My inability to keep my two post per day blogging habit going, because of covering for another therapist at a different clinic, has been well documented. Working two jobs in the amount of time you should be doing one really cuts into the blogging. However, I'm going to spend every free second I have today to try and pump out a post on last night's Canucks game to give Ryan Kesler his due respect for his first career hat trick.
"It just felt good to get it off my back. I was sniffing for a while to get that third one, not only this year, but last year." Those are the post-game comments of everyone's favorite Livonia, MI native after he single handedly beat the Blue Jackets with his first three goal game. A first period goal assisted by Edler, a second period goal assisted by Samuelsson, an an OT goal assisted by the Twins 1:30 into the extra session did the trick, bringing Kes' goal total to 15 on the season. And people were concerned about his production. Come on! With about 20 ticks left in the opening period, Kes buried a 20 foot wrister after a great drop pass from our hottie blueliner, AE. In the second, a puck bounced over Klesla's stick in the Jacks zone, and Kesler was off for a breakaway. He said later, "The second one was kind of luck. It did seem like the puck was magnetized to my stick." Shhh! Why are you giving away our puck-stick-magnet secret? How do you think we've gone 7-1-1 over the last 9? Science!
The OT goal helped to bury the thoughts of a third period meltdown, where we let the Jackets get the best of us for the game tying goal on the power play with 7:34 gone. Andrew Alberts would have been the goat for his interference call if not for the OT heroics. Of course, Columbus' Hejda IS the goat after taking the boarding call in OT that helped the 'Nucks get the advantage they needed. The "real" media picked Kesler (the aforementioned hattie), Fedor Tyutin (one assist?), and Alex Edler (one assist, +2) for the three stars. Must have had a Russian judge with an agenda to get Tyutin on there. The "LSF Top Star Who Didn't Score A Point" is Keith Ballard. I don't think the Baudette, MN native has ever earned the honor (or deserved it), but after logging 18:59 TOI with a +2 mark, it's clear he was keeping the blue line safe last night.
Can you believe we're 17-8-4? Awesome stuff, really. In the division, we're tied in points with 17-10-4 Colorado, 8 up on Minnie, 9 up on Calgary, and 11 up on the Oil. I wonder how long Colorado can hang with us? In the Conference, we're in the middle of a traffic jam:
1. Red Wings (43)
2. Canucks (38)
3. Stars (38)
4. Nashville (38)
5. Colorado (38)
6. Anaheim (38)
Talk about being all mashed together. Our goal differential is still at +18, as we're the 10th ranked offesne and the 5th ranked defense. However, all of this comes with the 5th easiest schedule in the NHL, so take that for what it's worth. Also, despite the fact that we're celebrating our hot streak, let's keep in mind that our special teams numbers are falling back to earth (PP is now just +7% on league average, PK just +2.5% up). We'll need to keep an eye on that.
When you favorite team is on a hot streak, I think it's only natural to what to know if they'll be able to keep it up. Not just this month, or this season, but beyond this season. So, I thought it'd be cool to give value to three groups of Canucks players based on age, as a way of separating out where our production comes from in terms of youth vs experience. I know, I know, I'm making up more fake stats. Then, for fun, we'll compare with our dead even rivals from Colorado to see how we match up age bracket for age bracket with those pesky Avs.
So, we'll separate the Canucks into three groups: 30+, 27-30, and 26-under. Then, we'll make up a fun production stat. Why not? We'll do (Points)+(+/- rating)/(TOI) to get a production per minute played stat, and compare across the age groups mentioned.
26 & Under: 0.0324 Prod/Min
27-30: 0.0182 Prod/Min
30+: 0.0333 Prod/Min
Looking at my fake stat, one could deduce that we have the perfect mix right now of youth and experience. While the 27-30 years olds (I'm talking to you, Tambellini) have the lowest production, the experienced guys have the highest. While the good production from the youth gives me good feelings about the future, the team leading production from the oldest group gives me plenty of hope about the rest of this season (and the playoffs, God willing).
Now, how do we compare to the Avs in such a stat?
26 & Under: 0.0374 Prod/Min
27-30: 0.011 Prod/Min
30+: 0.0367 Prod/Min
Well, if I'm going to talk about us having a good mix of youth and experience, I guess I'd have to admit that the Avs have an even better mix. Sure, I'll admit that. BUT, let's add up the entire team's Prod/Min to help me feel a little better after my admission gave me a little blow to me ego.
Canucks Total Prod/Min: 0.0839
Avs Total Prod/Min: 0.0851
No!!!! What am I proving here? Well, hopefully I'm proving that my fake stat is bogus, otherwise, I'm a little concerned about how our weak schedule may be masking some weaknesses on our squad.
The 'Nucks will look to up the production/minute numbers in an all-LSF battle with the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Let's bust Andrew's hockey squad and keep the good times rolling.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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