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.)

I mostly wanted to post this picture because Jordan Staal’s face is hilarious. Anyway…

Well, not a whole lot going on this week with the Canucks. I mean it was pretty uneventful for the most part, nothing really huge to be writing about, so perhaps I should just skip the Week That Was.

Alright, I’m a horrible liar. Let’s get into everything that was going on with the Canucks this week.

Alex Burrows continues to have a big month of January. There were his 2 goals scored tonight, which ended a 1 game scoring drought for the feisty forward.

There was also his post-game comments coming off of tonight’s loss to the Predators. Burrows, whose name will be all over TSN, Sportsnet and everywhere else first thing tomorrow, accused official Stephane Auger of having a vendetta against him, which may have explained the chintzy calls that were going on in tonight’s game.

This was sort of a lazy week for me (and presumably most of you folks out there!) There was Christmas, naturally, but also travel concerns cramping my style and making it so that I couldn’t write as much as I wanted to. No plugs and also a condensed look at the Canucks. A little heavier on commentary than straight up news. I’ll try to balance it out for next week.

The Canucks continue with their topsy turvy play as they came into tonight’s matchup suffering an ugly loss to the St. Louis Blues. Sound familiar? Yeah, I realize that these recaps sound like I could have simply did a Find and Replace in Word, but better the Canucks win a game than lose all the time. But, tonight’s game did have two guys dressed in green spandex (see above), so this most assuredly wasn’t a repeat!

Thought I’d try my hand at a new feature on here, especially since this past week has been a rather eventful one in Canucks land. Basically, just take a look back at what transpired throughout the week, compile any news that folks may have missed and offer my own take on things. Who knows, someone may end up finding this to be useful!

I’m tardy, I know. I apologise. I’ll try to make this quick and dirty.

The Nashville game resulted in another loss for a Canucks team who has been inconsistent and got burned on the powerplay. The team also looked worn out (!) and tired out there, which again makes me worried about the upcoming Road Trip From Hell, Pt 1 and Pt 2.  Annoyingly, Nashville games continue to be ones that punish our defensemen (remember Bieksa’s laceration and Salo getting his nose broken in the same night?) as Alex Edler is out for a couple of weeks with an arm injury. What makes this all the more frustrating is that Edler was looking to be turning things around and has been one of our more consistent offensive contributers from the backend, alongside Ehrhoff.