I guess you could say that I called this game. Literally.

You had to know the Canucks were looking to avenge a rather ugly loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Roberto Luongo was overdue for a shutout and the Sedins/Burrows couldn’t be held off the scoresheet forever. Going up against a team that was short a few men (Nathan Horton was out due to injury and Dominic Moore had just been traded to Montreal) and really only had Tomas Vokoun going for them and you sort of figured that the Canucks had to win this game.
Now, before I anoint myself the next Carnac the Magnificent I’d like to say that this is probably more a case of a blind squirrel finding a nut than anything else. I mean, I was expecting a Canucks win, but I wasn’t necessarily expecting Luongo to get a shutout or for Jannik Hansen to score a shorthanded goal. I may have been right with my prediction, but no way will I take credit for everything!

It didn’t hurt that Luongo got some help from a goalie’s best friend, the goalposts. The Panthers came close a number of times…the rough count over on the Canucks Live Blog was 6 instances of banging the pipes. I imagine that the Florida goalposts will soon be joining The Chair in the Canucks Inanimate Objects All Time Roster sooner rather than later. Sometimes you just need that puck luck to happen for you and tonight, it was on the side of the Canucks.

Shane O’Brien was looking more like his old self, notching 6 minutes of penalties. Thankfully, so was Christian Ehrhoff, who made a great goalline save to preserve the shutout for Luongo. Brad Lukowich also looked a lot better, as did Aaron Rome, who played a rather invisible game.

It’s hard to be giving credit to the Canucks third line as, yes, they were generating some scoring chances, but no, they weren’t able to translate them into anything tangible on the scoresheet. I mean, I’d rather see the third line buzzing in the offensive zone, but I’d much rather see them scoring goals rather than just carrying the play. It’s gotta be frustrating for them. Good on them for looking a LOT better than they did against Tampa, but not looking much better than they have all year. Damning with faint praise, here.

I was also skeptical about seeing Hansen draw back into the lineup. Not that I didn’t think he deserved to be getting the icetime, bur that I didn’t think his impact on the team would be so great. He’s only played twice but he’s looked good thus far and that SHG was very nice indeed. Going back to my post about the bottom six, I’d like to see Pettinger brought up to replace Hordichuk. His experience and actual defensive ability would help to balance out that line and turn it into something respectable. Keep Hordichuk around if you absolutely must have an enforcer/energy guy for games against Anaheim/Calgary, I guess.

Despite getting on the scoresheet, I thought the Sedins didn’t look particularly interested in tonight’s affair. I’m beginning to wonder if their thoughts are starting to turn towards the Olympics and their game is being subconsciously affected as a result. It’d explain why they seem just slightly out of sync with everything.

The one question I do have, though, is where do you slot Pavol Demitra in tomorrow. Do you scratch Wellwood? Bernier? Leave Demitra off the roster? Tough call, but it’ll be interesting to see the lineup Coach AV goes with tomorrow night.