You sort of had a sense that this was going to happen. The Columbus Blue Jackets had lost 12 straight on the road, have managed 3 wins in their last 20 or so games. So it was only natural to think in the first period, with the Canucks down 2-0 off of 2 rather quick goals from RJ Umberger and Kristian Huselius, that the Canucks were back to being their inconsistent selves.

But expecting consistency of any kind from the Canucks this year is silly.

Of course Alex Burrows would score a hat trick, including a short handed goal. Of course Henrik Sedin would move back atop the scoring lead in the NHL, putting him in a tie alongside Joe Thornton. Of course Mikael Samuelsson would land his 5th point in as many games, continuing his jolly rogering of Team Sweden’s brass.

Of course Rick Rypien would score the game tying goal, blasting one past Chris Mason. Of course Kyle Wellwood would go to the penalty box.

Wait, what?

Yeah, this game was a strange, but fun one. Given the number of Canadians, Swedes and Americans on both rosters, I think it’s safe to say that more than a few Canucks and Blue Jackets were watching today’s World Junior Championship games…and it obviously was reflected on the score sheet.

It’s great to see the Canucks finding new ways to win. Earlier in the year, going down 2-0 might’ve been a death sentence for this club. Instead, it’s looking as though the Canucks are going to be adding the scalp of another head coach to their belt, as the Columbus Blue Jackets may be looking at Ken Hitchcock as being the source of the team’s troubles.

The Canucks did get some help from the officials. Samuelsson’s goal shouldn’t have counted as he was waaaay off-side when he received the puck. There were also not that many penalties called: the first 30 minutes of the game saw no infractions called for either team. That sort of open game created a flow for the Canucks that helped them.

Lots of great things going on with this club at the moment. The Sedins were looking deadly all night tonight, with multiple solid scoring chances in the first and never looking back until the game was over. Burrows also got onto the scoresheet in a huge way, after having a relatively quiet stretch. I think with his hat trick tonight he now has 29 goals in 57 games played with both Sedins.

Samuelsson continues to play like a man possessed since getting scorned by Team Sweden. I have maintained that he had been working hard and it was just going to be a matter of time before he was rewarded on the scoresheet and, wow, is he ever lighting it up. Mike Gillis and Alain Vigneault are going to have some tough decisions to make when Pavol Demitra comes back into the lineup. Do you break up the second line, which has been playing great as of late, to accomodate Demitra and hope that Samuelsson’s human torch ways catch onto Wellwood and Bernier? Do you slot Demitra into the third line and hope that he can get something going on his own? I’m not complaining here, this is a great ‘problem’ to have.

Many people are going to point at Aaron Rome as the ‘goat’ for tonight and say that he shouldn’t be on the team. While it’s true that he was on the ice for one rather bad goal against, I’d argue that the goal everyone is referring to wasn’t his fault. Instead, I’d point to Roberto Luongo yet again coming out of the crease to play the puck and forcing a turnover as being what led to that particular goal.

Luongo, I love you to death and hope you never leave the Canucks and I recognize how bloody brilliant you are, but puckhandling is NOT one of your strong suits. Please, please, please stop leaving your crease to handle the puck. You are not Marty Brodeur, you are not Marty Turco. Your first name doesn’t even begin with an ‘M.’ Seriously, knock it off.

Shane O’Brien continues to be a pleasant surprise for me, as I liked that he was jumping up into the play and trying to create some havoc in front of the Columbus net. You can tell that he’s chock full of confidence right now and it’s great to see. Just don’t get over confident, SOB!

Paging Mason Raymond, paging Mason Raymond. Dude, you’ve only had 1 point in your last four games. What’s that? Flames game on Saturday? Nevermind.

One other thing: It was interesting to see the Canucks weren’t sitting back, despite having a 4 goal lead in the third period. They kept pressing and trying to force things. You’d think that would be a perfect situation to try and work on the defensive aspects of your game, but hey, I’m not a coach.

The Canucks will square off against Phoenix Thursday, looking to avenge last week’s shootout loss to the Coyotes. They’ll then face the Flames on Saturday on Hockey Night In Canada, as previously mentioned.