Lu gets in, 'Nucks get smashed.

When I lost 0-8 to Montreal in NHL 2K10, Karen said, "Sometimes you get blown out. No biggie." I guess that's my message to Orca Nation today, after the Vannies got stoned by St. Louis (who definitely had a grudge) 1-6. Luongo was the backup goalie due to flu like symptoms, but had to make an appearance after Everyday Ray Ray allowed 4 goals on 9 shots (I recored NHL On The Fly just to see this???), and couldn't stop the blue bleeding. We've got some positive and negatives to look at after this disappointing road loss.

1) Roberto is back! I know, I know, he allowed 2 goals on 17 shots (.882 SV%) in his limited return, but he wasn't expecting to be back, and he was getting into a groove before his injury. With him back on the ice, most likely starting on Thursday against the Wings, we are a much better team. I'm glad to have him back.

2) Hank Sedin. It may have been a meaningless goal, when you're down 0-5 in the third, but H-Bomb scored the Canucks first goal of the game just 1:02 into the third period, giving us dreams of a stellar comeback, on an assist from Ryan Kesler. It was Henrik's ninth of the year, team leading, and it at least helped us avoid the goose egg. Hank is ranked 7th in the West in goals, 6th in points.

3) Ryan Kelser was a saving grace. He was one of only two players with a positive +/- rating (joining Ma$on Raymond) and earned the lone assist in the game. He threw two shots in goal, and despite only winning 58% of his face offs, he had a nice game.

When you lose 1-6, you are bound to have some negatives:

1) Where's the defense? Honestly, two of the four goals allowed by Raycroft weren't his fault. The blame should be placed on the defensive players who were just standing there while the Blues made their move in on net. How about these +/- ratings for our defense: Alex Edler (-2), Willie Mitchell (-1), and Sami Salo (-3). You aren't going to win games with those kind of numbers (and let's not allow Steve "Karen's Fav" Bernier's -3 or Alex "Tommy's Fav" Burrows' -3 go unnoticed).

2) Shots on goal in the third. The Vannies put 11 and 10 on goal in the first two periods, but then when they were down 0-5 in the third, with their mighty captain back on the ice, they only shot twice. 2 shots in the entire third period! Are you kidding me? I mean, they did have a 50% shot percentage, but still, give me a break. How are you going to make your fans feel like you never give up if you only shoot twice in the third period while trailing?

3) Penalties. Now, I've been harping on the Canucks for their stupid penalties all season. They have been the least disciplined Vannie team to come around in recent memory, and it isn't all just Shane O'Brien. Keep in mind there was a ton of fighting in tonight's game, but still, the Canucks got called for 68 penalty minutes in the game on 16 calls (STL got called for 44 minutes in the sin bin). On a grip of the fights, we got called for instigators (Bieksa and Hordichuk), sloppy slashes, and just all around bad play. Over-penalized is the theme of the year thus far.

4) Mikael Samuelsson was dead silent. It has seemed that with Mikey doesn't get involved, the Canucks don't win. He has 14 points in 18 games this season (8-6-14), and has been a big part of our offense, with a grip of veteran Vancouverites on the IR. We need him to maintain his consistency, and try and get around 82 points on the season. Hopefully playing against Detroit will get him pumped.

So, at 10-9-0 (20 points) the Canucks aren't having too hot of a time here. With Colorado (26) leading the division, Calgary (23) is also up on us, with Edmonton (18) giving chase, and even Minnie (14) picking it up a little. The point total puts us at 9th in the West, almost a quarter of the way through the season. Game #20 comes tomorrow evening against the Detroit Red Wings (7-5-3, 17 points). Somehow, the Red Wings have been off to a mediocre start here in 2009/2010, and hopefully the Canucks can take advantage of them. Last time around (10/27) my boys lost 4-5, but will look to turn around our recent rough patch (2 straight losses) live in Detroit. Fingers crossed that we beat these commie bastards!!