Vancouver Canucks

Firing on all cylinders?

Vancouver kept with their inconsistent ways this weekend, looking dispirited against the Minnesota Wild on Friday night and then serving notice to the Calgary Flames on Sunday in a 6-2 romp at GM Place.

Roberto Luongo looked a little shaken, allowing two goals in the first period against the Flames, after being yanked out of two contests earlier this week. He settled down and made some key stops on Jarome Iginla, Adrian Aucoin and made a pivotal save early in the third period on a Dustin Boyd deke, delighting the crowd.

The leadership which was absent and in disarray in the previous four games came to the forefront. Captain Markus Naslund skated with fervour and finished bodychecks, to go along with the back-checking that has elevated his game. The fact that Trevor Linden tallied twice, moving him into the NHL’s Top 100 scorers of all-time, had the crowd in a frenzy at points. It also had them on the edge of their seats when he was making attempts at the hat-trick. Kevin Bieksa had a note-worthy game on the backend and Sami Salo’s power-play goal helped to grease the Canuck offense midway through the first.

With all that said, Vancouver continues to put the team at a disadvantage with penalties, averaging over 20 minutes per game in the last five games. This is a little skewed, as Alex Burrows owns two fighting majors. The Canucks possess one win in those games seemingly negating powerplay advantages at their opponent’s will and taking hooking and tripping penalties when attempting to slow their rivals.

I have noticed some good signs in the midst of what has been a stretch of lackluster play.
Ryan Kesler has played hard-nosed hockey, providing a spark in most any circumstance. This is despite #17’s recent face-off difficulties. Alain Vigneault has seized his small opportunities to sprinkle Luc Bourdon in to some situational ice-time. Vigneault has also taken to tailoring Alexander Edler’s ice-time in the game against Calgary, back from the 20+ minutes against the opposition’s top-six forwards, and into a role he should excel in again. It was simply a fact of too much at once for the young Swede.

In some periods, the Canucks have taken every chance to be physical, inadvertently pulling themselves out of position at times. They have had the gumption to drop the gloves and redeem themselves that way, defending team-mates. In others, Vancouver seems oblivious to the actuality of playing a game, not finishing body-checks and waving at challengers. Maddeningly so, they can still grab a playoff spot with some heady play and could face a ‘Goliath’ (Detroit or San Jose) in a first round match-up. With three games remaining, Nashville and Edmonton sit within striking distance. Vancouver faces Colorado and Edmonton before a tilt on CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada” against the Flames to close out the season.