Yeah, I’m skipping the Islanders game. Don’t worry, I have a blog post forthcoming on that game! Chronological order? What’s that?

So I’ll admit I was a little worried with tonight’s game against the Sharks. They’re a good team, have regularly beaten up on the Canucks the past couple of seasons and they were looking to avenge themselves after a rather horrific 8-2 thrashing by the Dallas Stars. Then again, you could say that the Canucks, and Roberto Luongo in particular, were looking to avenge themselves after getting beat by Jonathan Tavares (and the New York Islanders) on Tuesday at GM Place. Luongo, who has been pulled 4 times in his past 13 starts, ended up having a rather stellar game, posting some big saves against the Sharks in a 34 save performance. Did he get beat? Yes, but Luongo was consistently making big saves and kept the Canucks in the game, much like he did in the second and third periods against Calgary. No idea if that was the result of his being pulled in Tuesday’s game or the barrage of questions he faced regarding his getting the hook as of late, although I’d say it played a huge part.

It’s weird how blogging works. I wrote a long piece talking about how the Canucks bottom six has been dragging the team down and what happens? Ryan freaking Johnson scores a goal, Jannik Hansen has been potting game winners, Wellwood’s been starting to contribute regularly to the scoresheet and even Darcy Hordichuk hasn’t looked out of place in the lineup. Don’t get me wrong, I love it and hope that this play carries into the playoffs. I do have to ask, where the hell have all these guys been hiding all season, though.

All that said, Hansen did have a fairly off night. He was on the ice for both Sharks goals against and his inability to clear the puck out of his own zone directly resulted in the second Sharks goal. Again, referencing that older post I did, Hansen is young and needs experience if he’s to outgrow these mistakes and while I’m not concerned (he’s not costing the team games!) I figured it’d be noted, given the savage beatings players like Steve Bernier and Kyle Wellwood have taken all season long. Heck, even Mikael Samuelsson, who was on a long cold streak prior to his Olympic snub, was getting it from online Canuck fans. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, guys!

I doubt many Canucks fans would have ever expected to welcome Shane O’Brien with arms wide open like they did last night. Nor do I think many fans would’ve expected such a patient, composed game from him. Yet there he was, skating well and having one of his better games as a member of the Canucks. SOB has come a long way from his days where he was a defenseman who the Tampa Bay Lightning had given up on. Coming in, folks said he had a penchant for taking stupid penalties and that he could’t skate at all. His skating has improved and his ’stupid penalties’ have gone way down this season. It would appear that Rick Bowness can, in fact, coach defensemen. I say all this, because it gives me hope that Andrew Alberts, who has shown some promise and is signed with the Canucks through to next season, may just turn into a similar player despite the dubious start he’s had as a Canuck.

In the That’s Sort of Good News Dept: the more Mason Raymond continues to struggle, the lower his asking price will be once he becomes a restricted free agent this summer. I believe that Raymond’s got something like 5 goals in the last 30 or so games. On the other hand, with Mikael Samuelsson out and rookie Michael Grabner in, it’d be nice to see Raymond step up and start chipping in again.

Speaking of Grabner, it was nice seeing him back up with the Canucks. I’ve been a fan of him for a while now so it’s nice to see him being able to handle playing against one of the NHL’s top teams. No points, but he came close with a couple of great shots, including hitting the post and a wonderful chance off a Ryan Kesler feed.

Finally, what the hell is with the ice at GM Place? Watching Boyle out there in the third period made me wonder if I was having an out of body experience or something. Seriously, stumbling and scrambling around on the ice is what I do, not the guys I devote way too much time/energy watching.

The Canucks square off against the Detroit Red Wings Saturday for another Hockey Night In Canada matchup. I typically don’t like to SEE a Canucks loss, but if they have to, doing it against Detroit would be an acceptable scenario.