A bit later than usual on this one, apologies. I got distracted with some other stuff. Anyway, here’s my thoughts on tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals.

After putting forth a performance not even a mother could love Wednesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, the Canucks were looking to put forth a far better effort as they went up against the Washington Capitals, a team ranked third overall in the NHL.

They got off to a good start for the Canucks, as they managed to get their first shot off within the first thirty seconds of the game, after being held off the shot clock for 14 minutes against the Ducks. Things continued to improve from there as the Canucks were recipients to some puck luck: a weird bounce off of Jeff Schultz’s skate led to a goal for Ryan Kesler, who was also successful in keeping Alexander Ovechkin off the scoresheet. I guess signing all those autographs (and charging almost NINETY BUCKS a person) must’ve worn him out.

The Canucks PK was also fantastic as they went 3 for 3 on the night and have now killed off 18 of their last 19 penalties. I know I’m sounding like a broken record here, but Alex Burrows is a big reason as to why our PK is looking so good right now as he had another big night when the Canucks were down a man. He may not be getting onto the scoresheet, but the guy’s finding other ways to contribute.

The game belonged to Mason Raymond, though, who apparently took a cue from the Minnesota Wild’s equipment van, as he was on fire tonight, scoring 2 goals both showing incredible patience and poise, something which wouldn’t have been the case with him last year. Raymond’s really starting to come into his own and I love it.

Roberto Luongo did let in 2 goals tonight, including one which was the result of everyone on the ice (including the cameraman) stopping to admire Tanner Glass knocking Brooks Laich into the bench. Kudos to Alexander Semin for not stopping to admire the carnage, as everyone else was caught flatfooted. So, Luongo’s back to the one bad goal a game. What’s it going to take to shake him of this habit?

Chris Clark’s goal, despite being a beauty of a shot, came at the hands of Kevin Bieksa, who thought it’d be a good idea to drift over towards Eric Fehr (who a returning Aaron Rome was already covering), watch him take a shot and then ignore the subsequent rebound, resulting in the goal.

Darcy Hordichuk took a turn in the pillory last game in my recaps and now it’s Kevin Bieksa’s turn. There’s only one real way to describe his play tonight:

TRAIN WRECK.

There was the aforementioned gaffe on the Clark goal. There was the fact that he was on the ice for both goals against (along with defensive partner Shane O’Brien for the first goal in what was probably the shortest lived defensive pairing in Canucks history. Never thought I’d see the day where SOB would’ve been the SMARTEST guy on a pairing, but here we are), the nonsensical pinching and his fouls which included taking a hooking penalty and getting a penalty shot called for Alexander Semin. I don’t know if Bieksa’s feeling the pressure, has lost his mind or has got something else that’s effecting his game, but he’s been a complete mess this year and is getting worse each game. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing Bieksa sit once Alexander Edler comes back, which looks to be pretty close.

Beyond that, the Sedins had a rather ho-hum game, not really coming on until the second period and ‘only’ notching 1 point between them, as Henrik managed to extend his points streak. Thankfully, our scoring depth is rather solid this year so the Sedins being kept off the scoresheet isn’t as huge a concern as it’s been in recent years. Plus, they’re allowed the occasional night off.

Kyle Wellwood looked to be a stabilizing force on the third line as they looked good in the early parts of the game, generating some scoring chances and keeping the action in the Capitals end of the rink. I made mention earlier today that having Wellwood in the lineup allows Alain Vigneault to let the Sedins and Kesler the chance to get some rest. Also, Wellwood’s a far better faceoff man than Rick Rypien and it showed: Wellwood was 57% in faceoffs tonight and was the only other person besides Ryan Johnson (87%) to be above 50 in faceoffs, Henrik and Kesler having uncharacteristic off nights.  Kyle Wellwood is clearly the guy to have in the lineup…for now.

I’ll also give credit to Johnson, who I sort of bagged on in that Wellwood post. He had a big game, as along with the dominance in the faceoff circle he also had a scoring opportunity (!) big shot block in the third period. I wouldn’t be surprised if Don Cherry has a rant about it on Coaches Corner tomorrow night.

I also thought Ehrhoff had a pretty amazing game in both ends of the rink: there was his nice use of his stick to break up a Capitals rush up the ice and he also had 3 very nice shots on net, one of which resulted in a rebound that led to Raymond’s game winner. Salo and Schneider may have hard as hell shots, but I’d be interested in seeing AV try and arrange set plays with Ehrhoff on the point…I think he may be a little more accurate than Salo or Schneider.

The Canucks square off against the struggling St. Louis Blues. They have the chance to get a coach fired Sunday, as Andy Murray is on incredibly thin ice after an ugly affair against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. Hopefully we won’t see repeats of the Anaheim and Carolina games that saw the Canucks lose out to the worst ranked teams in the East and West.