Specifically, Alain Vigneault’s treatment of Keith Ballard. I could go back even further and trace this into his attitudes about Brendan Morrison, but that ship has sailed, fought in a few wars, been decommissioned and is now used as an artificial reef somewhere off the coast of Australia. A digression.

A lot of talk is being made about Aaron Rome’s hit on Nathan Horton. While I don’t want to get into that, as it’s going to be discussed ad nauseum over the next couple of days, I will say that I hope that Horton is okay and makes a full recovery. Bruins fans have already had their hearts torn from their chests with Marc Savard’s concussion woes and it wouldn’t do to see another talented player get sidelined. Imagine losing Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin to injuries. Yeah.

Anyway, I found Alain Vigneault’s decision to put Andrew Alberts into the lineup to be an intriguing one, mostly because I really didn’t get why a sometimes effective, bottom pairing defenseman was getting put into the Stanley Cup Finals over Keith Ballard, a guy who has shown he’s capable of being a second pairing defenseman. I guess Vigneault was getting cute and figured what’s the worst that could happen? Andrew Alberts could log significant minutes if needed…right?

Well, with your top blueliner, Dan Hamhuis, out potentially for the entire series and another defenseman getting ejected tonight Canucks fans got the answer to those questions. Respectively, 8-1 and no, absolutely not.

Alberts was on the ice for 4 goals against, 2 even strength, bringing his +/- to -5, tied with Henrik for second worst on the team. (Christian Ehrhoff, who hasn’t had the best playoffs this season, has the worst at -10.) He looked slow and ponderous out there, with shades of his whistle chasing behaviour rearing it’s ugly head in front of Luongo’s net.

This makes me wonder: why is Keith Ballard not seeing any icetime? Ballard has been on the ice for 2 even strength goals against in 9 playoff games. The Canucks are 7-2 with Ballard in the lineup. He’s played more hockey than Alberts has, both in the regular and post-season. Heck, Alberts hasn’t seen regular icetime since February.

Ballard has provided huge hipchecks, including an awesome one on Jamie McGinn in the Sharks series. He’s a guy who can log more icetime than Alberts and, in a situation like tonight where Rick Bowness was forced to shuffle his lineup because of Rome being ejected, could have handled those minutes, even if Vigneault is loathe to give him any playing time.

Vigneault’s fascination with grinders and guys with size has been one of the things that has annoyed me immensely since he’s been the Canucks bench boss. I don’t know if Alberts being 6′5 and Ballard being 5′11 is one of the factors in Vigneault’s decision making process, but frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

Unfortunately, this is the Stanley Cup Finals. This isn’t a regular season game where a single loss can be shrugged off and adjustments can be made. Everything matters. One win can swing the momentum back in favour of your opponent and you can’t take chances in putting questionable players into your lineup when there are better options available to you. It’s not as though Ballard has been injured or is off rescuing kittens from burning buildings in Madrid. He’s right there on the team, has shown he can contribute and be a positive addition.

So the question is, why doesn’t he play? Your guess is as good as mine. It could be size. It could a personality clash with him and Alain Vigneault. But, barring a serious injury of some kind (and there has been nothing to indicate that such is the case) Ballard should be playing, especially with Ehrhoff looking like a mess and Dan Hamhuis being out of the lineup.

Instead, Vigneault opts to go with Andrew Alberts and Aaron Rome. Potentially burning bridges with Ballard. Maybe eroding some confidence.

And now, with the Canucks getting a thorough jolly rogering from the Bruins, Vigneault may just have to turn to a player he has alienated for no discernible reason or purpose and expect him to provide a high level of play in most important set of hockey games in Vancouver Canucks history. This, while leaving his star goaltender to languish out on the ice for the entirety of those 60 minutes, leaving two huge question marks/messes on the Canucks hands going into Game 4.

The word that comes to mind, when thinking of Rome and Vigneault? Stupid.

Let’s hope it’s not too late.

What a fascinating game, today’s matinee affair was.

Partially because I’ve been high on cold medication all day and it took me a while to gather my thoughts, but also because this was pretty much the reverse instance of what went down with the Montreal game. The Canucks had a rather poor start (which saw the first goal being scored by the opposing team and which saw yet another early penalty leading to said goal) but were able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat thanks to an absolutely stellar effort from Roberto Luongo, who responded well after being sat Thursday in Ottawa.

I mentioned in the Ottawa Postscript that I liked the decision to sit Luongo, as it maximized the chance to win against Boston, a team that’s been struggling as of late. A focused, rested Luongo was exactly what was needed against a Bruins team that had upstart netminder Tuuka Rask in net for them. Luongo had what was probably his best game in a LONG time, particularly in the second period where he was single handedly keeping the Canucks within one. It’s nice to see him getting hot and I hope the trend continues as the Canucks head down to Florida.

While I opted to defend Alain Vigneault’s decision to bench a player last game, I have to find fault with his decision to scratch Steve Bernier. Yes, I’m aware that he hasn’t been contributing any offense as of late, but you have to look at the other things that he brings to the table. Specifically, the fact that he’s not Tanner Glass, Darcy Hordichuk or Rick Rypien.

Look, I’ve become a fan of Tanner Glass. As a prairie boy myself, we have to stick together, and he’s been a pleasant surprise since Gillis signed him in the off-season. But he has no business playing on the third line. Especially when our fourth line is such a disaster zone as it is, having all three of Hordichuk, Glass and Rypien in the lineup is playing with fire. Don’t believe me? The two players in the box that resulted in both Boston goals were Glass and Rypien.

I’m not convinced that Jannik Hansen would be the solution to the bottom six’s woes, but he would’ve been a far better option in lieu of Glass to slot in place of Bernier. Alas, he’s down in Manitoba, so we’d have no way of knowing. Again, I don’t agree that Bernier should’ve sat in today’s game and in my eyes, it could have cost the Canucks another 2 points.

That said, I was glad to see Alain Vigneault distributing minutes to players who were having good games. For the third straight game, the Sedins looked off. I don’t know if it’s the schedule, potential flu bug (I say only because I’m under the weather myself right now and not because I’ve read anything) or just one of those things that happens to professional athletes, but AV noticed and reduced their icetime as a result. The minutes then went to players like Kesler (25:55 of icetime), Raymond (21:50) and Samuelsson (19:26.) I know we’re like almost 5 years past Marc Crawford’s time as bench boss of the Canucks, but I greatly enjoy how Vigneault holds his players accountable no matter who they are (Luongo and the benching, the Sedins and their icetime) even if I don’t always agree with it (Bernier, for example.) Far better than with Crow, where you had no real chance at seeing an increased role even if you were playing lights out.

I also find it hilarious that Alain Vigneault was getting Burrows AWAY from the Sedins as he put him alongside Raymond and Kesler as the game went on, rather than, say, putting Kesler with the Sedins. Who are the star forwards again?

Although Wellwood didn’t get as much icetime, he was being seeing some action as the Canucks tried to tie things up late in the third. I thought his play has improved as of late (not necessarily just because of that lone marker he scored against the Senators) and I’m glad that Vigneault is trusting him. He also beat Rask in the shootout, but hit the post, so all in all a good game from him.

Demitra’s starting to round into form. Don’t mind him taking some time to get into gameshape, actually, as he has missed a significant chunk of time. The Olympics should do him some good, as he should be seeing some solid icetime.

Aaron Rome’s been quietly playing some decent-to-good hockey as of late. There are the odd miscues that will go on (the Montreal game, where he was on the ice with Lukowich and the fourth line) but he’s a +3 in his last 10 games and has been a minus player in only one game (the Montreal one.) He’s not going to win the Norris any time soon, but he’s been a damn sight better than Lukowich (who I like) and Baumgartner (who I don’t particularly care for.) I’m glad he’s sticking in the lineup right now.

That about does it for my thoughts on the game. The Canucks next game is Tuesday against the Bolts. On PPV. Woo?

So the road trip goes on. Despite some late game heroics and a lucky double minor in the latter half of the third period, the Canucks were unable to come from behind yet again against the Montreal Canadiens. Or should I say the Canucks could not find a way to solve Jaroslav Halak and subsequently are STILL without a win in February.

You know, it’s really hard to try and stay positive about this club, but not having a win for the entire month of February is pretty goddamned bad. You start looking ahead. Can the Canucks still make the playoffs? Does the Olympic roster freeze necessitate GM Mike Gillis blowing up the core? Do we look at moving the Sedins, who were without any points tonight? Especially since Henrik Sedin’s lead in the NHL scoring race is held by only the slimmest of margins (Alexander Ovechkin sits behind him by only a single point now.)

You also have to wonder about Roberto Luongo and if he’s smarting over the Olympic snub, where he was not named the bonafide starter for Team Canada. I mean, it’s one thing to make several miraculous saves late in the third period when the opposing team is only leading by one goal and it’s another thing entirely to melt down after the third such save and allow yourself to be scored upon. You can’t help but start second guessing if he truly is one of the best in the league.

Lots of soul searching must go on now, in this bleak, dreary second month of the year. It may have been Groundhog Day today, officially, but it seems like the Canucks have been trapped in the Bill Murray film for quite a while. I now know the pain that Edmonton Oilers fans are enduring.

Winless for the month of February. When will the pain stop?

…okay. I’m pretty sure I’ve beaten THAT particular topic into the ground. As you could probably surmise, the Canucks ended up running into a hot goaltender tonight. While there are some people who are losing their minds over this loss, I thought I’d try and put things way into perspective here with the Canucks. Yes, the Canucks lost. As much as I hate to have it happen against the Canadiens, losses can and do occur and the Canucks had just completed a great 7 game stretch where they beat some of the best teams in the league (Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Chicago.)

That said, while I can be accepting of the Canucks losing, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be critical. I know that the popular target tonight is Roberto Luongo because Luongo failed to make a save on one of the first shots of the game from the Habs. Prior to Sergei Kostitsyn’s tally, the game was all Canucks, as they generated several quality scoring chances but were unable to convert.

So, fair enough. I gave Nolan Baumgartner grief on Saturday for his whiffing on a momentum killing pass in what turned out to be a win against the Maple Leafs, I’ll do the same here and hang Luongo’s first goal against as being a momentum killer and saying he had played bad.

But that means the blame needs to be spread around as well. The defense, in my estimation, was a jumbled mess tonight. I thought Sami Salo and Shane O’Brien looked good in spots, but that was about it. Edler looked bad, disappointing considering he had been playing well prior to this game. I am not a huge fan of the Rome/Lukowich pairing (can we not pair each of them up with more responsible/talented partners?) Ehrhoff and SOB were on the ice for two of the goals scored (remember how I said SOB looked good in spots?) All in all it was a bad night for the Canucks blueliners. As much as I was hoping Luongo would sit for tonight’s game despite knowing that there was zero chance of it happening (Luongo sitting in Montreal? Yeah, right) I hope that Alain Vigneault seriously considers starting Raycroft against Ottawa to let his defensemen understand that having a star goaltender is a privilege, not a right. Plus, it’d give Luongo a rare night off and get a chance to get rested.

Beyond that, a lot of talk has shifted towards the Canucks bottom six. Steve Bernier is getting a lot of flak over his play as of late, moreso than Kyle Wellwood, which is unusual. While Bernier’s gone cold, cold, cold and the third line has been an offensive black hole right now, they still are managing to be quite adept at not being scored against. I’d be very interested in seeing how our third line matches up against the third line of other teams, as I’m not convinced they are as horrible as some people are making them out to be.

Don’t get me wrong, the lack of offense is frustrating, but people are acting like our third line is like our fourth line which IS a complete disaster. I loved Ryan Johnson’s piece he wrote for the Province and I know he is capable of being a good, quality bottom six guy, but for whatever reason he just isn’t working out in Vancouver and oh my god I cannot wait until he is gone from this team. I feel bad writing that, but goddamn.

Throwing him AND a mix of Glass/Rypien/Hordichuk out there is a disaster on ice. Hence why the second goal was scored: our fourth line plus Rome/Lukowich equals chaos.

At the very least, there’s hope for that third line, if they can ever get their act together. Same thing can’t be said for the fourth line.

On the plus side, the Canucks top lines looked fairly solid. The Sedins seemed a little out of synch tonight, although they were dangerous and had a number of golden scoring opportunities right on Halak’s doorstep. The second line did their job, as Mikael Samuelsson continues his post-Olympics snub tear.

Anyway, the Canucks didn’t play a perfect game, a costly early goal ended up deciding things and they ran into an incredibly hot goalie. It happens. Let’s see what happens against Ottawa now on Thursday.

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.

Well, what did you think I was going to lead this with? Yes, for the time being, Henrik Sedin is now tied with Joe Thornton for #1 overall in the NHL scoring race. It may be short lived, he may continue with the torrid pace he’s been on, but this is an outstanding accomplishment and shows that Mike Gillis was absolutely correct when he decided to sign the twins this past off-season.

It’s frightening to think just where Henrik would be had Daniel not gone down with injury. Yes, he did go on a torrid scoring pace when his brother was injured, but they’ve been on fire since Daniel came back. I love it, and as someone who has had to endure ‘Sisters’ comments or stupid arguments on how the Sedins points shouldn’t count because they aren’t ‘unique points’ and everything else, I just gotta sit back here and enjoy it.

But the game! Man alive, what a way to end the road trip for the Canucks, as they managed to go 3-0-1. They came out flying in the first period and played essentially what was a perfect road game. The only goal against in this affair came as a result of a broken stick. You’ll recall that a broken stick also cost us a goal in Phoenix. Throw in that 5 minute major goal against the other night against St. Louis and it’s becoming apparent that scoring on the Canucks has become a rather hard thing to do.

A lot of this can be attributed to the play of Roberto Luongo, who had a stellar game and is really starting to come on in the latter half of the season. Guy has really elevated his play as of late (the ‘good for one bad goal’ is rapidly becoming a thing of the past) and is looking to make a case for himself that he should be the starter for the Olympics, not Marty Brodeur.

That said, this was another fantastic game and one that had the entire team buzzing for the most part. I’ve commented on how the top six has been relatively quiet and they decided to dial it up to 11 tonight. Literally, as Kesler, Burrows and Daniel all notched their 11th goals of the season. Kesler’s line was all over the place and Kesler opened things up with a beautiful wrister. Samuelsson had a couple of great chances as well and was involved in a couple of good 2 on 1 rushes alongside Kesler. Raymond is also showing how he’s becoming a more complete player. I can’t recall if it was someone on Twitter or on the Canucks Live Blog that said it (and my apologies for forgetting you!) but Raymond really is taking great strides in becoming a complete player this season.

There was one instance in particular, I thought, where he was pursuing a Stars player in the Stars end, but stopped short and peeled back to cover one of the forwards trying to make their way up the ice. Last season we most likely would have seen him go blazing in and attempt to steal the puck, most likely resulting in an odd man rush back the other way. I really like that he’s thinking things a lot better out there and it’s paying off.

Aaron Rome was forgettable, but it’s a welcome change of pace from Kevin Bieksa’s Botchatorium of Brain Farts. My neighbors, who have small children, thank you Mr. Rome for the lack of profanity issuing forth from my mouth. For a bottom pairing defenseman he’s doing his job to a T.

Hordichuk also continues to have improved his play. I have to be fair, as I was ragging on him earlier in the season for being godawful. He’s been playing a lot better and has been playing physical to boot: a huge hit early in the first led to his dropping the gloves with Krystofer (THE) Barch. Good hustle from him, so I’ll give the Devil his due!

Sidenote: in addition to wearing women’s clothes, apparently Marty Turco likes to swing his stick like a lumberjack does his axe. I am of course referring to the swipe he took on Steve Bernier in the second. Moving on…

The third line also looked alright. Nothing fancy, but they were able to get some minor pressure in the Dallas end, which is the best part of the rink to be. Wellwood looks a lot more confident out there. Maybe Mike Gillis has been giving him some St. John’s Wort to nibble on?

Great end to the road trip. The Canucks come back to GM Place to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. Be interesting to see if Henrik can remain atop the scoring race!