The Vancouver Canucks were facing a depleted, struggling Pittsburgh Penguins club. The Penguins were without the services of Marc Andre Fleury, who suffered a broken finger and regular backup goalie Brent Johnson. Star forward Evgeni Malkin was going through a 11 game goalless drought which can serve as a microcosm of the Penguins general offensive woes: 29th rated powerplay in the league.

It’s Team Canada night and the Moose are looking to avenge themselves after last night’s 7-2 decimation which saw Cory Schneider get chased and Desbiens get beaten like a pinata. Can the Moose do any better tonight? Let’s find out!

The announcer for this game is going about a mile a minute here, not stopping for anything. Kind of like it, as his delivery makes for the game seeming as though it’s going at a frantic pace, trying to cram as many tidbits about players in as possible as the game goes along.

First off, I gotta apologize for no game notes for the Moose tilt and for the late posting for the postscript from last night’s game. I had a really busy day yesterday that I guess wore me out, as I was passed out by the end of the Wild game. No comment on whether or not the Canucks effort against the Wild contributed to my coma induced state.

So justice was meted out by Colin Campbell and the NHL tonight regarding Alex Burrows’ comments pertaining to the officiating in Monday night’s loss to the Nashville Predators. Burrows, for speaking his mind and accusing referee Stephane Auger of having a grudge against him, was fined $2,500 for doing so. According to Darren Dreger and Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy, Auger is receiving no punishment and the matter is closed.

The title is a reference to the parking lot at the Abbotsford rink, apparently things are a little hairy as everyone’s in to check out the Baby Canucks. Twitter and radio was rife with complaints, so there ya go.

Alex Burrows continues to have a big month of January. There were his 2 goals scored tonight, which ended a 1 game scoring drought for the feisty forward.

There was also his post-game comments coming off of tonight’s loss to the Predators. Burrows, whose name will be all over TSN, Sportsnet and everywhere else first thing tomorrow, accused official Stephane Auger of having a vendetta against him, which may have explained the chintzy calls that were going on in tonight’s game.

What a huge week for Alex Burrows and the Canucks! Although it ended on a sour note, the Canucks continued their solid play to start the New Year. Plenty to go over, so no mucking around. Let’s take a look at the Canucks Week That Was.

Kent, he of the We Are All Canuckleheads Podcast, is looking like a genius right now. I say this because he was one of the first people I saw making a case for Henrik Sedin for the Hart Trophy.

Talk of Henrik being a favorite for the Hart trophy picked up steam earlier this week with an article from Michael Farber over on Sports Illustrated’s website (scroll down about midways) who named Henrik Sedin as his pick for the Hart Trophy. (Incidentally, no mention or love for Kesler in the Selke category. Boo.) Michael Traikos of the National Post also had some love for Henrik Sedin as he also picked him to win the Hart trophy. More recently, TSN’s James Cybulski gave Henrik some love, saying that the Swedish twin is HIS pick for the Hart.

Taking a look at it, I have to say that Henrik has made a great case for himself in the first half of this season to be a leading candidate for the Hart Trophy.

Okay, I know what everyone’s going to be talking about with tonight’s loss against the Calgary Flames.

Yes, Dion Phaneuf, along with the rest of the Flames were getting away with murder out there, with the referees turning a mostly blind eye to their antics. Yes, there were a number of blown calls out there, including the blown icing call with Alex Bolduc and Dion Phaneuf and the Tanner Glass non-call/call in the third. Yes, Canucks fans should be ticked at the officiating in general.

BUT…