Mason Raymond has been catching a lot of junk from the Vancouver media as this season goes on (seen above bricking another scoring chance), and a lot of people are talking about how he might be dealt away before Monday's trade deadline. I hope not. Sure, we've seen a slow season for him so far (possibly because he's losing all the points to Kesler on that second line), but we know his potential (remember his career year LAST season?) and it'd be a shame to lose him, in my opinion.
Last night, the Canucks finally got the best of the Blues (although, would you believe that we split the season series with them, for all the doom and gloom we put around it?) with a nice 3-2 win at the Roger. We came out quick with first period goals from Mikael Samuelsson (a nifty in-close shot from the Twins) and Sami Salo (a fourth line blaster from the top of the circle for his first of the year), and we did it with a large 17 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes. The second period was a different story, however, as the Blues completely turned things around. An 11-4 shot outburst showed that the Orca were sitting back, and the Blues tied things up with two goals within a minute of each other. We just fell asleep.
Luckily, one of our most underrated players, Manny Malhotra, bounced on a loose puck in front of Ty Conklin to bury a game winner early in the third. Manny gave credit to Jannik and Raffi on the play, but he put it in the money maker. Cory Schneider was a brick wall the rest of the way, as we skated to the win. Special recognition needs to be thrown out to Tanner Glass for a stellar brawl against Crombeen early on (2 minutes into the game). Glass got some big bombs landed, and that got the squad fired up to pull the big win out of their hats. I know the Blues are like the #13 team in the West, but the way the West is this season, every win is a big win.
This game was just another example of how underrated our third line center has been this season. Manny Malhotra has been such a stud, but because he has been prone to scoreless stretches, he has been a little under the radar this year. With this game winning goal against the Blues, however, Malhotra is starting to get a look from the mainstream media (more Nationally than locally in V-Town). It got underway with a NHL.com article that is calling on Manny to win the Selke (best defensive offensive player). Finally, people are starting to appreciate his value.
If you're not a Canucks fan, you're probably saying, "Prove it!" You probably think the idea of Manny winning the Selke is far fetched. But, just look at the numbers. Malhotra leads the league in blocked shots (68) and shorthanded faceoffs won (61.7%). Those are both, gigantic and underrated statistics, and they both tell the story of why Malhotra is near and dear to Vannie fans since coming over this year. Our PK unit has jumped from 18th in the league to 4th, since Manny came on board, and while he's only a +3 with 8 goals, his value goes way beyond those numbers. We love our Mississauga, ON native, and this team wouldn't be the same without him. He IS our third line, and hopefully he will continue to be, well into the postseason.
At 39-14-9, the Canucks lead the Western Conference by 7 points over Detroit, and still lead the Presidential race by one over the Flyers. We look to become the second team to get to 40 wins this season (damn you, Flyers) when we take on the red hot Boston Bruins (34-19-7) on Saturday. Hopefully Milan Lucic will take it easy on his boyhood heroes, and hopefully Cam Neely will enjoy his time at home as well.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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