Game in Review: Canucks 3 - Avalanche 0

The start of this game was no different than all the other Canucks games this season. The Avalanche dominated the first 10-some minutes, keeping Vancouver at 0 shots until somewhere between the 7 and 10 minute mark. The first shot of the game trickled in behind Luongo, and was only denied when Luongo twisted and somehow kept it out with the knob of his stick. Pure luck. Weise dropped the gloves with McLeod just 5 minutes in, something that's becoming a theme in recent games. On the Canucks first shot, Garrison scored his first of the season, and his first as a Canuck, after burying the puck off a dump and chase set up by the Burrows line. After that, Vancouver picked up it's play and had the majority of the scoring chances.

 The 2nd period saw Edler and Tanev playing as a pair, but only briefly. Lappiere squeaked past the defense and charged up the wing, putting the puck through Varlamov's 5 hole to make it 2-0. A crap call by the ref (A boarding call. on Tanev. TANEV) led to a 5 on 3 powerplay for the Avs, that lasted almost a minute and a half, but the PK came through again. In the 3rd, Kassian broke the Canucks 2 goal curse AND the powerplay curse by burying a perfect cross ice pass from Hamhuis. Moments later, Schroeder had a great chance on a 2 on 1, but was denied. Vancouver kept up the pressure in the final minutes and held on to earn a 3-0 win.


Tidbits:

 - Luongo played well, but the Avalanche weren't exactly overwhelming him with shots.
 - Penalty Kill: Fantastic. Went 4/4, and constantly had the puck at the other end of the ice.
 - Powerplay. Not so awesome. Kassian broke the drought early in the third, and the cycle game was great, but they have challenges moving the puck into the zone. Had trouble keeping the puck in the offensive zone, and gave up a number of short handed chances, including a breakaway.
 - Powerplay also saw Hamhuis-Edler and Bieksa-Garrison on the point, splitting the 2 big shots between the 2 units.
 - Speaking of D, Tanev continues to play smart hockey. Knows how to cut down the passing options, even without a stick.
 - More about the D: Tanev (right handed shot) maybe a candidate for a permanent position on the first line. Edler plays his best on the left side, but has been forced to play right side to accommodate his partners. Tanev is defensively responsible, which would allows Edler to jump up a little more on the rush.
 - Kassian's PP goal was his fifth of the season, he only scored four last year. Testament to how far he's come since last year. Granted anyone can score 50 points with the Sedins (cough cough Anson Carter), but Kassian has gotten a lot faster and is able to read plays well. Able to hit hard, too.
 - Lappiere: Strong game, plenty of take away's, held down the 4th line just fine.
 - Refs messed up big time. Raymond gave McLeod a high stick in the 3rd, but it wasn't called. McLeod, with blood gushing from his forehead, yelled at the ref for a call. Ended up getting a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, totally crap.

I'm not going to dig into who starts the next game, mainly because whenever I guess I end up being wrong.

Next game is Friday vs Chicago at 7PM. This is the first meeting between the Canucks and Blackhawks since Duncan Keith took out Daniel Sedin with a dirty head shot. I'd say that this would make for an intense, violent game, but that's just a normal match up between these 2.

Eddie Lack Joins the Goalie Graveyard

Eddie Lack had his surgery recently (hip), and it scheduled to be back playing in about 6 months, so next season. Cue Freddie Mercury. Lack is the heir to Vancouver's backup goaltender position, and if he's out, that throws a wrench in the goaltending plans. Luongo cannot be traded unless there's a suitable backup for Schneider. That said, the list of what we can do with Luongo just got a lot smaller. Here's what's left of that list:

 - Keep Luongo and Schneider. The duo can share the crease for the season, but Luongo does need to go. He wants to go, the fans want him gone, not a good mix. Plus the older he gets, the less valuable he is.

 - Trade Luongo, bring in a backup goalie. Any team we send Luongo to has to have some sort of experienced backup goalie with a short term contract. We don't want to get stuck with anyone for more than 2 years.

Yeah, short list. But option 2 makes Florida seem really good, as starter Jose Theodore has a $1.5 million per year contract that expires this summer. Easily the best decision, because it lets Luongo go back to his family and gives us a great goalie at a decent price. Ray Emery of the Blackhawks also fits the bill, at $1.15 million and again ending at the end of the season. Added bonus: Luongo can actually enjoy the Chelsea Dagger for once...

Game in Review: Sharks 4 - Canucks 1

Cue the morons blaming Schneider for this loss. A few things might contributed to the Canucks loss tonight, one of those being that the they chose to drive from Anaheim to San Jose over flying, and arrived late last night. Another of those being that Vancouver hit 5 posts throughout the game, and at times it seemed like there was a wall behind Niemi. Excuses aside, a horrible first period was the again the stake in the heart for Vancouver. 2 defensive miscues led to 2 turnovers and 2 goals that Schneider had no chance of stopping, and the Canucks never recovered. A 2nd period goal by Burrows cut the lead in half, but the Sharks answered right back and added another tally in the 3rd.

Tidbits:

 - Powerplay went 0/7, and saw quite a few different faces on it. Ballard played in Edler's spot on the final PP of the evening.

 - Penalty Kill went 6/8. Canucks would've had an easier time catching up if the PK wasn't working so often. Stupid penalties, too (Clearing the puck over the glass, late hits).

 - Sedins: No production, all but benched in the final 10 minutes. Didn't serve on the last 2 powerplays. Played with Weise on their last few shifts

Next game is tomorrow against LA at 7:30. I'm guessing Luongo gets the start, because it's a back to back.

Game in Review: Canucks 5 - Ducks 0

After the first 10 minutes of this game, I assumed a 5-1 Ducks victory. The Canucks defense was so porous that the Ducks basically walked in and rammed into Schneider. That changed after Aaron Volpatti dropped the gloves against Matt Beleskey, and Beleskey ended upon his knees looking up at Volpatti's fist. Later on, Daniel Sedin finished off a great passing play on a 5 on 3 powerplay by tucking the puck past Hiller to make it 1-0. After that, the defense tightened up and Anaheim started taking stupid penalties. Raymond batted his own rebound out of mid air late in the first on the powerplay to make it 2-0, and things only got better.

Volpatti picked up a loose puck in the 2nd and buried it to extend the lead. Kassian finished off a Sedin passing cycle with a nice shot over Hiller's pad on the PP to make it 4-0. Beleskey, still mad about beaten by Volpatti, came back and duked it out with Bieksa in the 3rd. Also received a penalty for attempting to do the same thing with Hamhuis. Ballard got his can kicked minutes later, against Perry, as the Ducks got progressively madder as the game went on. Schroeder earned his first career point, after feeding a great cross ice pass to Raymond, who buried it under the cross bar with 4 and a half minutes left. Through all of this, Schneider stood tall and made save after save on goal worthy attempts.

After a rough start to the season, the Canucks finally seem to have their feet under them. All 4 lines are clicking, and turning into a well oiled machine. The powerplay went 3/9, and proved to be effective enough to keep us on our feet early in the game. Schneider's 30 save performance earned him his 5th career shutout, and he truly deserved it.

Tidbits:

 - Malhotra was a healthy scratch, his wife gave birth earlier in the week. Ebbett took his place on the 4th line.

 - Weise can't keep his head up to save his life, but it drew a penalty.
 - The Canucks powerplay was still insistent on performing the back pass in the neutral zone. IT FOOLS NOBODY.
 - Mason Raymond seems to be slowly getting over his fear of going into corners and crashing the net (Caused by his broken back sustained in the Cup Finals a few years ago). He crashed the net a few times, drawing a penalty once and scoring on another.
 - Ballard is becoming an anchor for the 3rd defensive pair. Solid play in his own end, seems to be  reading plays well. Also came to the defense of Edler in the 2nd when Perry tried to fight him.
 - Canucks PK seems to be content to collapse back around the net, letting the passes roll around the outside and the Ducks take the point shots. Plenty of blocks.
 - Schneider still stick handles like an elephant in handcuffs, should be kept on a leash. Almost gave the puck away behind the net.
 - Burrows was given a penalty shot in the 2nd, but bobbled it and failed. 0/4 in his career.
 - Kassian almost made a beautiful no look pass to Daniel Sedin, but it was picked off. Showing great chemistry on the 1st line.
 - The Canucks looked very mature, didn't react to cross checks or shoves, and were rewarded with a whole bunch of powerplays..
 - Late 3rd period powerplay group turned into Lapierre, Weise and Volpatti.

The Canucks play on Sunday in San Jose, then Monday in Los Angeles. San Jose is a perfect 3-0-0 this season, and LA hasn't won a game since hoisting the cup.

Game in Review: Canucks 3, Flames 2 S/O

After an eventful first period, which had Edler almost score on his own net, Schneider almost score on himself, and some insane pressure, the score was still 0-0. Early in the 2nd, Kassian scored the first of the game on a beauty of a play. After digging the puck out of the face off circle, Kassian attempted a wrap around, intercepted the clearing attempt, and scored on his own rebound with a gorgeous wrister. Exactly 2 minutes later Raymond sniped one from 10 feet inside the blueline to make it 2-0. Things were going great, the shots were 27-12 midway through the 2nd. Cue defensive failures. Bieksa attempted a pinch to keep the puck in on the offense, but ended up creating a 2 on 1 for Calgary which resulted in a goal. Later on, Bieksa, Garrison and Edler all took penalties within 3 or 4 minutes of each other to give the Flames 2 very long 5 on 3 situations, resulting in a goal on the last penalty. An eventful 3rd period held no goals, and off to OT we went, with the shots tied up in the 30's. After no result there, the Canucks were forced into the shootout.

Burrows and Tanguay traded goals in the first 2 rounds, but it took until round 5 for Kassian to put the next one away, deking Kiprusoff out of his jock strap. Schneider made the last save, and the Canucks earned their first win of the season.

Tidbits:

 - Schroeder bounces like a rubber ball when he's hit. Might be an injury prone guy (ie: Taylor Hall). He's gonna need a couple of big wingers to keep him safe.
 - Schneider still has problems stick handling, lost the puck in his skates and almost pushed it into the net early in the first.
 - 2nd night in a row that the Canucks have given up a 2 goal lead
 - The offensive side of the Canucks defense is great, but it's their defensive side that makes me want to pull my hair out in frustration.
 - Ballard and Tanev were the most stable defensive pair tonight. That's scary.
 - Powerplay: Just awful.

What's New

Couple of things happened this week in the Canucks world. Some big, some small, but let's dive in.

Lineups from last practice:

Sedin-Sedin-Kassian

Raymond-Schroeder-Weise

Higgins-Burrows-Hansen

Lappiere-Malhotra-Volpatti

So you can already make some assumptions from that, but here we go:

 - Schroeder recalled from the Wolves. Practiced today with the Canucks

 - Weise and Kassian impressed AV enough to be considered for 1st and 2nd line rolls

I'm a little skeptical about Burrows starting on 3rd line center. Higgins was drafted as a center man in 2002, and would seem the likely candidate to play that position.

Jim Vandermeer was put on waivers, and is apparently so awful that no one claimed him. He's now down playing for the Wolves.

Also big news: Gillis said in an interview last night that a trade has been lined up for Luongo, but that it's not what we expect. Whether that means in terms of teams he could go to, or players to be traded for remains unknown.

Game in Review: Oilers 3 - Vancouver 2, SO

Young talent and plenty of energy won out against a tired Vancouver team tonight. Despite the fact that the Canucks lost, the overall effort was much better. Luongo started in goal, and looked pretty solid. Edler opened the scoring midway through the first, after poking a short pass out of his own zone, weaving through center, and blasting a classic slapper past Dubnyk. Kassian finished off a beautiful play by the Sedins in the 2nd, after missing 2 chances earlier. But the Oilers tied it on a defensive blunder with only 3 seconds remaining, as Eberle cut past everyone and back handed it past Roberto. Hemsky ripped one past Lou late in the third to tie it at 2, as the defense failed to cut him off on the wing. Overtime was a blunder of end to end rushes, but nothing came off of them. On to the shootout: Luongo failed to stop the first 2, and neither Edler nor Burrows could put was past Dubnyk.

Tidbits:

 - The starting lineups were the same as last night, but AV played with them a lot. The Sedins saw both Weise and Kassian on their wing, while Burrows played with Ebbett and Raymond in the third.

 - Kassian: Fantastic game. His goal was the result of Sedin wizardry, but he had good positioning all through the game, putting a few shots just wide. He fought Ben Eager in the 3rd, which resulted in Eager going to the dressing room with blood splattered on his sweater.

 - Weise: Played to impress, plenty of energy. Maybe too much. Ended up on his butt a few times (once after missing a hit, and another after failing to deke out Dubnyk on a breakaway), and slammed face first into the boards after just clipping the target on a failed hit. Apparently his enthusiasm was enough to land him on the first line, but only for one shift.

 - Powerplay: Vancouver went 0/5, but had a decent passing game. Still insistent on doing the back pass in the neutral zone. A better defensive team would've ripped that apart.

 - Penalty Kill: 3/4, not too bad. Let the Oilers pass around the edges, but were able to cut it off before the shot.

 - Defense: Better, but not good enough. Both Edmonton goals came off defensive lapses, where the puck carrier was allowed to pull it down the wing and get a shot off. Ballard and Tanev were much better, but still a little sketchy.

 - Shootouts: I'm no expert, but both Edler and Burrows came in much too slow and game Dubnyk way too much time to react. Luongo at least remained upright, but still left too many gaps.

Next game is on the Wednesday the 23rd at home against the Flames. Easy game to start Schneider, as the Flames are at the bottom of their 'rebuilding' phase. But more on that when it comes around.

Game Preview: Canucks vs Oilers

After a terrible performance last night against the Ducks, the Canucks play again tonight against the Oilers. Lineups haven't been released yet, but i'm guessing there won't be many, if any, changes. I'm also going to go ahead and assume Schneider gets the start tonight.

Edmonton finished just slightly lower than Anaheim last year, 14th overall in the West. The season series went to Vancouver 5-1, and the Canucks outscored the Oilers 22-13. I desperately want to say Vancouver will win, but here's the snag. Edmonton is mainly composed of young (Oilers first line has an average age of 20), talented players, the majority of whom have been playing in the AHL over the lockout. This is trouble because they've had time to develop more chemistry with each other, and are in game shape already. This, combined with the fact that the Canucks just played last night, means we're in for a tough one.

Players to watch tonight: Nail Yakapov and Justin Schultz. Yakapov and Schultz are both playing their first NHL games tonight, and are reinforcements to an already up and coming elite squad. There has been talk of Schultz starting on the first defensive pairing, and I don't doubt it. Yakapov will most likely start on the 2nd line.

Vancouver's success tonight will mostly balance on the defense communicating with each other, and their ability to shut down Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the fourth line of Volpatti-Malhotra-Weise is the best option for suppressing Edmonton's first, due to their great performance last night against Anaheim. Weise showed speed and skill, as well as an ability to hit. Malhotra also has great defensive sense, a must for playing these guys.

My guess is that Vancouver plays better tonight, because they know what Edmonton's top 2 lines can do.

Game in Review: Anaheim 7, Vancouver 3.

I looked at my notes after the game, and almost laughed at the number of times I scribbled '...what?!' on the side. But really, what went wrong? Almost everything. But keep in mind Vancouver usually takes a few games to get fired up at the beginning of the season. I imagine it'll take a little longer this year, due to a very short training camp and that 2 key players are missing. But it's only game one, so don't flip out yet. YET.


Anaheim opened the scoring before the 10 minute mark of the first, and pretty much didn't stop. Vancouver tied it up at 9:53 on a beautiful shot by Hamhuis from the point, with Lappiere screening. The passing leading up to it was pretty solid too. A couple of minutes later, Daniel Sedin buried a rebound on the powerplay that came off of an Edler point shot, giving the Canucks the lead. Souray tied it up for Anaheim on the powerplay (maybe a bogus call, but too-little-too-late). Both teams went into the 1st intermission with about equal shots, equal chances and equal score. I don't think the second period could of gone worse. 3 straight goals by Anaheim, including 2 goals in 11 seconds, in the forced Schneider out. Luongo only faced a few shots in the second period, and let in one. You can't blame it all on the goalies, it felt like both the defense and offense just watched the puck go past them. Given the bountiful amount of icing calls on Vancouver's part, i'd say they were exhausted by the 10 minute mark. The 2nd period ended 6-2 Ducks. Edler made everyone a little happier when he pounded in a shot from the point on the powerplay. But less that a minute later Anaheim pushed another one past Luongo, and that's how the game ended. 7-3 Anaheim.

The stats were pretty even. Vancouver had the lead in shots (29-26), while Anaheim led in hits (21-10) and face-off wins (38-37). The Ducks went 3/3 on the PP, and the Canucks finished at 2/4.

Tidbits:

 - Weise actually looked good. Pulled a spin move in the 1st to create a good opportunity, had some good hits and was quick on the backcheck.
 - Ballard and Tanev were horrible as a pairing.
 - Hansen and the twins seem to be a good match on the 1st powerplay unit.
 - Powerplay mainly consisted of shots from the point, pinching by defense. Seemed to work.
    - Actually, almost all the Canucks scoring chances came from the point. All 3 goals came off of the point shot in one way or another.
 - Sedins/Burrows line was surprisingly quiet during 5 on 5, seemed like their ice time was cut down quite a bit too.

So will Schneider start tomorrow against Edmonton? Probably. Luongo ended up playing most of the game, and Schneider needs to learn to to bounce back from tough loses if he wants to play as number 1.

Stirring the Pot: Goaltending Duo

With rumors still swirling, I figured I may as well add to the speculation of what will happen to poor Roberto.

Situation 1: Roberto is traded to _____ ASAP. Schneider takes the starter roll, presumably backed by the currently injured Eddie Lack.

 - With this, the Canucks gain a substantial amount of cap space. The trade has the option to bring in a temporary relief for Kesler, a decent bottom 6 forward, a high draft pick, or any combination of those.

But this brings a number of problems to the table, the biggest being that Schneider has never played a full season. 

 - If Schneider is pushed into that roll, he could crack under the pressure and become as useless as Rick DiPietro. The second problem is that Eddie Lack, who would take up the backup position when he recovered from his groin injury, has never played an NHL game. Simply: trading Luongo forces 2 goalies who are good at their level into unfamiliar territory, and could be a disaster.

 - At the same time, a good veteran backup for Schneider could be obtained through that trade, but the market for veteran backups has gotten smaller in recent years.

 Situation 2: Roberto is kept until the season ends, Schneider splits the games with Roberto.

 - My money goes on this scenario. It gives the Canucks 2 expert goaltenders, a massive advantage going into a compressed, travel-heavy schedule. I can't think of another team off of the top of my head that has 2 top tier goalies.

 - One of the biggest problems with this is that Luongo's trade value decreases with every year, and getting something of value for him in a trade is only going to be harder. 

Situation 3: Luongo stays, Schneider is traded.

 - Riots, AV and Gillis chased out of town by fans with torches and pitchforks. 

Game Preview: Canucks vs Ducks, January 19th 2013

So, the season kicks off tonight. I'd apologize for this post being late, but seeing as the blog was only created today, and that the only page view is my own, I won't.

Anyways. Back on track. The Canucks season starts off tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. Anaheim finished dead last in their division last year, and a full 15 points out of a playoff spot. Normally, this would waive any sense of threat that I, and many others, would feel...

... BUT...

2 factors:
 -  The Canucks are short Ryan Kesler and David Booth, the staples of the 2nd line
 -  Anaheim and Vancouver split the season series at 2 a piece last year, and have frequently been a pain in the butt.

Truthfully, this game could be a blowout or a shootout win for either side.

Moving on, here's the expected lineup for tonight:
 Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
 Raymond-Ebbett-Kassian
 Higgins-Lappiere-Hansen
 Weise-Malhotra-Volpatti

On that note, I don't expect the 2nd line to get as much ice time. Granted, if Raymond plays like he did a few years back, and Kassian has truly upped his game, I could be absolutely wrong. Either way, I think that we'll see the 3rd line get a lot more ice time.

Now, onto Dale Weise. Coming off of an impressive run in the Netherlands (oxymoron?) where he obtained 40+ point in less than 20 games. Looking back, he does have some talent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQSVrna3tKE), but will his stint in De Dutch lead to a Weise that is constantly trying to force an up ice rush, even when nothings there?

Just some thoughts from a fan.