After a horrible effort in Chicago the other night, the Canucks had to regroup, and try and win in a rink that hasn’t been that good to them in recent times.  Nashville.  The Preds aren’t really that good, but they always seem to wind up frustrating the Canucks.

Not to mention the fact that if the Canucks were able to win the game, it would be the quickest that they’ve gotten to 40 wins in their history.  And on  top of that, they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with regards to the road trip from hell.  Just two more and they can get ready to play on some friendly ice again.

The game started off well enough, with Alex Burrows getting into a fight with Dan Hamhuis just three minutes in.  Not there was ever really a chance that this one was going to turn into something similar to the Hawks game the other night.  Alex Edler shook of a hard shot into the boards to take a pass from Pavol Demitra and pick up his third of the year. 

The the Canucks did something that they’ve done far too often lately.  Given up the lead and had to come back.  And did they ever.  The Canucks lead the league in coming from behind when trailing after two periods, and they didn’t disappoint again.  After a breakaway goal of his own the other night, Kyle Wellwood threw a pass up to Jannik Hansen for his own breakaway goal when Pekka Rinne thought he’d covered the puck, and not given up the rebound.

The Sedins finally seemed to get going again as well, with Henrik picking up an empty net goal to seal the deal in the final minute.

So not only did the Canucks come from behind yet again, as I mentioned above, they got to 40 wins in only 65 games, making 50 wins a distinct possibility.  Not many people thought that was going to happen at the start of the year, eh?  Especially considering the slow start, and even slower start on the road.

But now it’s Colorado for a chance to open up the division lead, in what could very much turn into a preview of the first round of the playoffs. 

Any time your power play is effective 80% of the time, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re going to wind up with two points for the win.  Which is exactly what happened last night.  The fact that it happened against the Oilers made it even better.

While having a four goal lead after the first 12 minutes of the game is great, it’s not always the best position for the Canucks to be in.  Once they have a lead like that, they can have a tendency to try and sit on the lead, which is a dangerous tactic to try, regardless of whether you’re playing San Jose or Toronto (okay, maybe not so dangerous against the Leafs).

After Gilbert Brule gave the Oilers some vague hope of at least scoring, Tanner Glass restored the four goal lead, and that appeared to be the end of the Oilers.

Then the second period started.  And in a span of just a minute and four seconds, the Oilers were within two, and I’m sure the tension was starting to creep back into GM Place.  They couldn’t really blow a four goal lead, could they? 

Thankfully, that didn’t happen, with Alex Edler and Mikael Samuelsson contributing to the effort to put the Oilers away, for the Canucks’ fourth win in five games. 

It was a night when a number of players got the scoring monkey off their backs.  Daniel Sedin finally got his first of the year, Edler got his first dating back to last year, and Alex Burrows seems to have benefited from Daniel’s return, scoring his second goal in as many games.

A lot was made about the fact that the Oilers were a tired, injured team, and while that might be the case, I don’t remember hearing the Canucks using the injuries as an excuse when they had a lot of regulars out of action.  They just sucked it up and kept playing.  Did pretty well, too, if I recall.

The game against the Sharks tonight should be really interesting, as San Jose had an emotional win over the Oilers themselves a couple of nights ago.  The Sharks are looking like the scary team that they were at the start of last season, although maybe not quite as completely dominating, but you still can’t dispute their record.  If the Canucks want to show what they’re capable of doing, tonight’s the night.

See what happens when a team has almost a week off between games?  They wind up sliding in the standings from a division leader to losing home ice advantage in the playoffs.  Ah well, things will get made up and it’ll all work out in the end.  I just don’t like seeing them sitting in 5th in the conference is all.

Anyway, the parade of New York teams continues tonight with the Islanders coming in with a 5-3-2 record in their last 10 games after getting pummeled by the Oilers last night, 4-0.

And according to Alanah at Canucks & Beyond, it appears that Alex Edler might be sidelined with back spasms – yet another blow to the Canucks defensive corps.   Considering the number of players they’ve lost to injuries this season, you can’t say anything but good things about how the Canucks have stuck to the game plan and gone out and found ways to win.

Alanah’s also going to live blog the game tonight so if you want comment or contribute in some other way, she’s put the invitation out.

J.J. at the Canucks Hockey Blog writes about how a lot of what the Canucks are today is thanks to the Islanders.  It’s a great post, go have a read.

For myself, I’m going to call the Canucks to win this one 3-1.  Anyone else want to kick in with a prediction?

The Canucks reported today that Alex Edler has been sent down to the Manitoba Moose.  He hadn’t played in the two regular season games after seeing action in five preseason games, scoring two goals, an assist, and picking up 6 penalty minutes.

This leaves the Canucks with just six defencemen in town with Sami Salo still at least a week away while recovering from a broken finger.