Wacky NHL rules hand Canucks loss.

Jason LaBarbera really got a taste of what it means to be the Canucks main backup when Luongo is out of the lineup, playing his second game between the pipes in as many nights. Despite not being able to get back to back wins, Burnaby J was able to at least salvage a point for the Blue & Green, in a game where the Sedin line was the only one firing on any cylinders. After a 3-3 draw through three periods and an overtime, it was a shootout loss for the Canucks on the road, that created their first loss to Atlanta in their last four trips (remember the last time they played?). 

Before we get into the game, just keep in mind that Atlanta are perfect in shootouts this season, so that was far and away a place the Canucks wanted to avoid. Remember the last time the Thrashers won a shootout? It seems every time the 'Nucks and Atlanta meet, there is some Buffalo connection. This game was all quiet until the 9 minute mark in the first period, when the 'Nucks were on the two man advantage. The two man advantage! A puck that got cleared outside the zone was chased down by Joey "Crabby Patty" Crabb, who laid out his best slapper from just inside the blue line, and he just blasted the puck past Barbie stick side. Luckily, the power play doesn't go away when you get embarrassed by the short handed squad. Once it was back down to 5 on 4, Grimsby, ON native Kevin Bieksa sent a massive slapper of his own toward net. The puck hit a somewhat shocked Daniel "Deuce Deuce" Sedin in front of the crease and bounced right over to Hank, who stuffed it for his sixth of the year. LaBarbera had to have been happy with his opening frame performance, giving the Canucks a fighting chance. It would get better 7:14 into the middle frame. Alex Edler received the rubber at the blue line and sent a slap/pass around the boards, helping the puck to eventually find its way to the tape of Daniel right behind the net. You know what they say when the Sedin twins are cycling! Yee haw! Daniel fed a really easy pass from behind the net to a barely checked H-Bomb, and Henrik gave the Orca the lead while getting two thirds of the way to stealing some fan's hats. Beware of imitators, however. Just 5:10 later, the Thrashers did their best impression of the super-cycling twins. Jason Williams fed the puck from behind the twine to Tver (Trevor?), Russia naitve Ilya Kovalchuk, who nailed home to game tying goal. You'd think LaBarbera would have been wise to the trick the Twins use all the time, but he's tired, so give him a break. Still, tied at 2 after 2 isn't a bad place to be for the boys from BC. The Thrashers would get a goal on the power play 3:46 into the final period on a garbage traffic goal that Kozlov was able to bang home on the rebound. But, remember, I said that the Twins were on fire in this game. At 11:16, Henrik slung a wrister toward the net from the boards in a weak attempt to get his hattie. The puck came at Deuce Deuce, who tried to get out of the way, but the rubber deflected off of his boot and in. Sorry Thrasher fan, there was no kicking motion. 3-3 at the end of regulation. Nice to see that a tired (possibly cramped up Barbie) is equally as solid as a really rested Lehtonen. Suck it Finland. Of course, the way hockey is these days, overtime saw no goals, and the Thrashers "won" the game in four rounds of shootout play to gain the two points. One point is good on the road though, no? Well, I know that the Thrash suck, so I guess not really, but I'll take it. 

I have to speak out against the three stars in this one, but first I want to point out a really critical mistake that the 'Nucks keep making this season. At 14:09, Van-ca-tesh got called for yet another too many men on the ice penalty. Is it just me, or do these calls get thrown down on us like every other game? There is no excuse for this penalty, especially when there is 6 minutes left in a 3-3 game. Are you kidding me? I don't know if the players need to get yelled at, if Coachie V needs to get yelled at, or if the rules need to be changed so we don't get so many penalties, but something needs to happen quickly. Now, the Southern media clearly has problems: see their history books for an example, where it says that the South won the Civil War and decided to simply stop slavery. That same group of hicks picked the three stars as follows 1) Kovalchuk, 2) Hank Sedin, and 3) Erik Christensen. Okay, clearly Hank had a better game that Ilya, so how dumb can they be? Now, because you can't take it anymore, here are the LSF Underrated 3 Stars: 1) H-Bomb Sedin (2 goals, 1 assist), 2) Po Po Demitra (2 assists and a 50% faceoff percentage for a non center), and 3) Shane "SOB" O'Brien (the most underrated stud of the game, with a +2 rating and 0 penalty minutes for the NHL's most penalized player over 21:08 time on ice). 

So, the draw with the Thrashers puts Vancouver at 21-15-4 (46 points), continuing to trail the Flamers by 2 points. As your eyes continue to drift down the table, you see Colorado (39), Minnie (38), and Edmonton (37). I want to point out where the Canucks leaders stand among Western Conference leaders next. Daniel Sedin leads the team with 19 goals (good enough for #2 in the West, trailing only Loui Eriksson's 20). Henrik Sedin leads the team with 30 assists (good enough for #2 in the West, trailing only Joe Thorton's 35 helpers). Mattie Ohlund has a +/- rating of 13 (good enough for only #16 in the West, trailing a bunch of fools including Joe Thorton with +18 numbers). I'm actually surprised that we have the #2 goal scorer and #2 helper guy around the land. Pretty fresh. 

I just want to make a quick comment about NHL On the Fly. One of the post game comments they made was, "The Canucks can't just keep relying on the Sedins to win games. I bet they just can't wait for Mats Sundin to join the team, because Daniel and Henrik can't be the only ones that put the puck in the net for this team." Really? Did you guys only watch this game? Here is the list of goal scorers in order for the 'Nucks here in '08/'09: Daniel, Kyle "Cult Classic" Wellwood, Po Po, Kesler, Mason Raymond, AB, and then Henrik Sedin. Read the stats NHL Network, not just the most recent box score. 

After taking a Saturday off around BC, the Canucks will square off against the Dallas Stars in a Sunday evening matchup. Dallas has been playing a "sloppy" season (whoa!), sitting at 16-5-5 (37 points), and just one point above the bottom feeders of the Pacific, the Queens (ouch! Take that Jon!). Dallas will be coming into Vancouver for the second game of a back to back after their match against the Oilers tonight, so advantage squarely falls into the hands of the Orca. 

If the Preds can beat Calgary tonight, Sunday's game will be a match that could catapult my boys back into the top spot of the Northwest. So, let's go Nash! 

Good luck to the Slugs and the Laffs tonight.