At 31-22-6, the Dallas Stars have come crashing down all the way to the #8 spot in the West. Once thought of as possibly the second best team in the conference, the Stars have been exposed as a bottom of the playoff qualifying table squad, and it all started with the Canucks. The Orca have beat up on the Stars with every chance they have gotten this year. And this month, a 4-1 Vannie win over Dallas was the end of the beginning for Andrew Raycroft and company.
Back on February 1, the Canucks beat the Stars 4-1, and Dallas was sent into a tail spin. Following the Vancouver victory, they lost to Boston, Philly, and Phoenix. They beat the Blackhawks in a shootout (which kind of makes their tailspin that much more enjoyable), and then lost to Columbus, Edmonton, and Calgary before losing again to the Canucks over the weekend. That's right, the Stars are 1-7-1 in February. The once highly touted Central division squad has been shown to be a huge fraud, and I'm proud that it all started with us.
This latest edition, over the weekend, was "The Raffi and Sedins Show." Raffi Torres showed up after going something like 23 games without a goal, and drilled goals in the second and third periods to surprisingy spark the offense. Scoring from all levels is so darned important, but enjoying the first line's dominance is fun too. Daniel Sedin scored in the first and third, both assisted by Henrik, and Hank added another third period goal with a helper from his goal happy brother. Roberto Luongo stood strong to help his squad beat his former backup. Bobby Lu stopped 22 of 24, while Ray-zor stopped just 33 of 38. Torres also tried to get back into the hearts of Canuck fans by beating the holy heck out of Brenden Morrow (pictured above). Despite dressing something like 18 rookies, the Canucks rose to take the Stars out yet again, and due to that, everyone around the NHL is finally starting to wake up to the fact that they suck.
At 38-13-9, with 22 games left to go, the Canucks lead the division by 15 points over Calgary, the conference by 5 points over Detroit, and the entire NHL by 2 points over Philly. And all this with a boat load of injuries on the blue line!
Believe it or not, we're about to get even better. Tonight we go head to head with the Heritage Classic losers from Montreal, and they don't really have much of a chance against us. Not only are we 17-0-2 against all teams from Canada over our last 19 home games (the last home loss to a Canadian team was on Boxing Day 2008!), but we're also getting two defenders and a youngster needing to prove a point back on the roster. That's right, instead of losing another defender, we're actually getting two back! Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard are officially ready to strap their skates back on and make some noise on the blue line. It couldn't have come at a better time, really, as our patchwork of Moose youngsters could only be expected to hold on for so long. So, welcome back Hammer and Bally. Don't get hurt again, please.
Also, Cody Hodgson has been pulled back up from Manitoba, and this time, the Vannie super prospect has been given an ultimatum. While it may not be entirely fair, since Cody is centering the fourth line, it sure is exciting. The Canucks management has told Hodgson that he has three games to go out an prove himself. If he does well, he's going to be staying up with the team all the way through the season and into the Stanley Cup playoff run, and if he sucks, he'll spend the season finishing up in 'Toba. It's a pretty big next three games. Hodgson will also be getting handed some playing time centering the second power play unit as well, and that could be where he's going to make his mark. It's all up to him.
All this, and Daniel and Henrik are both top 3 in scoring in the NHL? Man, this is going to be a fun week in Orca Nation.
Onward to beat the Habs.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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