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

Latest Loss to Cup Champs has Canucks Fans Calling for Rebuild

Latest Loss to Cup Champs has Canucks Fans Calling for Rebuild

We all saw it, we all know what happened.  It was ugly.  What made it even uglier was the fact that the Vancouver Canucks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the defending Stanley Cup Champions raising the hopes of the hometown faithful.  Only to have it ripped away like velcro on a kids running shoes.

The Chicago Blackhawks responded with 4 unanswered goals in approximately 8 minutes in the second period on their way to a 5-2 win.

Cue fan angst.  Cue widespread panic.  Cue unruly mobs and general pandemonium.

If you've listened to the call-in shows or seen the

Canucks Dropping Like Flies

Ahead of tonight's big tilt against the Chicago Blackhawks, comes word that Chris Tanev will miss at least one game with a  broken thumb, and likely won't be ready until after the Olympic break.

GREAT!  Just what they needed!  Another injury!

In what is quickly becoming a season

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 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

Heard in Canucks dressing room during last year's playoffs...

ALAIN VIGNEAULT after 1st intermission of Rd 1 Gm 3 vs the LA Kings:

"OK, guys. We busted our ass, and totally outplayed them. We had them running around in their own zone and we got a hard-earned 1 goal lead...NOW, let's spend the next 2 periods in our own zone and hope they don't get one by us.
What's that Henrik? We're one of the highest scoring teams in the league and we've been very successful with our aggressive fore-check and our incredible puck possession game?

OK...let's just forget that and play 'dump-it-out, dump-it-in' the rest of the way and hope for the best."

Henrik Sedin: But, you've got the last 2 Art Ross trophy winners and a bunch of career 30 goal scorers up front and some decent offensive defensemen too! You're turning us into checkers?
You can play that style with Minnesota's roster...what do you need us for?"

ALAIN VIGNEAULT: "OK, MayRay...I'm gonna double-shift you for the rest of the game. Try to keep the falling-down-for-absolutely-no-reason down to 3 times per shift, k?
And if I catch ANY of you carrying the puck into the other team's zone, driving the puck to the net, or setting up in the offensive zone, you're getting benched the rest of the way.
Oh! And Scheids, expect to be under fire for the rest of the game, k?"

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