Are the 'Nucks head and shoulders above the West?

Last night at the Roger, we were set for a huge battle between two of the top teams in the West. The 29-14-5 Stars were set to clash with the 29-10-9 Canucks, and both teams were talking about using the game as a measuring stick. It's not how you do against bottom feeding mouth breathers that matters. A team's greatness is determined by their ability to perform against the best. That's what we were set for. What we got, although quite satisfying for us Vannie fans, was a complete blowout. The Canucks completely embarrassed the Stars, 7-1, and showed that they may simply be a class above both Dallas and Detroit.

The game featured first period goals from Kesler and Ehrhoff that were just 81 seconds apart, Henrik Sedin tallying his NHL leading 50th assist, Samuelsson and Ray Ray ending well documented scoring droughts, and all but three Canuck players showing up on the score sheet. Complete domination. Isn't it always nice to shut former coach Marc Crawford down with such an impressive effort? That Cloutier loving loser! His boy Lehtonen looked like Cloutier out there, allowing the Canucks first 3 goals when only facing 7 shots, and seemed doomed right away after Alex Burrows buried his blue line blaster on the first shot of the game. Luongo finished with 25 saves on the night.

With 69 points in 49 games, the Canucks are tied with the Flyers atop the NHL, and lead the #2 Red Wings by 5 points and the #3 Stars by 6 points. Can you believe that lead in the West? Even I can barely believe it. When the Canucks were getting ready to face Dallas last night, I was excited (and nervous) to see how they'd do against another top team. When they blasted the Stars 7-1, I started to wonder if this Vancouver team is just flat out head and shoulders above the rest. As stated, the way we can determine this is by looking at how the Canucks do against the top teams. The way the Orca perform against the Wings, Stars, Preds, Ducks, Flyers, Lightning, Bruins, and Penguins of the world is the way that we can see just how good this team is. So, how do we do against those teams?

Against PHI: 1-0-0
Against TB: 0-0-1
Against BOS: 0-0-0
Against PIT: 0-1-0

Against DET: 1-0-2
Against DAL: 2-0-0
Against NSH: 0-0-0
Against ANA: 1-1-1

So, against the top 8 teams in the NHL, the Canucks are rocking a 5-2-4 record, earning 14 points in 11 games. Of the top 8 teams, only the Penguins and the Ducks have beaten the Canucks in regulation this season, and even though I'd rather have the two losses come at the hands of any of the other teams on the list, I'm still impressed that we have done so well against the NHL's "elite." 

Tomorrow night, we welcome Shane O'Brien back to Vancouver as we have a chance to improve our record against the NHL's "elite" when we face off against the Preds. Nashville is coming off of a loss to Calgary, 1-3, and hopefully the Canucks can continue their road trip pain. It will be the sixth straight game on the road for the Preds, and, if all goes well, the second straight loss.

Go Canucks Go.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē