But it all happened, unfortunately. And as nice as it would be to blame the referees for the loss, as great as it would be to point to officiating as the reason why the Canucks were ’screwed’, you can’t really pin that on anyone but the Canucks themselves.

Or, more specifically, Andrew Alberts. I’ve tried to be optimistic about the big lug, but he’s taken on a propensity for stupid penalties and slow plodding play not seen since I dreamt Ed Jovanovski and Eric Weinrich had a child that was a first round draft pick of the Canucks. Dude had 6 minutes of penalties tonight and, going off of his terrific debut in Game 1, where he saw himself become the mastermind between both LA goals, has been a disaster on the Canucks blueline. I’ve tried being optimistic about Alberts, figuring it was just a matter of adjusting to systems play, but it seems like everytime I think he’s rounded the corner he finds a new way to screw things up and earn the ire of angry Canucks fans.

Harsh words? Probably, but Alberts was deserving of a lot of criticism tonight. It’s unfortunate, as the Canucks need someone to help balance out the backend with Mitchell out of the lineup. Unfortunately, it’s looking like that Alberts isn’t gonna be that guy. Bring in Rome, if he’s healthy or Baumgartner. If either could be relied upon to eat up some minutes and not take any penalties, they’d be an improvement on Alberts.

Beyond the Alberts sideshow that was tonight’s game, the only other thing I could take issue with for the Canucks was Hansen’s inclusion on the third line. I know that he’s a popular player, but the guy is single handedly dragging down our third line due to his lack of finish or offensive instincts. I’m not a fan of him on the penalty kill, either, but the thing that I really don’t get is why do you dress Michael Grabner and only give him 2:53 of icetime, none of which was on the powerplay. Heck, I don’t get why Bernier was playing on the second line for stretches at a time, either.

I’m not trying to rage on Alain Vigneault, but these were very curious decisions. Grabner with Wellwood and Raymond could be a good third line that has a chance at generating offense. Both Raymond and Wellwood are defensively responsible and should be able to let Grabner go out there and do his thing. If you really want to babysit Grabner while giving him minutes, put him with Kesler.

I honestly don’t see the logic in dressing someone to play on the fourth line and then not giving him any icetime at all. Hansen is rather brutal 5 on 5: out of all Canuck regulars this past season he was the second worst forward for 5 on 5 goals allowed, behind Kesler, who logs more minutes and tougher assignments. Additionally, he’s been on for a fair number of goals against and is a statistically worse penalty killer than Matt Pettinger. Hansen’s either still growing or he’s hit his ceiling. In either case, he needs to have his minutes sheltered and should be primarily playing on the PK. Putting him with Wellwood and Raymond does nothing.

Pettinger, in my mind, is the superior player and would make a better match on the PK. People were saying he looked brutal on the PK on Thursday, although I’m not seeing anything that stood out as being exceptionally horrendous. He was only on the ice for one goal against alongside…you guessed it…Jannik Hansen (for the reference, Hansen’s partner on the PK for tonight’s goal was Mason Raymond.)

Beyond that, I thought the Canucks played a mostly good game, taking it to the Kings for good portions of regulation. The too many men call against Bieksa could be construed as being a garbage one, but in my mind, the Canucks shouldn’t have found themselves in overtime. The Sedins looked good, Kesler had a good game and Samuelsson continued his goal scoring.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens on Monday and who, if anyone, draws out of the Canucks lineup.

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.

It’s over. Finally.

The marathon 14 game road trip with the Canucks ended tonight in Arizona and probably not a game too soon. Naturally, on the very last game of the Canucks road trip, a slight detour had to be made with some overtime and the shootout.

The Canucks didn’t win, but given that they were at the very end of their road trip and had just played the second game of a back to back they put forth a great effort against the Phoenix Coyotes. I’m not going to use the back to back as an excuse for the Canucks losing, though, as they have been very good in back to back affairs this season. Phoenix played a tight game and Raycroft was really fighting the puck. I’d imagine that with 15 games left to go tonight’s game was probably Raycroft’s last.

That said, the Canucks had a really interesting game against the Coyotes. As mentioned, Raycroft seemed to be really fighting the puck: there were a number of huge sprawling saves he made that came, I feel, from being unable to properly corral the puck or misreading plays. After having some rather solid goaltending for most of the season I guess Raycroft was due for an off night. Fair enough. Things got really bad in the shootout, though, as his five hole was used and abused. Had Luongo been in net, this probably would’ve gone down as another win for the Canucks.

Watching Mikael Samuelsson and Pavol Demitra out there really makes me appreciate the diversity in the Canucks lineup. Both goals that they helped out on came from who they are as players: Samuelsson’s tendency to shoot the puck from anywhere led to the rebound goal for Henrik Sedin, while Demitra exhibited great patience by holding onto the puck before feeding it to Ehrhoff. That sort of utility can be found with other forwards on the roster: speedy Mason Raymond, Burrows ‘hard work’ goals and the methodical cycling Sedins make for a top six that has a lot of variety. That the Canucks have such variety AND talent spread out amongst their forwards (Henrik, Kesler, Samuelsson, Burrows and Raymond are all having career years this season) is something that’s not really addressed when talking about the Canucks offense this season.

And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it seems as though Aaron Rome has stepped things up as of late, as he’s not making as many silly mistakes that he was prone to do even a month prior and has actually been looking not entirely out of place on the powerplay. I’m not saying ‘dangerous’, as that’d be a stretch, but he’s made me pay attention to him in a good way the last couple of games. Given that the Canucks defense has been suffering without Mitchell and Bieksa, every little positive contribution helps.

Especially when guys like Christian Ehrhoff are having off nights. Although the ‘Hoff did score that one goal that I mentioned earlier, he seemed to be having a time of it in his own end, getting mixed up in plays or getting caught up ice. It happens, especially with the minutes he’s been logging as of late, but he’s set a career high in goals this season and looks to be on pace to match his previous career high in points (42) that he had with the Sharks, so I’m not going to complain too much.

The two guys I want to talk about on the Canucks backend, though, are Alberts and Edler. Alberts really got savaged by the TSN panel during the second intermission. Unfairly so, too, I thought. He was brought in to help give some depth for the team, yes, but for guys like Ray Ferraro to be expecting Alberts to perform like a top pairing defender when a) that’s not a role he’s ever been used for and b) that’s not what the Canucks are expecting of him is a little unfair. You’re not going to dump on Raffi Torres for not leading the Sabres offensively, so why would you call Alberts a failure? I don’t get it, personally. He’s playing a hard nosed game but has had a couple of mistakes out on the ice. Not much more you expect from a bottom pairing defender who has played a grand total of 4 games with his new team.

As for Edler? Call me crazy, but I think folks are confusing Edler with Mattias Ohlund, given the amount of flak he’s been getting as of late. He’s only 23 years old, which is bloody YOUNG for a defenseman. Yes, there are guys like Tyler Myers or Victor Hedman who jump in and contribute at a young age, but they’re not the norm. Secondly, he’s been logging a TON of icetime with Bieksa and Mitchell out: his last 5 games had him logging 22:30+ minutes. In tonight’s game, he logged 26:56 worth of icetime, while in the Chicago game a week ago, he logged 26:57 of icetime. For comparison’s sake, Christian Ehrhoff logged only 19:23 of icetime against the Hawks and 22:39 of icetime against Phoenix. Edler’s a horse who is still growing and learning. Yes, his offensive totals are down and he makes some mistakes, but consistency will come. The fact that AV trusts him with so much icetime speaks to his skill as a player and I really feel that the mistakes he does make are overblown.

And now I’m going to make myself sound like a hypocrite as I move over to Jannik Hansen, the guy who is justifying Hordichuk’s spot in the pressbox. While Hansen is a damn sight better than Hordichuk, there is a reason he bounced around a bit this season. Young players do make mistakes and Hansen is no exception. He had a rather brutal giveaway tonight that led to some solid scoring chances for the Coyotes. As I said in my ‘Sinister Six’ piece, the only way for Hansen to improve is by giving him playing him, but just as I think folks shouldn’t be getting carried away with their criticism of Edler, they should also not be getting carried away in their praise of Hansen.

The Canucks are FINALLY back in the confines of GM Place Saturday where they play host to the Ottawa Senators in the first of two Canadian back to back games.

So, is it premature to be getting excited about the playoffs?

On one hand, the Canucks have become the team that doesn’t die. Today’s win over the Nashville Predators marks nine instances this year where they have battled back from being down after 2 periods, winning the game. That sort of ‘never say die’ attitude and work ethic is something that will be incredibly useful going into the playoffs and I have to say it makes me optimistic about the Canucks chances. (Also, you have to wonder if the Canucks being so strong in the third period is reflective of some of the initiatives Mike Gillis has introduced, like the sleep specialists. Are the Canucks better conditioned than their opponents? Something to think about.)

On the other hand, though, the Canucks top players, Luongo and the Sedins, have been less than stellar on this road trip. Luongo’s been pulled three times while the Sedins have been goalless for nearly 10 games, the empty netter notwithstanding. You have to think that this is just a slump that happened to nastily coincide and they’ll snap out of it, but if not, well, it’s worrying that the Canucks top players managed to wilt on the road so easily.

That said, I have to say that I’m excited about this team. Especially if Willie Mitchell can get healthy and re-join the squad. The Canucks aren’t a perfect team, but then again, there really isn’t anyone in the Western Conference who is.

The Sharks have their perpetual post-season neuroses to deal with. Thornton and company didn’t exactly quell any worries about their performance in ‘pivotal’ or ‘key’ games. If Anaheim sneaks in at the 7th or 8th seed and they face the Sharks? Watch out.

Chicago, while they do seem to bully the Canucks with authority, I’m not entirely sold on their goaltending being able to hold up over a 7 game series. Niemi and Huet are a capable tandem and, as Chris Osgood will attest, perfectly capable are all a team needs to go deep. That said, if the Canucks can stop being so emotional when facing the Hawks, I don’t see why they can’t beat them. Assuming they get that far: there’s also the Joel Quinnville/Detroit Red Wings factor in play here.

But, right, today’s game. Once again the Canucks came from behind and played a far better ‘road game’ than they did against Chicago. They came in, grinded out a good game and kept things honest until the wheels fell off the Predators wagon in the third. There was a fortunate goal from Mikael Samuelsson (although, since he keeps scoring such weird goals is it really fortune or is it simply a matter of Samuelsson scoring those goals because he happens to, oh, I don’t know, shoot the puck?) and then Jannik Hansen came in and potted his own rebound to land the eventual game winner.

Hansen is an interesting case, as he’s the type of guy I want playing in the Canucks bottom six, in favor of guys like Hordichuk, Rypien or Glass. That said, he had a rather weird first period, including whiffing on a shot in epic fashion. I try to restrain my use of the word ‘epic’ but I feel it fits here, as not only did he completely miss on the shot, but he also fell arse over tea kettle, prompting a reaction from the relatively docile Nashville crowd. He also took a stupid penalty in the first which led to a goal against. He’s a good player, but he’s still young and there are going to be growing pains with him. I like the idea of a Raymond Wellwood Hansen line, which Alain Vigneault cobbled together in the third period, as it gives Hansen some skill players to gel with. Hopefully this also sparks Raymond, who has been rather quiet: only 5 goals in his last 25 games. Not bagging on him, as he’s still really young, but it’d be nice to get Raymond going again.

I’m really liking Andrew Alberts so far. He had a rough first period against Chicago, but since then I’ve been happy with him. Seems to have good hockey sense: he pinched in deep in the second period, I think it was, and got back and recovered really quickly. He’s been providing a physical presence and isn’t doing stupid things out on the ice. Very simple, basic game from him, which is nice to see. If he continues playing like this, kudos to Gillis for picking him up!

Also, I talked about the fighting from the Chicago game and how I wasn’t a fan of it. I liked Alex Burrows dropping the gloves with Dan Hamhuis. Because it was something that came from within the game being played, not from media stories or whatever. I don’t think he necessarily accquited himself well in that fight, but that’s not the point. That type of fight, which comes from a reaction to something that happened on the ice, is what I like. Not what happened in the opening minute of the Chicago game.

I thought Luongo looked really good in tonight’s game, that repeat goal, off of the knob of his stick, was unfortunate, but hopefully not a sign of things to come. He had several big saves that kept the Canucks in it. I’m really wanting to see him get into Complete Shutdown Mode, though. Tuesday’s game against Colorado would be a great chance for that.

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.

So I’ve made mention in a couple of other blog posts that I was going to be doing up a piece talking about the Canucks bottom six. And why not? There’s been a lot of talk lately about certain members of the Canucks third and fourth liners, most of it laced with profanities.

Steve Bernier needs to be shipped out of town, Kyle Wellwood should be benched and so on and so forth. While I’m not in disagreement that the bottom six players are bad, I would argue that there are reasons why our bottom six hasn’t really been performing all that well that extend beyond ’such and such player sucks.’

At least that’s what I’m hoping to get across here.

I’ll start with the mainstays of the third line, Kyle Wellwood and Steve Bernier, both guys who have come under a lot of scrutiny so far this season. Some praise, first, though. Together, they’ve been on the ice for 27 goals against and 37 goals in 5 on 5 situations. Wellwood, in particular, has only been on the ice for 9 even strength goals against and is a +7 (this is including 4 on 4 situations.) They don’t take a lot of penalties, either, as they’ve combined for 27 PIM (22 minutes worth of minors.) All while averaging roughly 14 minutes of icetime a game. At the very least, the third line is responsible 5 on 5 and are capable of playing disciplined hockey.

That’s about where the praise ends, though. Points-wise, the third line has combined for a grand total of 38 points (if you include Demitra, 48 if you include Tanner Glass’ 10 points.) When compared to the other top teams in the Western Conference, they’re dwarfed by San Jose’s and Chicago’s third lines of Clowe/Nichol/Ortmeyer (Manny Malholtra typically slots in, but my understanding is he’s been bumped up to the second line as of late) and Byfuglien/Madden/Versteeg, who have produced 70 and 75 points respectively. With Tanner Glass’ contributions factored in there, they’re only one point better than Phoenix’s third line of Korpikoski, Lang and former Canucks pariah Taylor Pyatt, although the Canucks line has been far superior defensively, as the Coyotes line is a combined -14 and have been on the ice for a combined 58 even strength goals against, while averaging about a minute less of 5 on 5 icetime.

Things continue to break down when you look at the ice time, though. I mentioned that the Canucks third line averages 14 minutes a game. That’s pretty respectable for your third line: San Jose’s averages about the same amount of icetime, Chicago’s third line averages close to 16 minutes a game and Phoenix’s trio averages around 13 and a half minutes of icetime. The problem, though, is how those minutes are distributed.

Bernier and Wellwood are both seen as offensive players and have been given time on the powerplay where they’ve been less than underwhelming: Wellwood has just 14 points on the year while Steve Bernier has 20, despite averaging 2 minutes a game on the powerplay.

Compared to San Jose, Clowe averages 2 minutes and change a game on the powerplay, while Nichol spends about the same on the penalty kill and very little time on the man advantage. Clowe’s point totals are almost double those of Bernier’s (39 points vs. 20) despite their icetime totals being damn near identical to each other’s. Nichol, who doesn’t spend much time on the powerplay, has as many points as Wellwood Remember, Nichol is a guy who averages a minute and a half of powerplay time a game, whereas Wellwood doesn’t. Heck, Wellwood is keeping pace with Pyatt with points and he averages less PP time than Wellwood.

Again, performance in certain situations is what’s led to the Canucks third line being so dismal. For the amount of powerplay time both Bernier and Wellwood get, they should be having some more to show for their efforts. The players on other teams are capable of playing at even strength and on special teams and producing results. Hopefully the addition of Demitra will spark some regular strength production, however, it does not explain the lack of PP production from them, which is what is truly hurting this third line.

While Wellwood and company are capable playing 5 on 5, the same cannot be said about the Canucks fourth line, generally consisting of Hordichuk, Johnson and Rypien. They’re a combined -10 and only average 8 minutes of icetime. That number is slightly inflated due to Johnson’s time spent on the penalty kill, where he’s been on for 20 goals against, half of the total number of goals the Canucks have given up while down a man. Factoring out Johnson’s PK minutes, the Canucks fourth line averages just over 7 minutes a game. That’s roughly a full minute less than both of San Jose and Chicago’s lines (yet both those lines don’t consist entirely of minus players and, in Chicago’s case, are producing a ton more) and almost 2 full minutes less than the Coyotes 4th line.

The Canucks fourth line also takes a ton of penalty minutes. Thus far, they’ve combined for 196 minutes worth of penalties, although Rypien and Hordichuk have 22 majors between them. Throwing in Glass, who really should only be playing on the fourth line, the Canucks have 33 fighting majors split between three players.

The only comparables for the Hawks, Sharks and Coyotes are Staubitz (with 7) and Bissonette (who has 15 majors.) Eager and Fraser also have 11 majors split between them, but they also are plus players and have 22 points. Phoenix’s fourth line has 41 points, while San Jose’s fourth line only has 17 points between them, but make up for it for more disciplined play by taking less penalties. Rypien and Hordichuk? Combined -8 and 8 points.

The impact this has had on the Canucks is rather apparent, especially on the road, where the home team has the last change advantage. When you have a fourth line consisting primarily of players whose main skill is fighting and are defensively inept, it essentially shortchanges your bench and makes it easy for opposing team’s coaches to match up against your squad. A common complaint I see in game day threads or on Twitter is ‘What is Steve Bernier/Kyle Wellwood doing out on the ice in the third period?’ Well, the reason for that is because you can only shorten your bench so much. I’d rather have Bernier or Wellwood out there than Hordichuk or Johnson. When your bottom six is a mess, you have to go with the option that is the least likely to come around and bite you. Other teams, like Chicago, have a bottom six of players who can go out and play in key situations, a luxury that Vancouver doesn’t really have.

So what can be done? Beyond the simple answer of ‘Trade or Waive ‘em!’ I’d argue that the Canucks don’t need to do a whole lot to try and fix things. But here’s what I think Mike Gillis may be looking at:

- Getting a replacement centerman for the third line. I’ve been defending Kyle Wellwood for ages and have even done so in this blog post, but it’s clear that he just isn’t capable of getting it done: his lack of overall finish on the powerplay is evidence of that. A trade for a Matt Cullen type would be phenomenal and help out the third line a great deal.

- Stop playing Hordichuk/Rypien/Glass so goddamned much. I understand that Alain Vigneault likes the idea of a ‘crash and bang’ line, but when that group spends too much time in its own end of the rink you really should be dialing back the amount of icetime Hordichuk gets. Glass is probably the best forward out of the three listed, based on production and overall icetime: he’s been the one seeing time on the third line and his overall icetime averages reflect that. Put him in a fourth line role, where he’s not out of his element.

- Look at utilizing some of our ’skill’ players down on the farm. This would involve waiving or trading individuals on the roster, as the Canucks are at the roster max presently. That said, Jannik Hansen, Michael Grabner and Matt Pettinger are all guys who could potentially fit with the Canucks (and regulate Hordichuk et al. to the pressbox.) Hansen is a solid skater who can also forecheck like mad. Pettinger is a guy who has NHL experience, is capable of chipping in some offense and can play on the PK. Putting those two guys with Johnson could give a fourth line that is defensively responsible and provide some options on the penalty kill…and may just improve it.

As for Grabner, he showed that he was capable of clicking with Kesler and Raymond earlier in the season. He has been cold as of late, but putting him on a line with Raymond and Kesler, arguably the two best Canucks as of late, could jumpstart him much in the same way pouring gasoline on a bonfire causes things to heat up. Failing that, you could bump him down to the third line and have him try and work something with Pavol Demitra, who is capable of playing the center position.

The proposed solutions may not work, but they’d be providing something different. With a Canucks squad that’s been struggling offensively on the road, getting scored upon first and has had major problems with their bottom six a slight makeover might do the Canucks a world of good.

It comes down to six.

The bottom six, specifically. Tonight’s game was a frustrating one that saw the Canucks put forth a rather solid effort, but found themselves lacking a bit in the ‘puck luck’ department. Unfortunately, were it only that, the Canucks probably would’ve had something to show other than a regulation loss to the Bolts.

Offensively, the Canucks continue to slide. The Sedins continue to be silent and the offensive contributions from the second line are starting to dry up: outside of a lone marker from Ryan Kesler there wasn’t much going on in terms of secondary scoring. Even worse, the Canucks gave up a short handed goal.

While the problems with the top six is worrisome, I’d argue that the real issue lay with the bottom six. All eyes were on two players in particular tonight: Steve Bernier and Jannik Hansen, both players who were out of the lineup. I’ll be honest, I was hoping for a strong effort from both of them, as I figured both players would have something to prove: Bernier was scratched against Boston, while Hansen had been sent down on a conditioning stint. Neither particularly overwhelmed me: Bernier looked flat out there, while Hansen didn’t do much to really stand out. I wouldn’t necessarily blame them individually, though.

The reason? Well, the Canucks bottom six is a mess and that leads to problems on the road where Alain Vigneault doesn’t have the luxury of the last change. When you have half of your forwards being ineffectual or lost out there it makes it very easy for opposing coaches to match up against the players who are actually capable of doing something out there and shutting them down.

There’s more to it, but the Sedins slumping can at least be partially explained by our problems in the lower lines. On the plus side, Ryan Johnson being out of the lineup meant that the fourth line didn’t spend all their time in the defensive zone. They still looked disorganized and out of sorts, but hey, some progress. I will say that Hansen’s forechecking skills helped keep that line out of their own end.

Defensively, the Canucks blueline was pretty bad, too. Aaron Rome, who had been quietly playing some acceptable hockey as of late, mucked that all up with a terrible performance, looking very lost out there. Edler was shooting the puck early and often, but wasn’t realy noticeable beyond that.

Positives from tonight’s game? I liked the start the Canucks had and the fact that they were working hard. Hard work only amounts to so much if you can’t get results, but I liked the fact that this road game looked more like the Montreal game (where the Canucks were getting chances) and less like the Ottawa game (where the Canucks looked like they were unable to find the offensive zone without a map.) I’d rather the Canucks lose while putting forth a good effort than have them lose and look like crap. Kesler’s goal was a thing of beauty and I’m glad to see he’s learning how to be effective on the road. Other than that, Luongo looked good, but not great and Shane O’Brien was really the only other Canuck who I thought was looking good out there.

Canucks square off against the Panthers Thursday.

Hey, that’s a pretty good impersonation of a post-game Canucks fan, there Spezza!

…

Do I have to talk about the Canucks game?

Really?

Okay. There’s a lot of hating, complaining and wringing of hands going on with tonight’s loss. Oh no, we’ve lost two in a row. The end of the world is coming and the Canucks are sinking like the Titanic.

Steve Bernier’s breakway attempt was nothing short of pitiful, yes. He’s been horribly inept offensively, yes. So have Pavol Demitra and Kyle Wellwood for that matter. Unfortunately, Steve Bernier is in a really odd position with the Canucks right now.

He’s one of the few folks in our bottom six who can play a gritty game and isn’t a complete defensive liability. In tonight’s game, Bernier had 3 hits and was an even player. Going back over the last 20 games, Bernier’s been an even player. So the BIG problem, and I emphasize the word big, is that Bernier simply can’t get the puck into the net, yet the other tools he brings to the table: defensive awareness and size, are a combination that is sorely lacking in our bottom six. Darcy Hordichuk and Tanner Glass may provide grit for our bottom six, but they can’t be trusted to keep the puck out of the back of the net.

I know that some people will point to Jannik Hansen. To that, I’ve got a blog post coming regarding Hansen, a player who I actually happen to be a fan of, and the general condition of our bottom six in the near future. At this moment in time, I’m not necessarily convinced he’d be an upgrade over Bernier on the third line.

I also am somewhat bemused that folks are slagging Kyle Wellwood. In a game where the Canucks were limited to 4 shots for about half the game, you would figure that one of the big guns, like Raymond (who had a glorious chance in the first) or the Sedins would be the ones managing to get one past Brian Elliott. The fact that Kyle Wellwood came up big, virtually at the last minute, shouldn’t be a sticking point for fans. I’ve maintained that the third line has been making an effort: if they’d been stinking it up in both ends of the rink and looking uninspired I’d probably be irate. Like Bernier, Wellwood has also shown some defensive flair and it’s the lack of offense that is utterly frustrating. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options for the Canucks to replace Wellwood right now, as our depth down the middle is just as bad as our lack of competent grit in our bottom six.

The other BIG complaint from folks right now is the decision to start Andrew Raycroft. To which I have to say, Roberto Luongo probably wouldn’t have won this team the game were he in net tonight. I actually liked Alain Vigneault’s decision to rest the captain, even with the loss tonight.

Here’s why: the Canucks were going into the Corel center against a red hot Ottawa team. Luongo was going to be needing some rest somewhere on this road trip, especially after the rather dodgy performance he had against the Canadiens. The rest of the team didn’t look particularly well defensively (although the coaching staff wouldn’t admit to that) so putting Raycroft out and hoping the team would tighten up defensively didn’t look like a bad idea on paper. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way, so Luongo, at the very least, was able to get some rest.

The Canucks play the Bruins tomorrow before having 2 days off against Tampa and then have three more games to close out the first half of the road trip before the break. I’m sure the plan was originally to start Raycroft against Boston, but Luongo’s poor play and showing signs of fatigue nixed that. That said, having a fresh Luongo up against the Bruins would maximize the team’s chances of getting 2 vital points, whereas a worn out Luongo probably wouldn’t have made a difference tonight.

Beyond all that, Trois Kronors had probably their worst game in a long time tonight. I mentioned they looked a little out of synch against Montreal. Tonight, it got even worse as the Sedins and Burrows just couldn’t put anything together. Unfortunately, this marks roughly 8 periods where the top line has been largely invisible. They really need to come up big against Boston, insert cliche about your best players have to be your best players, yadda yadda yadda.

I dunno what else to say about tonight’s game. The Canucks should taking last night’s game as motivation. Luongo should hopefully have a fire lit underneath him. Here’s hoping the rest of the team follows his example.

Another horribly late postscript. I apologize. My move from Toronto to Calgary has drained the hell out of me so I’m just getting things sorted out. I basically passed out after the game last night and had to run around doing errands today, hence the superlate post. I’m hoping things will be totally sorted come Saturday. We’ll see…

So last night’s game marked the last time the Vancouver Canucks will be gracing GM Place for a long, long time. Over 40 days and 40 nights, as a matter of fact. As such, it was important for the Canucks to leave Vancouver on a high note and hopefully carry their play into the beginning of what I’ve termed as The Road Trip From Hell. Unfortunately, their opponents were the St. Louis Blues, a team that has regularly had their number (outside of the post-season, that is.) If there was a team that could end up playing the role of spoiler for the fans at GM Place Wednesday night, it would’ve been them.

I have to say, for two teams that have a sort of mini-rivalry going between them and for a team that has been as red hot as the Canucks have been as of late, it wasn’t exactly the most exciting game in Canucks history. Lots of back and forth passing with minimal shots on goal. The second period, especially, was horrific and I think talk over at the Canucks live blog turned to hockey jerseys and other mundane topics.

Still though, despite the Blues best attempts at trying to bore the opposition into submission, the Canucks managed to cruise by them and earn another 2 points. Again, there’s a ton of positives to be taking out of tonight’s game, so let’s start with that.
I guess it’s nice that folks can complain when the Sedins are having a bad night when they play a game like they did and don’t put up any points. I thought that Trois Kronors (I’m going to make that nickname for that line stick, dangit) had a great night even though they didn’t put up any points. While they were out on the ice, they were dictating the play and had the Blues forced back on their heels. Yes, they didn’t score and Alexander Ovechkin loomed dangerously close to the scoring lead as a result, but it wasn’t from lack of chances or from effort. The line was capable of swinging momentum back in the Canucks favor which allowed for the second line to put up some points.

And how about that second line? In years past, having our top line held off the score sheet would have spelled disaster for the Canucks. Mason Raymond ‘only’ had a pair (what, no hat trick?) while Ryan Kesler had a big night. I’ve noted that the lack of offense from him as of late shouldn’t be worrisome as he’s been making plays and has been working his butt off. Working hard has got to be the mission statement for that second line: I’ve lauded Mikael Samuelsson for his efforts, while Mason Raymond has come a long way this season, looking like a bonafide NHLer, rather than a youngster who keeps falling down. That’s not meant as a diss, either, all players take time to mature and I’m glad to see Raymond finally hitting his stride.

I also thought Alex Edler has continued his strong play as of late. He looked good in the Buffalo game, hitting post more often than not and that continued into tonight’s game, where he kept hitting the iron. Over on Twitter, I had hoped that Edler would answer the challenge and elevate his play due to Bieksa, Mitchell and Salo being out and so far it looks like he’s been doing well. There was that giveaway he had, mind, but I thought that Edler’s overall play as of late has been some of his best hockey this season. Great to see.

The same can’t be said for some of the Canucks other defensemen. Shane O’Brien is starting his Jekyll to Hyde metamorphosis from respectable blueliner to ‘oh dear God what were you thinking?!’ disasterpiece as last night wasn’t his most stellar game, starting off with his delay of game penalty in the first (the team’s second such call that night) and continued with some questionable decisions out on the ice. I think it’s apparent that more icetime is something that needs to be carefully handled with SOB, otherwise problems develop. That, or he needs to get another tattoo done up, pronto.

Baumgartner, a guy whom I’ve been critical of since he has been recalled, yet managed to shut me up with his play against the Hawks and Sabres, also had a rather dodgy night. It’s to be expected when you’re dealing with AHL callups and Baumgartner did do a great job of absolving himself of one really bad giveaway in the first period by neutralizing the Blues attacker, but there were more than a few mistakes creeping in there.

Rhetorical question, but do we always need 2 of Tanner Glass, Rick Rypien and Darcy Hordichuk in the lineup? Look, I understand that coach AV likes having some guys who can chuck ‘em in his lineup but with Shane O’Brien on the backend and guys like Ryan Kesler and Steve Bernier already in the lineup who can throw ‘em (although I understand AV might not necessarily WANT those guys fighting I’m just pointing out that they can) is it really necessarily to have 2 guys who can fight in the bottom six?

I only ask because there’s that Jannik Hansen fellow who has been sitting for many a game and hasn’t had the chance to get into the lineup and because the three guys I mentioned haven’t exactly been playing electrifying hockey as of late.

One other thing, I came across this picture on game night. Check out the kid on the lefthand side. I don’t know why, but I found it amusing:

Canucks play the Leafs Saturday as part of Hockey Day In Canada. Hopefully I’ll be a bit better with updates by then!

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.
So with the third string backup goalie in net and Malkin scoring the game’s first goal you sort of had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be the Canucks night.

Thank goodness for Trois Kronor, is all I can say. The Sedins and Burrows responded back in a big way after Malkin’s goal, Henrik getting a nice bank goal off of goalie John Curry’s back/shoulder and Burrows scoring an absolutely beautiful shorthanded goal.

From there, things got ugly as the Canucks scored 3 more goals in the second period and chased Curry from the crease, leaving Russian netminder Alex Perchusky to come out in relief. Perchusky, who doesn’t speak a word of English and had been recalled from the WHL last night after signing an emergency tryout contract, looked alright in his NHL debut and only allowed a single goal.

Although the Canucks could have pressed things further and lit up Perchusky like a Christmas tree, they opted to slightly ease their foot off the gas. While Ron MacLean would insist that the Canucks were getting ‘cocky’ I didn’t see that, as the first unit PP was still out there.

The other big story was returning forward Pavol Demitra, who played his first game of the season tonight. I didn’t really notice Demitra all that much during the game and thought that his timing was a little off. He’s certainly got some rink rust that’ll go away with time. As for the shoulder? He fired off a blistering slapshot in the third period, so it looks like he’s having no problems there. Great to see and hopefully he’ll work out the kinks.

Beyond that, Mikael Samuelsson continues to look impressive, notching another goal tonight. I said awhile ago that he’d been working hard and would start getting rewarded. I’m not entirely sure that the Olympic snub is what jump started him (how long do ride being snubbed?) but either way, I’m glad to see him putting up points.

Also, Roberto Luongo. I keep saying it, but please stop trying to handle the puck. Marty Turco is on his way out the door and not even his magical puck handling skills could save his job. You had some decent moments here and there, but I also caught several times where you fed the puck straight to a Penguin. These lead to goals against, dude.

Idle question: what do you do with Jannik Hansen? No, seriously. His play as of late means he should be playing higher than the fourth line, but where do you fit him in? This becomes especially problematic when Bernier and Johnson come back. Yeah, I guess I’m complaining about the Canucks having forward depth now. What a strange situation to be in…

Lukowich’s age and lack of mobility is showing, but he is working hard out there and is generally making smart decisions with the puck. I feel we’ll be needing him more in the playoffs than we would Rome or Schneider so it’s good to see him fitting in well. Also like that he’s paired with Edler.