The Canucks road tip from hell seemed to start off well, but all of the sudden things have taken a turn, and with the Olympic break getting closer we need to do some examining.
Of course, when I say that the road trip started off well, I'm talking about the thrilling comeback win against Toronto back on January 30th that started it all. To see how I felt about that game, click here. The backslide started right after that comeback win, as we continued our travels through Eastern Canada. It started with a close 2-3 loss to Montreal. Jaroslav Halak was insane in goal for the Habs, stopping 45 Vancouver shots. Despite putting the rubber on goal 47 times and going 2 for 5 on the man advantage, the Canucks couldn't get the job done against this Original Six squad.
That game wouldn't have hurt so much, if it wasn't for the 1-3 loss to Ottawa two nights later. Rayzor may have been in goal to spell Luongo for a night, but we still expected so much more. For the Sens, they increased their win streak to 11 games. For the Canucks, they dropped a game where it took them 58:21 to score their first goal, a Wellwood power play netter. Allowing two goals in the first period to the Sens, though, really sealed the deal early on. Again, we won the shot battle with 30, and Ray Ray played pretty well (2 goals allowed on 20 shots), but it just wasn't enough. When you don't score until there is less than two minutes in the game, you probably aren't going to win.
My Vannies may have stopped the bleeding in their next game, a 3-2 shootout win against ailing Boston, but even that was a less than exciting effort. For the Bruins, it was their 10th straight loss. For the Canucks, it was Pavol Demitra making good on being out all season with the game tying goal and the shootout winner. Bobby Lu was the other big story in the match, acting like a brick wall on 41 shots. Despite Mason Raymond's 21st of the year, and the huge clutchness of Po Po D, the Canucks still had holes with their 0 for 5 mark on the power play, and most of Orca Nation knew that this win wasn't a sign of things turning back around all the way.
This brings us to February 9, when the Canucks got beat up by Mattias Ohlund and the Lightning. With the game tied at one heading into the third period (Ryan Kesler got his 15th), Martin St. Louis destroyed the Vannies and changed the game with a shortie and a game finisher (at 2:52 and 15:40 in the third) to knock the Canucks out. Another huge bad guy goalie performance, this time from Nittymaki (39 saves on 40 shots), kept the Canucks from getting into this one. Luongo only stopped 16 of the 19 shots that came at him, and we skated off the ice with a tough to take 1-3 loss to TB. Hope Ohulnd is happy.
Now, after allowing giving up the opening goal in 7 straight games and started to make fans slightly nervous heading toward the Olympic break, the Canucks get a chance to turn things around against a dead awful team from Florida. The recent rough road has managed to drop the Vannies to 35-21-2 (72 points), now 2 back of first place Colorado and now #6 in the Western Conference (+3 of Nashville and +5 of Calgary). Meanwhile, tonight's opponents from the FLA, are 24-26-9 (57 points) and ranked 12th in the East. They are 3-6-1 over their last 10 and sit 24th in goals scored per game (we're ranked #3). Keep an eye open on the third line in this game (Glass-Wellwood-Bernier) as an underrated line on the ice, and watch for Sami Salo tro try and be a difference maker with Bieksa and Mitchell still on the mend (Luko and Rome continue to bring up the rear as the 5 and 6). A glimmer of hope: The Canucks have been giving up a grip of game opening goals during this patch, but the Panthers have the worst record in the NHL when scoring first. Wow, we have to make this one work.
Interesting that none of the previews of this game from the real media seem to remember this.
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