Man, where to begin with tonight’s game? It was bowling shoe ugly…

As I wrote in my recap last night, the Canucks needed to play a full 60 minutes and get away from the sloppy play that allowed an injury riddled and exhausted Oilers team to make it a game after going down 4-0 in the first period.

Taking 3 penalties in a row is a recipe for disaster against a team like the Sharks, particularly when your PK has been having problems like it has for the Canucks. Factor in a team that played the night before and a powerplay that was firing blanks by going 0 for 4 and the Canucks could ill afford to suffer poor play.

Luongo had another un-Luongo like night, starting with a gaffe in the second period, coughing up a poor rebound that led to Dan Boyle’s eventual game winning goal. He also let in two goals in 0:13 late in the third, sealing the Canucks fate. It’s an annoying sports cliche, but when your best players aren’t your best players, you’re going to suffer.

Especially when your non-best players are putting forth efforts like Darcy Hordichuk. Again, Hordichuk is the sort of player that I like, in theory: he’s a hard hitter, likes to drop the gloves and works hard. The problem is that I haven’t SEEN that Hordichuk on the ice thus far. The Hordichuk that I have seen was a -1, took a penalty that led to the GWG and was an anchor on Ryan Johnson and Jannik Hansen’s line. Thankfully, head coach Alain Vigneault seemed to notice that Hordichuk wasn’t having a great game and ended up benching him early in the third period. A little too late, but the fact that you noticed is appreciated, Alain. I don’t know what it will take to get Hordichuk back into form, as being benched for a stretch hasn’t helped. Rick Rypien cannot get back into the lineup soon enough.

I never thought I’d be saying this, but coach Alain Vigenault might want to take a look at sitting Alex Edler and letting SOB draw into the lineup, as he’s had more ups and downs than Matt Cooke’s feet during a Cooke highlight reel. After a solid effort last night and contributing to the Canucks first goal, he was pretty godawful out there for the rest of the game, making bad decisions with the puck along with a stint in the sin bin.

If there’s some positives to take out of tonight’s game, it’d be that the Canucks did a great job of shutting down San Jose’s big guns. Aside from Boyle’s marker, the usual suspects with the Sharks, Heatley, Thornton, Marleau, Setoguchi were kept off the scoresheet.

Much like the game in Chicago, the Canucks were excellent at shutting down the opposition, but lack the ability to capitalize on their own offensive opportunities. For comparison, the Canucks also went 0-4 on the man advantage in the 1-0 loss to the Blackhawks a week ago.

Bernier continues with his solid play, being one of the few Canucks to have brought a physical edge to the game. Perhaps the Quebec native was buoyed by the Alouettes winning the Grey Cup.

Hansen also looked great, having some solid shifts in the second and third periods, although his effectiveness was hampered due to You Know Who. Nice to see him get rewarded with a goal. I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a promotion to the third line and play with Wellwood and Bernier, and/or snag a bit of PP time in exchange for Samuelsson sitting, as he’s another player who has looked a bit out of it lately, complete with taking stupid minors in back to back games. I’m not as bothered with Samuelsson, though, as he’s known to be a bit of a streaky player.

Then there’s Wellwood. Looks like he’s over whatever it was that was plaguing him for the first quarter of the season, as he cut Tanner Glass’ lead in goals in half by potting his second goal of the season. I’m reminded of the Sam Gagner/Darcy Hordichuk goal ‘rivalry’ that was going on between some Oilers and Canucks fans from last year. If this keeps up, I hope it’s because both Glass and Wellwood keep producing…although I’ll be just as happy if only Wellwood continues with some solid offensive production.

The Canucks square off against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday on TSN. Road games haven’t been kind to the Canucks this season, as they’re 4-8-0 away from GM Place. Hopefully the team’ll get over whatever it is that’s been causing this sloppy play before they line up against Brodeur and company.