Game in Review: Canucks 2 - Wild 1

In what has become a bit of a tradition, Vancouver didn't register a shot until past 5 minutes in to the first period. Part of that was due to a Garrison penalty just over a minute in to the first, but the Canucks have struggled getting into the offensive zone, period. A few minutes past the 10 minute mark of the first, Vancouver drew first blood. Hamhuis fed Kassian just outside the blue line, and Kassian streaked in and fed a perfect pass from the face off circle to Bieksa, who was flying down the centre lane, and tapped it in. This was a powerplay goal, but it was generated off the rush and had more to do with speed than a man advantage.

Vancouver's penalty kill played a few times in the first, and Minnesota figured out how to crack it. They figured out that if they tempt the defenders with a puck in the corner, it opens up a man in front. Luckily, Luongo stood tall and saved his teams' butt. With about 5 minutes left in the period, the Lappiere line held the puck in for a solid minute, and even pulled off a change mid cycle. Then with about 3 minutes left, Burrows split the defense at centre ice and pulled off on a breakaway. Thanks to a wobbling puck, he was unable to put the puck over Darcy Kuemper's pad.

Vancouver's defensive ability showed off early in the second, as the Canucks held Minnesota to 0 shots in the period until past the 10 minute mark. At about that time, the Schroeder line looked like the Sedins re-incarnated. After Schroeder and Raymond dug the puck out of the corner, Raymond toe dragged around the defender and pulled the puck to the point, then passed cross ice to Ballard. Ballard made a perfect cross ice pass to Hansen, who was wide open in front and roofed it to make it 2-0. A little later, Falk hit Daniel Sedin  from behind into the boards, which led to Lappiere, Tanev, and Kassian giving him a good ol' fashioned face washing and a Lappiere penalty.

On this penalty, the Wild capitalized on their new knowledge of the Canucks PK weakness. Cullen pulled the puck out of the corner and fed a wide open Setoguchi in front of the net, who pulled it wide and shot it past Luongo to cut the Canucks lead in half. As the game got tougher and nastier, Kassian played a few shifts with the Sedins to straighten out the likes of Clutterbuck. Feeling left out of the toughness game, Raymond decided to flatten an unknown Wild player in the neutral zone, then run the goalie moments later in an attempt to knock the puck in. Bravo, Raymond.

A couple of quick, back to back, chances by both teams marked the beginning of the 3rd. Couple of heavy hits on both sides, and a few scary moments. The Wild all but dominated 15 minutes of play after the first minute, as the Canucks seemed to be comfy with their one goal lead. With a little over a minute left in the third, Minnesota pulled their goalie, and forced Luongo to stand on his head. Fortunately, he played like he has all year and the Canucks pulled off the win.


Tidbits:

 - Henrik Sedin doesn't register a point, is still one point behind Naslund for the all time lead in points.
 - Ebbett replaced Malhotra in this game, who wasn't available due to 'personal reasons'
   - Malhotra hasn't been skating with the team, and has been mostly working out off ice
 - Josh Harding, who was supposed to play this game, was replaced by Darcy Kuemper. Harding has MS, and had a negative reaction to some new medicine he took.
 - PK: Good in terms of stats, but the Wild had them figured out. On the other hand, plenty of short handed chances by Vancouver.
 - Powerplay: Cannot. Get. The. Puck. In. The. Zone. Had some success on the rush and off faceoff's, but no luck otherwise
 - Sometime you've gotta admire the sense of humor these guys have. At one point, a Konopka stole Burrows glove as he went onto the bench, then tossed it back on to the ice just to see Burrows fish for it with his stick from the bench. Pure gold.
 -  Luongo's shutout streak against Minnesota snapped at 228 minutes.

Next game is Friday against the Stars at 7.

Luongo doesn't suck against Minnesota

So Luongo will get the start tomorrow against Minnesota. Cue the 'Luongo sucks against Minnesota' posts. NO. In his career, Luongo has played 29 games against Minnesota. Believe it or not, he actually has a winning record against them. I present to you: What I did with my Monday afternoon. Enjoy.

So here's Luongo's career against Minnesota with the Canucks, viewed overall. If you've never run across a chart like this, here's a handy little guide: GP = Games Played, Record is broken down into Wins-Losses-OT/SO Losses, GA is Goals Against and GAA is Goals Against Average.

Career against Minnesota, Overall:

	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
Career:	29	15-10-4	.887	79	2.72
Home:	18	12-3-3	.934	36	2
Away:	11	3-7-1	.840	40	3.64

Right away, you should notice his record at home is much better than his record in Minnesota. But his away record doesn't matter, because he's going to be playing at home, where he plays much better.

Career against Minnesota, Broken Down by Year:

Season	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
2011/12	2	2-0-0	1.00	0	0
2010/11	3	2-1-0	.873	8	2.67
2009/10	5	3-2-0	.868	18	3.60
2008/09	4	3-0-1	.930	7	1.75
2007/08	7	2-4-1	.885	20	2.86
2006/07	8	3-3-2	.898	26	3.25

Basically the same thing, just broken down by year. He's played much better in recent years, but he's also played way less games.

Career against Minnesota, Home Games only

Season	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
2011/12	2	2-0-0	1.00	0	0
2010/11	2	2-0-0	.972	2	1
2009/10	3	3-0-0	.920	6	2
2008/09	3	2-0-1	.916	6	2
2007/08	4	1-2-1	.885	10	2.50
2006/07	4	2-1-1	.909	12	3

Just to prove my point, he currently has an 8 game win streak going against the Wild at Rogers Arena, as well as a 2 game shutout streak at home. On top of that, over the last 3 seasons Luongo has only let in an average of 1 goal per game. This, not even counting his play this season, is enough to justify his starting tomorrow night. 

Career against Minnesota, Away Games only

Season	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
2011/12	0	0-0-0	0	0	0
2010/11	1	0-1-0	.677	6	6
2009/10	2	0-2-0	.791	11	3.60
2008/09	1	1-0-0	.971	1	1
2007/08	3	1-2-0	.885	8	2.67
2006/07	4	1-2-1	.887	14	3.50

Now this, this is where the crap hits the fan. This is the blemish on his record. This is what the media and fans point to when arguing against his start. Last year, he didn't play a single game in Minnesota. The year before that, only one, and he let in six goals. Before that, only 2 starts which led to 6-2 and 5-2 losses. For whatever reason, he just can't keep his cool in Minnesota. But this isn't something recent, Luongo's Minnesota Curse goes back to his first days as a Canucks, so you can't point to these stats and say he's going under. Even when he was at his best, he just couldn't keep it together in the Excel Energy Center. But all of that is invalid, throw it out the window, because it doesn't matter. What matters is his home record, which is where he'll be playing tomorrow night.

Stirring the Pot: The Fate of Jordan Schroeder

Both Ryan Kesler and David Booth skated in the Canucks full practice today. Booth is expected to take a few more weeks, Kesler is 'very close' to being back on the ice. Of course, Booth and Kesler will take priority over Jordan Schroeder. But what happens to the kid? He's played 9 games in the NHL, has 2 goals, 2 assists and is +4. Schroeder has shown solid play in both ends, with the power to drive the net and keep players away from his own despite his small size. On the other hand, you have Ryan Kesler. One of the best 2 way forwards in the league, 40 goal scorer, and not afraid to get physical. Vancouver's roster is too full, someone has to go. Here's a few combinations that came to mind.

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Booth-Kesler-Kassian

Higgins-Schroeder-Hansen

Volpatti-Lappiere-Weise

This is my favourite, hands down. Here you get the tried and true Sedins and Burrows, and the 2nd line of Booth, Kesler and Kassian provides  a beautiful scoring trio but also has enough toughness to deter tougher teams like Boston. In a pinch, Kassian and Burrows can be flipped to give the Sedins a little help from dirty buggers like Brad Marchand. Schroeder has done well with Hansen so far, and will need a little extra protection from a guy like Higgins. Not to say Higgins is extra tough or anything, but he's no push over. Lappiere gets to return to what he does best, agitating people with a crew of fighters. The 2 people cut here are Malhotra and Raymond. Malhotra is getting old, and only plays a few minutes each game, typically just to win defensive face offs. But Kesler, Lappiere and even Schroeder are more than capable of doing those. Raymond just hasn't been the same player since he was injured a few years back, but he is showing improvement. In the end, though, he just doesn't compare to guys like Booth, Higgins or Burrows.

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Raymond-Kesler-Booth

Higgins-Schroeder-Kassian

Weise-Lappiere-Hansen

Once again we have Burrows with the Sedins, but Raymond is playing with Kesler and Booth on the 2nd line. Given time, Raymond may pan out into the goal scorer he was, but it's a long ways from here to there. Kassian is bumped down to the third, which I don't like at all. He has the potential to play on the 1st or 2nd line every night. Hansen being bumped down to the 4th is my only other bother, because it's fun to watch him burn down the ice like Bure once in a while. Malhotra and Volpatti are missing here. Volpatti would probably just get sent down to the minors, not worth much in a trade.

Yeah, so I pretty much have my mind set on Schroeder's position for the next few years. He'll be stuck there until either Kesler or Henrik Sedin are gone. But he's still young, and it gives him plenty of time to hone his skills between the protection of 2 solid wingers. And let's be honest, Kesler's probably going to keep getting injured like this until he's forced to retire. By that time, Schroeder will be ready to step in and dominate. 

Game in Review: Canucks 5 - Flames 1

As with any game between the Calgary and Vancouver, the tension runs high and the hits and bountiful. By this point, the referees know to ignore most of the petty penalties in a divisional match up like this. A early high stick and trip were both ignored. Just minutes in, Mason Raymond took a puck to the mouth, and left a trail of blood as he left to the dressing room. By the 10 minute mark, the shots were only 3-2 for Calgary, despite an early Vancouver powerplay. The newly re-united line did a great job of hemming in Calgary's first line, and seemed to be getting their cycle game back. With around 3 minutes left in the first, Raymond returned and almost set up Weise for a tip in. Schneider stood tall against multiple chances late in the 1st, but couldn't control a rebound off of a one-timer, and Stempniak buried it with just under 2 minutes left. The Canucks picked up the pace after that, and had a few close calls before the period ended. Raymond fed Hansen near the end of the period, but Hansen missed wide over a sprawling Irving.

Both Schneider and Irving were forced to stand tall early in the 2nd, but Vancouver had the majority of the pressure. The Sedins and Burrows had a few good shifts early on, and finally managed to capitalize after Burrows pushed the puck under Irving's pad to finish off a great shift. 27 seconds later, Jordan Schroeder scored his first NHL goal on the powerplay. Burrows went into the boards and managed to send the puck up to Edler, who fed Schroeder with a nice slap pass, and Schroeder just tipped it in between Irving's legs. With 11 minutes left in the first, it was 2-1 Vancouver. Fast forward to 2 and a half minutes left in the second. Bieksa dumped the puck in, and started a vicious Sedin power cycle. Eventually the puck made its way back to the point, and Bieksa hammered it towards the net. It took a fortunate bounce off of a defenceman and went in. With all of that, Henrik moved to within one point of Markus Naslund for the all-time Canucks scoring lead.

The beginning of the third saw a lot more action than the other 2 had, with plenty of speedy end to end rushes. Just over a minute in, Higgins notched his 2nd of the season. Kassian won the battle of the boards, and fed it up to Bieksa, who shot it towards the net. The shot hit Lappiere, and bounced right to Higgins who snapped it low glove side on Irving to make it 4-1. The Canucks dominated the rest of the period, and Schneider remained solid. Schroeder scored his second of the night late in the 3rd, after tucking in the rebound off of a Mason Raymond shot from the wing. With that, the Canucks move 5 points up on their nearest divisional competition, Minnesota.

Lineups:
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Higgins-Lappiere-Kassian
Raymond-Schroeder-Hansen
Volpatti-Malhotra-Weise

Tidbits:
 - As the game ended, Bieksa took a elbow to the chin and walked down the tunnel to the dressing room as the team celebrated on ice.
 - Powerplay: Saw a few new combinations, went 1/5. Burrows, Henrik Sedin, and Schroeder played the 1st unit backed by Daniel Sedin and Edler. The 2nd unit saw the combination of Raymond, Hansen and Kassian.
 - PK: Didn't get too much ice time, went 2/2. Played solid as usual.
 - The Sedin line seems to be a lot more confident with Burrows. Did a great job of hemming Calgary's 1st line in their own zone, and had a great cycle game. Both Sedins played their best game of the season tonight.
 - Schneider corralling rebounds pretty well, only mess up was off the Stempniak goal.
 - I love how after scoring his first NHL goal, Schroeder just disappears between the Sedins during the goal celebration.
 - Mason Raymond received 8 stitches in his mouth

Next game is Tuesday against the Wild at 7. I'm guessing Schneider gets the start again, after playing as well as he did the last 2 games.

Game in Review: Canucks 4 - Wild 1

     And the goaltending controversy somehow gets bigger. Who plays next? Schneider didn't have to be great in this game, but he played well enough to show he belongs in the #1 spot. More on that a little later. The first started off a little slow, with no shots for either side 3 minutes in,  until a Vancouver powerplay generated a few.

     7 minutes in, the shots were 7-1 Vancouver as the domination began. Weise dropped the gloves with Konopka early on, and it dragged on for a while before the pair exhausted themselves.Just around the 10 minute mark of the first, Burrows cut  to the net and left a juicy rebound for Daniel Sedin, who buried it. Daniel had been covered by  both Parise and Koivu, but neither checked Sedin's stick, which was way out in front of him. 5 minutes later, Higgins made it 2-0 with his first of the season on the powerplay. It came when Lappiere took a pass just above the faceoff circle from Garrison, and fired it at the net. Higgins stuck his stick in front and redirected it 5 hole on Backstrom.

     After a few powerplays, hits, and some end to end action we find ourselves at the end of the 2nd period. Schroeder's line circled Backstrom like sharks, and looked sharp in doing so. After Garrisons shot from the point bounced towards the corner, Schroeder dove and scooped the puck right to Raymond, who sniped it top shelf. Somehow, Schroeder did not get an assist on the goal. A minute and 35 seconds later, Raymond banked the puck off the boards and dropped it right into Hansen's glove, who was past the defense. Hansen dropped it onto his stick and snapped it top corner on Backstrom to make it 4-0.

     Josh Harding replaced Backstrom in goal for the 3rd, after Backstrom had let in 4 goals on 16 shots. Weise and Konopka dropped the gloves again in the 3rd, but Weise was reluctant to go. Konopka dropped his gloves and hung onto Weise until he dropped his too. Konopka got 5 for fighting, 2 for instigating and 10 for 'inciting,' no different than instigating. A little while later, Gilbert made it 4-1 on the powerplay. Gilbert was fed a beautiful pass just above the faceoff circles, and buried it on a nice slapper as he was left all alone. Schneider got over and almost made the stop, but couldn't stop it on such a close shot. After trading a few more penalties, the game ended. 4-1 final.


So onto the goaltender controversy. I'm going to remain neutral, and just state what I see. Luongo has played terrible in Minnesota, losing his last 3 straight. But he's done well against them at home, so it seems like just a coincidence. Luongo deserved to play this game because he had played so well the last few, and was on quite a hot streak. On the other hand, AV has stated that Schneider is his #1, and the starter should start the majority of the games. But back to the other hand, goalies tire out quickly. Why would you exhaust Schneider? Why not play Luongo as much as possible, to save Schneider for the more important games later on in the season?

Tidbits:

 - Minnesota players were actually boo'ed by their fans after the the periods
 - Schroeder demonstrated a few times he's not afraid to cut to the net, or cut off players
on the way to his net.
 - Schneider is still stone handed when it comes to handling the puck. Almost gave the puck away after bobbling it in his feet towards the end of the third.
  - Minnesota actually outhit Vancouver 23-11, and out shot them 23-22.
 - Powerplay: Meh, went 1/6 but had trouble crossing the blue line and frequently coughed up the puck.
 - Penalty Kill: Again, not as great as it has been. Still playing the collapse around the net, but when it fails it leads to an easy open man. Take a look at Gilbert's goal tonight, he was wide open 25 feet from Schneider.

Game in Review: Canucks 3 - Oilers 2 OT

I only watched a bit of this game, so i'll only breakdown what I saw and the goals

Hemsky made it 1-0 for Edmonton late in the 1st, after a lobbed pass from Yakapov bounced just over Garrison's stick, leaving Hemsky to pull the puck into his feet and dump it backhand into the net. Midway through the second, what can only be described as a cluster of mess ups led to Ryan Smyth making it 2-0 while shorthanded. As the puck was pumped into Vancouver's zone, Luongo left his net and played the puck to Edler, who couldn't get his stick on it. The puck went right to Landers, who gave it to Smyth, who only had to shoot it past a sprawling Luongo. Granted, Luongo got a huge piece of the puck, but it still trickled it. 4 minutes later, Hansen saved the day. Schroeder won the battle behind the net against a much bigger Potter,  and dished the puck to Hansen. Hansen spun around his man and snapped it at the net, and Dubnyk couldn't do a thing as the puck rolled off his back and into the net.

Fast forward to the third period, just 2 and a half minutes left. Hansen leaves the puck behind the Oilers net for Raymond, who tries to slide the puck in on his backhand, but the puck squirts right to Hall. Schroeder, seizing life by the balls, smacks Halls stick with his own and the puck slides right to Bieksa. Dubnyk, who was screened by 2 of his own players, didn't see the puck and it flew right past him, tie game. Schroeder deserves a high five for his work on that play. Anyways, off to OT. Didn't watch most of that, apparently Taylor Hall got a penalty shot. The important stuff: Chris Tanev got his first NHL goal, and the Sedins passing game is back. Can we combine that into one little video? CanucksHD already did. After digging the puck out of a scrum, Henrik dishes the puck to Daniel, who serves it to Henrik, and Daniel gets it back on a nifty back pass while Henrik breaks for the net. But no one has been watching Tanev, who streaks into the middle and takes a beautiful pass from Daniel, and then just buries it. Love it.

Tidbits:

 - Schroeder is not afraid to rush into a scrum and dig out the puck. He's like a little bulldog. Best example is on the Hansen goal.
 - Tanev's shot improved quite a bit over the lockout, I witnessed it a few times when the Wolves and Heat played.
 - Henrik has gotten way more aggressive, and seems to like it. After his 4 hit performance against Chicago, the captain purposefully checked an Oilers player from behind and into the boards, earning him a seat in the penalty box.

That's all I've got for ya, next game Thursday against the Wild at 5. Schneider is expected to start.

Game in Review: Canucks 2 - Blackhawks 1 S/O

     To say this game didn't live up to the media hype would be an understatement. No fights, no real big hits, but some nice plays. Wade Rypien, Rick Rypien's brother, dropped the puck for the opening face off and the Canucks jerseys had the Vancouver Millionaires logo on them, for whatever reason. There were 3 or 4 runs at Duncan Keith in the 1st, but he evaded them all. Not much happened until Henrik Sedin received a 2 line pass, made a nifty pass to Kassian who then threaded the needle to Edler who buried it tops shelf on Crawford. Nothing much happened in the 2nd, other than Luongo bailing out the whole team a few times, and Henrik and Daniel teaming up to take down Duncan Keith. Oh, and the Blackhawks hit the post a few times, too.

     Early in the 3rd, Hansen swung around and 'accidentally' hit Bolland in the leg with his stick. Bolland left to the dressing room and didn't return. Toews then later ran Luongo from behind, no call from the refs and no one came to his defense. After the hit on Luongo, the hits did pick up. Weise had a few, but Henrik had 4. Henrik. Midway in the 3rd, Luongo was on his stomach and Kane buried a beautiful pass to tie it up. After that, the Canucks had 3 powerplays, including a 40 second 4 on 3, but nothing happened off of them. Schroeder came so close to getting his first NHL goal, but was hauled down before he could bury a pass from Mason Raymond on a 2 on 1. The Blackhawks dominated the next few minutes, and Luongo made a few goal line stands.

     Despite all the chances, the game went to OT. There, Luongo made more brilliant saves and the offense generated nothing, and the team survived a penalty kill in the final minute and a bit. And off to a shootout we went. Burrows, Toews, Kassian, Kane, Lappiere and Sharp were all stopped. Schroeder, in his first NHL shootout, snapped a shot 5 hole that just trickled through Crawford's pads. Luongo stopped the final shot, and that was that.

Tidbits:

 - The defence was much better tonight, seemed harder to split.
 - Raymond made a few drives at the net, and picked up his physical play
 - Powerplay: Passing was better, but still generated nothing. Burrows played with the Sedins on the first unit later in the game.
 - Penalty Kill: Stellar. Content to let the puck roll around the edges, and block the shots. Went 5/5.
 - Keith had plenty of runs taken at him, and was hit more than a few times. Was also boo'ed every time he touched the puck.
 - Garrison likes jumping up on the play, almost tipped in the puck on the rush.
 - Kassian showed his passing game off this game, and had a blind back pass to Daniel Sedin late in the 2nd.
- Schroeder a very solid player, knows how to play defensive hockey, and has a great passing game.


So who starts next game? Generally if a goalie is playing well, you play him. The fact that he went 4/4 against the most potent shootout combination in the league is a testament to how on fire he is. But Schneider needs to play, especially if he is the heir to the cursed Vancouver crease. Regardless, both goalies have been really good sports about the situation.

Next game is Monday at 6:30 against the Oilers.