dirtier, and complete the same type of role as the Livonia Michigan native.

It all depends what side you are on, and through that lens all those type of value judgements become suspect. Me? I watched a season where Alexandre Burrows was more productive in all categories compared to last year, should be as lauded as Scott Hartnell, and just is not. Yes he already has 12 roughing minors, but only 1 unsportsmanlike. Scotty is 10 to 1, but perhaps the fact he has dropped the gloves 4 times to Burr's none helps. ( he is an inch taller and 22 lbs heavier!) Value judgements are a tricky thing with shades of grey.

Maybe he does need to work on that like Maxim Lapierre, who has embraced the idea of playing hard and "knowing your role" as definitively as any one player in the league. He did try to fight last year, but this year actually worked on that skill with Bieksa. Seven times he committed to that act. Winning them is arbitrary, in much the same way it is ignored on your own team that has a similar player who is also fan favorite, instead pointing to his 128 PIM that lead the team, ( and ignoring the fact that the spearing major was immediately rescinded the next day ), seeing the 5 misconducts and neglecting to realize that most of those this year were for sticking up for a teammate. All of that is just as easy to spin the other way if you try hard enough. Max is going to have a rep anyhow, and that is what it is, no matter what. Refs are human, but even they have to be impressed by the change.

Consider as well that a player who plays that robustly, has done so without being to the principal's office once. Hell, mom and dad Canuck have not even gotten a call from the office!

Is it starting to get fuzzy as to who is wearing the cowl and who is wearing the funky makeup?

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No offense to the game,the opponent ( well, they can take offense all they want on the golf course ), or the result of tonight's game that we will get to in a minute.

I would be extremely remiss if I did not laud the generosity of Mr Zandberg to the cause here... ( 4273 comments and climbing...) to extend the human hand of kindness and charity. Thank you sir. Thanks to all the fans of the game that stopped by and made the game threads amazingly crowded ( there's a few things left behind, call if you lost anything! ) and fun.

Now, on to the loss. While its hard to ratchet up any angst for you, this one lays solely at the feet of a power play that is running startlingly cold. There were a more than a couple times where the guy with the shooting lane and traffic decided to make the pass to nowhere. Hell, one of the guys that had an excellent game, involved and productive, one Alexandre Burrows, did that twice on the same PP, both with the wrong results.

Give El Flamo a bit of credit. After playing like an absolute dog in the first half of the game, they showed some life in the last part of the second, and had a solid third period. On home ice. Where the Saddledome was only rocking after they scored the first one, because they were totally infiltrated by Canuck Nation, and the home fans probably thought this was another Canuck beatdown with what they were seeing on the ice. It helped that on the first, Bieksa forgot to go to the net with his check for a moment, and that the other two were on a combo of bounces and brain farts.

It is fun listening to the panic of #CanucksTeaParty on the airwaves as I write this though. So far, the team that still has a shot at top place overall ( though they lost control of their own destiny tonight ) is out in the first round if they are lucky! The Team folks will talk ominously about the power play, and you will hear that they are currently 2 of 36 on it repeatedly. All I know is that on the last road trip of the regular season, it looked good for a while there. Perhaps if the power play guys try passing to the stick instead of the skate, like they did on that last one?

I have no solution for you. Other than to say shoot the damn puck. The Canucks really should have won the game on the power play. But when the penalty killers ( who also have 2 goals ) are as productive lately as a power play that was first by a large margin the first half of the season, and the team loses in a rink they usually own, while carrying a lead into the third on any ice surface, for the first time since October of 2009, well, thats straight trippin'...

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Now, of course I am not saying that Bruce Boudreau is Dr Evil. Though, perhaps he should have been behind the bench stroking Mr Bigglesworth. It seems that poor Bruce is at the stage he was with with the Capitals, when a lack of defense and fighting through things could be overcome with some nice offensive talent.

However, its not worked for Bruce in Anaheim. Not yet, anyhow. He almost came in and got a win with some firewagon hockey. The old back and forth sure is entertaining, and it was nice to see the Canucks prevail at it in the tiddlywinks, dart throw, Russian Roulette, cut of the cards, highly entertaining shootout with a clean sweep.

But after watching the Canucks, in particular one Marc Andre Gragnani, follow up one of his best in Blue and Green with some alarming play in his own end, ( he did redeem himself a bit in the third offensively, and chipped in an assist, but lets just say he was a part of a few guys having minuses and leave it at that.) it was not a perfect win by any measure.

After the goalie exchange worked the requisite magic that goalie changes do ( and had the added bonus of TSN talking about how Vancouverites would "talk about" a "goalie controversy", while still talking about it in all its story forms for an entire segment Nice trick that...), the Canucks locked it down. Maybe a couple of the 7 shots the Ducks had in the second were dangerous. After they killed off a crossover penalty with a skillful drawing thereof by Matt Belesky ( who had a noticeable game for a guy that only had 8:54. 4 hits, a shot,miss and a penalty he took himself early in the 3rd ), the Canucks simply made the Duckies not want to play. It was like poor Mustafa...they had 1 shot. The 12 the Canucks had were almost all scoring chances. They dominated in the O/T as well, 4-1, and the shootout was actually entertaining.

That won't be what some of the denizens of this team will talk about in regards to the goalies, but the team and most that watch hockey ( Farhan really worked for the "goalie controversy" angle here ...clips to side of story. Almost all his queries to Cory, AV and Lui were about that...) should talk about a team on a roll, winners of 7 straight, and a chance to take care of business and go into Game One looking to tie a team high 10 game winning streak. No matter who gets the next two starts, in whatever order.

I love Cory Schneider's game too. He is a great great option regardless. You have to get 16 wins in 28 possible games. He has earned it ( possible play in the postseason ) as well. But this pull had little to do with any goalie controversy and much to do with sending a message to his team. It was received loud and clear. On to the next.

Still tied for first and all, right?

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If you were not at the St Augustine for our meet up ( for an actual win! ), well, I can only say you should be at the next one. Great people, great beers, great times, and a fairly entertaining hockey game.

So, as I meandered home on the Skytrain, listening to the post game, the confusional state was not so much from the fine selection of barley sandwiches, but at how truly hard to satisfy we are in Vancouver, at least as to how it pertains to the starcrossed hockey club that we are all hopelessly addicted to.

Tonight, the Canucks entered into first overall in the West with a loss for the Blues against the suddenly playing better Blue Jackets (at home, for only the 5th time this season). They got more production from a first line that has Maxim Lapierre as the trigger guy ( think about that for a second ), a sweet step up and blast by Marc Andre Gragnani to tie it up in the third, and a game winner in O/T from the B.C boy that just seems to score big goals, Andrew Ebbett.

Yet, the post was all about how the Canucks do and don't deserve the reputation the media has attached, how troubling it is that your single digit scorers filled the score sheet ( because its a no win. If the stars are filling the net, its where are the other guys, and visa versa ), and how troubling it must be that Mason Raymond and David Booth were benched in the final period.

I'm not complaining about the Team, because that is what it is. They just open the line and respond to the folks calling in anyhow. It is enlightening that we / they seem to gravitate to the cloudy side of the day. I thought I watched a hockey game where the opponent showed up, tried to play hard, and just does not have the horses. The Canucks are a very deep, dangerous Cup contender. They have solid depth at every position, the best 1 / 1A goaltendering tandem in the NHL, and a rabid fanbase that wants that trophy at the end of the touney almost as much as the actual team.

Its not embarrassing or detrimental that the Flames lost tonight. It just means they are not quite as good a team as their opponent.

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You know that as the season winds down, that reports on what is actually happening as far as injuries and the general health of your favorite hockey players is often something only talked about as "upper body", "lower body", or, as Rick Bowness mentioned when asked about Kevin Bieksa being off "whole body...day to day".

Such was the case tonight. Unbeknown to us ( and maybe we should have been clued in when Roberto pumped Schneids tires extensively in a post game day skate interview. Usually he does not do those all the time.) Luongo woke up this morning with a stiff neck. He was not able to shake it throughout the day, and after taking the warm up, AV decided that Cory Schneider would go in ( he said in the post game that "I've got Cory sitting right there...and Lui could have played through it if it was critical...", while also saying that if it persists they could pull Lack up, seeing as they are in Abbotsford ).

This is exactly why I have not wanted to couch the goaltending on this team as a "controversy". Honestly, after that first period, and those short handed saves that turned the entire game, how can this be anything but a good problem to have! Two great goalies. "Ugh" huh?!

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No, Canuck fans, there is not a "goalie controversy". What there is in Vancouver is the best 1-1A tandem in net in the entire NHL.

With Roberto Luongo in a groove, Cory Schneider even better statistically ( in less games ), there can be no way that anyone can turn that around into a negative, right?

Add to the superlative goaltending a very deep team that seems to have flipped the switch to playing like the #1 defensive team in the league that they were last year, and it is hard for Canuck fans to not feel good. They outscored folks along the way last season, but this year, it seems that the defensive side of the game is even more paramount with a dip in scoring.

Its a weird feeling for us, I know. Revel in it. The big shiny thing is going to be tougher than ever to attain, what with all the very good teams in both the East and the West. But, for me, I feel confident that the offense is still there ( I know, back to back 1-0 games, but the talent is there, and they don't forget how to score suddenly ), and that this renewed commitment to defense is nothing but a good thing.

Thats four straight now against desperate teams playing their hardest to get into the dance. Maybe the Blues are a little too far ahead, but it sure looks like this team has "something to play for".

"Right, come at me with this banana..."

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I bet you thought, when you looked at the title, that a Monty Python clip would be tonight's offering. As much as I love those crazy Englishmen, the clip above was just far more apt. That is some fantastic reactions. ( "lucky I have long arms", he said after )

Roberto Luongo. On a deflection like that ( and that was a great play by Brown under pressure to get Kopitar the chance ), the time to react is so short. If that is not atop the 10 best from the NHL this week, something is wrong.

The way he stood his ground in the dying seconds sure reminded one of the Black Knight, didn't it? No stick, bodies laying all over the place, it truly was a virtuoso performance by the sometimes maligned #1 netminder tonight. He came out of the fight with all his limbs to boot!

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I like the Avalanche. Back in the day, I would not be able to say that, but this new edition has always been fun to watch. I always liked watching Matt Duchesne play, and after watching this today, I like him even more.

But the Colorado team is in the midst of a do or die, missing games in hand, fight to the finish deathmatch with 1/3rd of the Western Conference that seem to change spots daily in the mad rush to be the Canucks or Blues' first round opponent. They did it the year before last, can they do it again?

Honestly, if they were not in our division, did not have a history of being a rival a decade ago, I might actually cheer for them. Apart from Duchene, what's not to like when it comes to talking about potential? Their team building makes the Oilers look like they do it with a dart board. Anyone can draft the top guy, can't miss players. But little bastard Burnaby boy Mark Olver was 140th overall (5th Rd) in 2008. David Jones is another, an '03 9th rounder, 288th overall. ( one worse than Jannik Hansen a year later ). The return to the levels of glories past is an everchanging and seemingly long term march. But I like the way they play getting there. None of the trap, though they play OK defensively. Forechecking, hitting, skating and creativity. I like when the other team wants to play on offense. Its fun!

Sure, the Canucks make them look like the Washington Generals to our Harlem Globetrotters when you look at the record. Thats the 5th straight game this year ( and the second straight to O/T ) where the Canucks got the "W".

They sure made our guys look like Slow Poke Rodriguez in that first period however. Roberto Luongo was wonderful, especially in the opening stanza. But it was a masterful display of playing strong all over the ice in the second and third, and, as Henrik Sedin mentioned the other day, "playing the right way" ,that was the difference in Denver tonight.

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The Dallas Stars. Like I said the last time we saw this team, I don't like them. I don't like Ribeiro, Ott, Burish, Fiddler, Robidas just off the top of my head. Its not like I don't appreciate them. Hell, I'd take a few of those guys on our team. But its obvious that if anyone is Embracing The Hate, its these guys.

They revel in it. Ott goes into the corner on an icing, slashes a guy with no call, and gets his top scorer involved in a fight with Hansen. Mike Ribeiro takes a selfish penalty, whines so much it must be embarrassing ( it was a trip Mike, get over it ), cherry picks while leaving his team under pressure while he is out of the box, gets the pass anyhow ( I hate cherry picking forwards. I would guess one defenseman said under his breath after he got pwned on the penalty shot by Cory Schneider..."#@%^ing goal suck " ), and then exacerbates it by taking a brutally stupid slash on Samme Pahlsson after a whistle to go right back.

Adam Burish slashed and elbowed everyone he could, almost after every whistle. He slashed Edler's hands at the death of both the first and second periods. Their captain, Brendan Morrow, hits Edler from behind, and was a worthy addition to the list of players I dislike ( except I don't. Morrow mostly just plays hard ).

I don't know if I hate it, but how laughable is it that the Stars scorers gave Fiddler's gift goal from a Schneider whiff not one but two assists? Really? ( Late Edit ; I was wrong. I thought Schneids got a piece, but watched the US replay, and they are right. Lehtonen made a nice pass, CS had a total whiff, and the scorer is had it right. )

I love how the Vancouver Canucks played an almost airtight period in the third to prevent the Stars from looking too dangerous at home however. Thats no mean feat against one of the hotter teams in the last little while.

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Damn, these two team sure write some hockey symphonies huh? This one crackled with a sort of weird energy, a howling at the moon as Hunter might say. Some mad Ibogaine inspired madness....

It certainly was a result that is going to make me recap, for you, an A-B-C recap just because this game was worthy. So worthy. So so worthy. Sure, a couple mistakes cost a couple goals. But they surely will start hitting the net soon. The third period hinted at that.

Without ( and I do watch some but not all Hawks games ) maybe Corey Crawford's best period of the season in that dominant stanza, a resounding ping for maybe the most unlucky player of the night not concussed by a cheap shot , one Mason Raymond, the result is probably different.

Except it was not. The last ten games thing probably looks bad in Sean's pre-game thread of the Dallas matchup to follow will undoubtably not look as impressive as the game tonight. I thought they " flipped the switch ", but the rest of the season and the playoffs will attest to that anyhow.

Honestly though, I don't see too many teams standing up to that type of "game", especially once they can start actually hitting the back of the net.

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John Shorthouse and Cheech mentioned during the broadcast of this tedious hockey game that the in flight movie for the team was Slapshot, and that there were some on the Canucks that had never seen it.

I am sure there are more than a few that will remember the above clip as a reminder of Dan O'Halloran's work, and hope that they see little of him in the playoffs.

Me? I am really trying, but here are three things I know were true, and all had an effect on the game. Alex Burrows got a reputation call for doing nothing on the play that led to the only real goal in the game. ( The man that covers the Wild said that Daniel Sedin tried to spear Heatley in the throat there ... his words! ). Ryan Kesler deserved a penalty for his low bridge hit on Clutterbuck, but it was no where near as bad as the same man tried to say it was, and after I Tweeted that the contact was legal on the replay ( though I totally agree with the call, they don't get to replay it back and forth on the PVR on the ice ), I had to deal with all sorts of Wild fans coming out of the woodwork to tell me how I was a rioter and a Bertuzzi apologist that should just STFU and be wrong. Oh well.

That was all OK. I'm a big boy. I was troubled right after the penalty was killed that Kesler did get speared in the throat by Powe ( an errant stick, and he was looking for the puck, but thats no real excuse ), and there was no call. Thats kind of dangerous.

However, it was the not even a very good dive that O'Halloran called goaltender interference on Jannik Hansen that was the real headshaker. That one was PVRed back and forth, and I still can't decide whether it was a light touch from Gilbert's stick or Hansen's that caused Harding to go into convulsions in the crease. It certainly was not a penalty, and it took two minutes that the Canucks may have made better use of on offense late.

As you may have guessed, when the three calls mentioned above get so much attention, it was not that exciting of a hockey game.

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"Its been a long time gone" is the line from the CSN & Y classics referenced above. Perhaps a long time is a little harsh, but the Canucks have had a bit of a trial finding their "A" game that should scare the hell out of the rest of the NHL.

That has brought about all sorts of various worries from the "Canuck Nation". Particularly what I like to call the Canuck Nation Tea Party. Like their namesake, they are a loud and disproportionately covered segment of our Nation, for their numbers. Most the time, folks will leave that behind as they understand that even a team like the Blue Jackets, having the season they are, have some good players, no one goes 82-0, and anyone can beat anyone in the NHL these days.

However, all the players do is play. Tonight, the Canucks played very well at times, and times where they had to chase. They had a couple breakdowns that resulted in goals against, and missed having the slightly more automatic defensive zone face off artistry of one Manny Malhotra, who will be back for the upcoming road trip. That and a softy Cory Schneider made this one just a bit closer than the Tea Party will like. The breakdowns that resulted in the goals against can be repaired. ("Yes We Can!!") But even the most jaded of fans had to be impressed by the overall offensive dominance of the Canucks, at least in the last half of the first, the second, and here and there down the stretch.

The Jackets did not just lay down. They played very hard. They may have even been the better team in the third, though a lot of that 17-12 shot advantage came either late with the goalie pulled and the pressure on, or more often on one and done than sustained pressure. But the Canucks directed 76 shots at the net to 68, and that was far more pronounced after two periods at 60 to 31. Thats a lot of rubber. What I liked most is that in all of that, the Canucks were upset about the defense afterwards. They know they can play better. They will play better. But even this amount of offensive success at the cost of the defense, and the fact that they know that and want to get better, is good enough for me.

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Tonight, I am angry as I write the recap. The anger takes several forms. Anger at how a team that looked so dominant offensively could actually lose this game. Angry at the now expected "straight trippin' " refereeing that lets Keith Yandle actually hold onto Jannik Hansen's arm with both hands on a scoring chance with about 10 minutes remaining, but decides its entirely acceptable ( in a game where they let tons go ) for Daymond Langkow to just drop his stick because Bieksa slashed it to get a call that led to the game winning goal. Angry at how this one will be disseminated.

The hell with it. I don't know what's a rule infraction, and you don't either, because the players don't on the ice. Its weird though, the things that I was used to recapping as obvious penalties in the first thirty games are just not called now. Thats about all I am going to say on that subject for a while though. There will be tons of opportunities, but like I said, to hell with it. Hamhuis got away with a trip late anyway.

But mainly I am angry at the fans that had the audacity to jeer the goalie a little bit after a goal that went in off someone. On yet another play where the guy on the backside, or anyone going to the net for that matter, was not dealt with correctly.

One of the five goals ( the 3rd one ), I would put on the goalie. Yet, if you dare to listen to the post game reports, there will be all this bullshit on why Cory Schneider did not start. Iain McIntyre was actually on the between period thing trying to stir up a goalie controversy. Ridiculous. As you have heard me say multiple times, its a team game. Roberto Luongo's team let him down a lot more in this game than he let them down. Just because some writer wants to get a few more views, and panders to that segment of the population that always thinks the goaltender on the bench is better than the one manning the pipes, does not mean you have to buy into it people. And, sometimes the ball does not bounce your way. Its as simple as that.

Stick tap to marcness52 for the clip tonight. It about sums up how overwrought folks will be on this one. The truth is, the Coyotes had no business winning a hockey game in which they iced the puck 15 times, and carried it over the red line maybe three - four times in the third. They were lucky. We've had games where we got the bounces and won a game we thought we should not have. Now we know how the other guy felt!

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Sometimes I think its more fun to recap a loss than a win. Wins are easy, there is usually a lot in a win for a positive guy like me to find. But even in a loss that means not too much in the big picture, we can hope the loss will be treated as an outlier, and not descend into the dramatic dissection that will consume us. That will inevitably be drawn out a bit by the 3 day break until another game versus the Coyotes on Wednesday. A slump is a slump, and truth be told, for a while, this looked like a game that would put an end to the personal and team "slumps". How they managed to get to 92 points has got to be blind luck!!!

Do we really think that all the things we can and will find amongst the rubble of this one are going to be anything more than fuel to all involved? After seeing a game in which the Sedins looked so ineffectual that they were briefly broken up for the first time in a long time, is the takeaway that they are going through what every player does at some point, and they have some time to rest up, get energized, and go at the Coyotes like it does not matter what their style of play is? To be positive?

Its funny, when you watch the video, it kind of takes you to a weird state? Those flashing lights, funny little breaks, the level winners ( and how in the hell is Ghost Rider tougher than Bizarro Superman? Its like the guy playing Bizarro just stopped playing or something...just like our heroes), I get you gamers. Its been a long time for me when it comes to playing those things, but while this little treat is a nod to the popularity, I'm going to try something different, and be a little contrary after the break....

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Its hard to not cheer for the Winnipeg Jets in their inaugural season of their second NHL go around. Its a great Canadian hockey fan story, the MTS Centre kicks ass, and there is all these connections to this team.

The owner was the owner of of our AHL affiliate. The players, Craig Heizinger being our secret superstar scout for guys like Burr and Ryp'(RIP), Mr Chevaldayoff and Mr Gillis have a long time friendship.

But this is the team that has Andrew Ladd and Ryan Kesler on opposite sides. They'll get over the love in that supposedly ruled the pressers today. Come on man, Byfuglien is on that team!

The fans certainly remembered Buf', ( and wasn't that atmosphere fun? I like when we get a two team crowd, even if they sing that "True North" part a little loud...thanks for singing along friends), and Bieksa certainly recalls the style of Andrew Ladd after getting his face raked with a stick. But thats what you expect from the teams.

For the fans, it seemed like it was all fun and games. Maybe if these guys were in a division where we saw them a little more. Oh well. We'll have to just listen to the dulcet harmonies of this evening's added entertainment and enjoy the results of a surprisingly entertaining game.

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There will be many folks that will tell you the sky is falling after this one Canuck fans. The Sedins are slumping, the goaltenders are sieves, and they are only so high in the standings because they play in the weak Northwest.

Of course thats not true. They are obviously not playing their best right now, but this team is too good to slump much longer, one would hope. Perhaps there is something to the team that is most desperate having an edge. It certainly looked like the visitors were more enthused after the first period.

Stars fans might tell you that their team is the greatest since the invention of a round puck, but thats not true either. What is true is that they played their style at a higher level than the Canucks tonight. They may be chugging along at a good clip right now, but I still have my doubts. They were very opportunistic, but their goals tonight were far more often the result of the Canucks giving them the chances. They buried them. Good for them. But lets not make this "The Pacific division leaders versus the top team in the west", or "division leader versus division leader", like every damn pregame show made sure to mention.

With this win, the Stars are now 13 points behind the second place team in the West, and this is the first time in a while they have not been in first. The Canucks are slumping. But just as the worm turned in this delightful Mickey Mouse classic, so will it turn around for the Canucks.

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In honour of the many storylines, and David Booth's good game ( at least!), his favorite movie just seemed right. Sometimes we get to feel like Aladdin and get the girl, all our wishes come true, and everything is right in the world. Sometimes, life is more like this actual clip!

There are nights like this one on occasion. Whether you decide you want to hang it on the goalie ( Lui was not ready, but that could go for half the team ), or the Sedin Twins now that they have gone a whole 5 games or so without a goal,( or so they tell me at the "Great Sedin Twins Expectations Tracker Desk" of NM ), you would not be totally wrong.

Truth is, the Sabres have all of the sudden backed into a playoff race because all the teams above them keep losing and they won a few games in a row. They did that on the back of some solid goaltending by Ryan Miller ( though, really Buffalo fans, how in the hell is that happening? He sucked positionally more than a few times tonight, and had several saves made by defensemen ), and the most dedicated trap this side of the Jacque Lemaire Wild with a lead. It was effective. They got more goals and deserved to win as a result. But I can't praise teams that hang five along the blue line, make more dumpouts and icings than shots, and employ the "do everything that should be called, but they can't call it all, right?" style of play too highly. I know that it looked like, when the Sabres came out of their shell in the last five minutes, that they frustrated the hell out of the Canucks. I also know if they would have played that far up the ice for the early part of that period and the second, the score is probably reversed. You play what gives you the best chance to win.

Effective? You bet. This is certainly not to denigrate the other team for winning. But that style of play and coaching is what makes me wretch. They talk about what is killing the game...

One wish, that they ban that damn style! I am sure Ron MacLean would agree with us here at NM. Say "Hi" next time you stop by Ron, thanks for the HNIC "bump" , (at the 3 minute mark). I hear its not quite the Colbert Bump, but we'll take what we can get at the blogging salt mines.

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It was not a masterpiece. Nor was it the high flying, outscore the opposition hockey that entertains us so. What it was is really tight playoff hockey against one of the more physical teams in the league. The Blues are built on that trapping, physical style. This was a primer for the kind of hockey that we just might have to see on occasion in the coming second season.

And thats a good thing. While the Blues made it tough, ( its what they do ), this was a very enjoyable game to watch if you like the hard nosed hockey like I do. In honour of that, and the awesome fourth line for the Canucks that set the pace tonight, here is another A-B-C breakdown of a big game against a burgeoning rival. (I had to, it was a game for 1st place!)

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Its funny against the Coyotes. If you score on them first, they can play a somewhat entertaining brand of hockey, because they have to open up. Give them credit though, they still played a good defensive game even with needing a goal.

As usual, this was another quasi home game in the desert. Another game where the whiff of "game management" that drives Tony Gallagher nuts will perhaps be described in at least one post game story. Another game that went to the shootout, and the second straight where extra time and the numbers finally caught up to the Canucks. They are now 26-0-2 now when leading after two this season.

Forget Tony and his Tinfoil Hat Club. Yes, we know they are owned by the league TG. Sure, there was a call or two to bitch about. Its not like that is a new thing. Perhaps referees just have a tough time, like any would, catching every little thing in the fastest continual sport on the planet. For what it is worth, he sounds more rational lately on the pre games. Though, listening to the post game, I had to check the score again, as they seem to think the Twins are horrible again, and Mason Raymond is the worst player ever to wear Blue and Green. ( He did fall down a lot today. #RaymondDown !), rather than a game that they should have won but for a mistake. Its a game of mistakes, both forcing them and making them.

Hyperbole. Its what we do.

Truth is, this was a fairly entertaining game, and one where, try as he did to give it away with a couple puck handling gaffes, as Cory Schneider tried to match Mike Smith's skills with the puck, it was his one mistake that cost him a shutout.

Still, coming home with 8 out of 12 points, on a road trip that started in Western Canada, they traversed across all three time zones, included a trade deadline, a streak wrecking in Detroit, a defensive matching of the Devils, and a couple hard fought games against improving Pacific division teams is pretty good. I am OK with a 3-1-2 record under those conditions.

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I am just a fan. Its something I have been my whole life, and I probably just don't know better. Some get wired to hit each other in pads and matriculate a ball down the field. Others find the relative contemplation of hitting a ball with a bat of some sort is the thing. Still others find comfort in the fraternal nature of the sports attached to places of higher learning, for fun and profit.

Thats all well and good. I don't see another sport that has everything that hockey has, but maybe thats just because I don't know any better. I did try some other sports, honest. But its hockey for me.

I am sure that the intensity and passion of all the fans of all the sports is wonderful. That is not really the point I am making. The hockey fan is one that, once truly bitten by its intensity and desire, a fan is hooked, and badly. We spend time interpreting the higher math of our sport with the zeal of the fans of America's Game, and that is just one aspect. The collective angst extolled on the entirely arbitrary evaluations of such esoteric descriptors as "what a winner is", the definitions of a "smart player", and especially the "right way to win" is amazing.

We all do it. So, here's me doing it. Just one fan's idea of "The Canuck Way", as I see it.

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Before this matinee hockey, the Canucks were 26-0-0 when leading after two periods, and a mind blowing 183-3-12 in the same circumstance since 2006.

So, you'll excuse me if I don't slay them too bad for giving up the extra point in the 4 on 4 hockey. The Stars made their breaks, got a huge one ( in a delightfully ironic bit of Puck God hockey karma ) when Stephane Robidas took a little roundabout way to a puck that barely made it over the red line. Yes, we heard our Wings friends complaining about Sami Salo. Sami is older and slower. This was different.

The thing is, its only a break if you take advantage of it. The Stars did, with Ott winning a draw, and Ribireo making a skilled tip on the Goligoski shot to tie the game in the last minute.

The Canucks enter the final game of their six game road trip the day after the deadline. I doubt this one makes Mike Gillis stew too much, or forces some huge moves. The Stars just earned it in an O/T by wanting it more than the perhaps out of gas Canucks. Don't worry, be happy.

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