With 7 losses over the last 8 games, and 6 straight Ls at home, I'm starting to feel like a Clippers fan. My big question is: Is Roberto Luongo really at 100%? I guess we'll be able to tell with how things go when he has the league's best helping him in the third period of the All-Star game on Sunday. The latest awful outing in British Columbia was a 5-6 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets in the Vancouver Canucks 3,000th NHL game. 7th Canucks around the province (and the country for that matter) are starting to get restless.
Coach V was sure to debunk the Luongo playing through injuries rumors after the games, "Obviously, we know Roberto can play better. He's a key ingredient to the success of our team." Lu didn't leave the media boys with a quote after this one, as he starts to pull himself away from the spotlight. It started well enough, just 6:43 into the game. Deuce Deuce threw a pass behind the net to H-Bomb, as usual, but Hank fed a no look backward through the legs pass to Thunder Bay, ON native Taylor Pyatt right in front of the net. Score. Less than 4 minutes later, however, Manny Malhotra tied things up. Just a tad later, Ryan Kesler decided to pick up the energy for the boys by fighting R.J. ("Really Jewish?") Umberger. Um, Kes won. After starting the second period all knotted up, the Canucks knew they had to do something. Who knew it would be the second goal of the elder statesman Mats Sundin that would start us back off. Mr. Torontonia got a pass from Pavol Demitra (who may have incurred a groin injury in the match... what is going on here?) and skated in slowly before nailing a perfect backhand passed Mason. It was pretty, and well worth the millions and millions of dollar (Canadian). The line I've dubbed "Three Cool Dudes" (it will catch on, just wait) made noise almost 10 minutes later when AB fed Kesler, who fed Stevie Bernier for the two goal lead. Wait, things are really clicking here. Four straight goals for Columbus would take the win out of my sails, however, including two goals scored where Lu wasn't even near the net. He was playing way out of the crease, and overreacting to shots like wow. Down 3-5 with a lot of the third period to play, Coachie V took a timeout to scream something motivational. It worked. Hank scored a power play goal at 4:37 and Kevin Bieksa blasted a slap shot from the blue line that was saved by Mason but bounced off a Jacket defenders face and then into the net. It was the funniest goal of the year. Of course, we all know that once the Canucks get through three periods of tied hockey, it doesn't usually end well. After a scoreless OT (which included a penalty kill after a X-Man hook) the Canucks got stonewalled in the shootout to officially drop the game 5-6.
It was another tough loss for Van-ca-tesh, but thanks to the Canadian media picking the stars, we were well represented. The stars were 1) Hank, 2) Rick Nash (the older version of Crosby is starting to annoy me again), and 3) Pyatt. Time for the LSF "Underrated 3 Stars of the Night": 1) Kevin "Wolverine" Bieksa (honestly, a goal and an assist for a D-man deserves first star status), 2) Mats Sundin (any time he scores, he has to make the list), and 3) Port McNeill, BC native Willie Mitchell (another +2 night for the consistently positive assistant captain).
The seemingly never ending stream of losses has my Orca at 22-19-6 (50 points) and in serious danger of dropping to .500 or letting Edmonton pass them up. The Blue & Green are -8 of Calgary, only +1 of the Oil, and +3 over Mickey's girlfriend and the former (and possibly still current) Versus love affair. The game that makes Karen and I arch rivals is on deck, with the Canucks making their second visit down to California's original capitol. The thrilling Sharks are 33-6-5, which I almost can't believe, and have a +51 goal differential which compares well to the Canucks' +1. I'm not too excited about this one, but I'm hoping with all the recent losing, we just might be due to rip one off. Keep in mind that with their last loss, Vancouver broke the all time record for longest consecutive home losing streak. Wake up Lu!
A quick hardball note, the Angels have 16 players heading to the World Baseball Classic. Notable studs include Jose Arredondo (Dominican), Brian Fuentes (USA), Vlad (Dominican), Ma$e (Venezuelan), Lackey (USA, but maybe not really), Napoli (Italy, but wait, are you really Italian?), Kasey Olenberger (Italy), Juan Rivera (Venezuelan), Erv (Dominican), Shields (USA), Hainley Statis (Netherlands), and Rich Thompson (back for the Aussies). I'm stoked that MLB Network will be hooking this bad boy up like never before.
This one made me laugh out loud.
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