Canucks Continue to Collapse

The Vancouver Canucks lost tonight to the Montreal Paciorettys.

Let's try this again...

The Vancouver Canucks lost to the Montreal Canadiens --powered by Max Pacioretty, who netted a hat-trick on Sochi-bound Roberto Luongo.  Luongo, going head to head with fellow Team Canada goalie Carey Price, stoned Max Pacioretty on not one, but two penalty shots in the second period.  Pacioretty was the first player to get

Canucks Explosion of Scoring

Canucks Explosion of Scoring

The Vancouver Canucks, somehow, managed 5 goals tonight at home against Mike Smith and the Phoenix Coyotes, a team chasing them for a playoff spot in the NHL's Western Conference.  This comes on the heels of a run of games that has seen the team's scoring drying up of late, further exacerbated by injuries to Henrik Sedin and Mike Santorelli -courtesy of Martin Hanzal of these same Phoenix Coyotes.  

Though none of the Canucks players risked a $5000 fine (the penalty that the NHL levied on Hanzal for committing stick fouls on 3 Canucks players in one game shaking up one and seriously injuring two) to go after Hanzal or his teammates in earnest, they did exact some revenge by beating them on the score sheet with a 5-4 overtime win, albeit in overtime.  The Canucks once again gave up a 3rd period lead, something that has plagued them this season especially of late, but managed to get it together in time to pull 2 points out of the fire courtesy of a Kevin Bieksa overtime goal.  Bieksa had two on the night doubling his season total.

The team faces another division rival tomorrow, the lowly Edmonton Oilers before battling the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.

Canucks 2012-2013 Aftermath

Here's my take on the end of the Canucks season.  I've given it a couple of days.  I've digested it.  I've calmed down.  Much like Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis intimated in his end of season media address about not making emotional decisions, I didn't want to write this in the heat of the moment in a heightened emotional state.  You won't read a hysterical rant about the Canucks' terrible play and the absolutely abysmal and game-affecting officiating throughout their 1st round series with the San Jose Sharks.  For that, you can read my twitter feed leading up to and immediately after whatever that was that Kelly Sutherland thought he saw

Canucks vs Sharks - Renewing Acquaintances

Tomorrow night the San Jose Sharks invade Rogers Arena to take on the Vancouver Canucks in Game1 of the NHL Western Conference Quarter-Finals.  These teams have met once before with the Canucks taking out the Sharks in 5 games in the Western Conference Final on their way to losing in Game 7 of the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins.

Both teams have made a few changes since then.  For the Canucks the most noticeable change

Canucks Playoff Ready? They Better Be

Last night's game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks can be looked at in two ways depending on your perspective.

One might say that the Vancouver Canucks played one of their best games of the season thus far against the top team in the NHL and soon to be crowned President's Trophy winners the Chicago Blackhawks. One might say that the Canucks, despite missing 3 of their top 6 defensemen shut down the explosive Blackhawks save for a fluky rarely seen ref-assisted goal.  One might say

Back Up Goalie? I Don't Think So

The Canucks got on a roll tonight in the last 8 minutes against Calgary on their way to a 4-1 win.  This was also made possible by the outstanding goal-tending of Mr Roberto Luongo who had an amazing 40 saves tonight and was quick to read the plays made by the eager Flames.

Luongo was called to start after Cory Schneider was reported to have the flu, which ended a streak of 11 straight starts for Schneider.  Tonight's game made me realize how much I enjoyed seeing Luo back in net. The Canucks have two great goalies and no one else in the league has this advantage. So why not use them both? Seems like it was a great strategy in the beginning. Looked like the pressure was off of both Luongo and Schneider. So my question is why did we stop switching the two?

As far as I can see we need Luongo. When given the opportunity he shows us that he is a star and a lead goalie. I just have more confidence in the team knowing he is here and because any other back up just isn't good enough. No offense Dustin Butler.

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