The Canucks, even though they didn’t play badly against the Islanders the other night, played a much more complete game last night, shutting out the Ducks.  Roberto Luongo  was in great form, and Cory Schneider did well to contribute to the shutout, even stopping a penalty shot late in the third period.

It was good to see that the scoring came from those who might not be considered the ‘usual’ scorers, either – Steve Bernier, Kevin Bieksa (although it sure looked like his shot from the point was re-directed), and Aaron Rome, who rather impressed Zandberg over at ‘Nucks Misconduct.

I didn’t get a chance to see the first period due to a family event, but what I saw of the last 40 minutes was a vast improvement over the opening game against the Isles.  The passing was better, there weren’t a lot of giveaways, or any of the things that you normally come to expect in a preseason game.  Of course, they did dress a more ‘NHL-ready’ lineup in the second game, but still…there were no Sedins, no Willie Mitchell, etc.

As gets mentioned every year, the Canucks are going to need someone to step up and put the puck in the net throughout the season, not just for the first fifteen or twenty games.  It’ll be interesting to see who tries to make a go of it, though.  My money’s on Sergei Shirokov, if he sticks.  Although I’m of the opinion that he’s no Pavel Bure, it sure would be nice to see that kind of excitement again, no?

The Canucks are still down in California to play the Sharks tonight before they face the Oilers tomorrow night.  Three games in as many nights shouldn’t be a problem this early in the year, but we’ll just have to see.

What can you say about last night’s game other than it was a preseason game, and it was good to see the Canucks back out on the ice.

It wasn’t a stellar effort, but the Canucks did seem to carry the play a little more than did the Islanders.  The passing definitely could have been better (both teams were guilty of poor passing at times), but, as mentioned above, it was only the first game of the preseason.

Sergei Shirokov played pretty well (2 goals will do that), as did both Cory Schneider and Rick Rypien, who chipped in with a couple of fights.  Ronald Petrovicky impressed me a little, too.  The guy just kept digging whenever he was on the ice, which seemed to be all the time.

Nobody was really guilty of any boneheaded plays, the kind that you want the guys to get out of their system before the games start counting.

And Terrace did a great job of hosting the whole thing, with about 10% of the town’s entire population showing up for the game.  Those that weren’t able to get into the game were treated to appearances by Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa at an outdoor event.

All in all it was a good night for the Canucks who have to get ready to head down to Anaheim to face the Ducks on Thursday.  I wouldn’t really expect to see anything resembling the actual regular season lineup until probably game 6 or so.  By that time everything will be flushed out, with the odd players on the bubble being given final chances to either make the team, get sent to Manitoba, or be released.

Now that was a complete effort on the Canucks part.  One of the best games that they’ve played in awhile, and that’s saying something, considering the way that they’ve played for the last couple of months.  Glad I was halfway wrong on my prediction.  Canucks did get three, but happily the Blues didn’t even get the one I predicted.

Roberto Luongo was perfect again, picking up his first ever playoff shutout.  Of course there was a few close moments, including Andy MacDonald putting one off the end of Luongo’s glove and then off the crossbar before dropping wide of the net.  He’s had more chances than just about anyone on either side in this series, and got absolutely nothing to show for it.  Keep it up, Andy.

I wonder if Andy Murray will be complaining about the end of the game when he sees the blatant head shot that David Backes through on Alex Burrows when he scored the Canucks second goal.  Sure Kevin Bieksa’s trip near the end of the game was a stupid thing to do, but Crombeen completely lost it.  Ah well, if it gets the Blues even further off their game, so be it.

Not that this thing’s over yet, but the team winning the first two games of a playoff series winds up winning the series 87% of the time.  A good omen.  Now the Canucks just have to win two of the five possible games left.  I have a feeling that they’ll split in St. Louis, and close the thing out at home next Friday.

I’ll have a roundup of what’s being posted elsewhere later today.

This was one weird game.  The Canucks came out flying and carried the momentum through most of the first period, even though they did surrender the first goal to Jarome Iginla. 

But Ryan Kesler came through with a pair of goals to continue his streak, and amazingly, Kyle Wellwood took a penalty – his first in about three years, and almost tied the game late in the third, but the video was inconclusive.   But the story of the game for the Canucks really has to be the play of Roberto Luongo.  If not for him, this game would have been over by the end of the second period.  It was Luongo who kept them in the game.

If anything, it was great to see the PK working much better, including a long 5 on 3 in the third period, after Kevin Bieksa chipped the puck over the glass while the Canucks were already down a man.  Here’s the thing.  If you can get the puck high enough to clear the glass, then just dump it up the middle at that height and everything will be fine.  Bieksa redeemed himself late in the game, though with a blast from the point that made it through the crowd with Luongo sitting on the bench for the extra attacker.

I have to admit to being surprised that there wasn’t a lot more hard physical play in this game, with only Darcy Hordichuk getting into a quick scuffle, and even Alex Burrows shoving with Todd Bertuzzi.  Other than that, though, nothing.  As much as people were calling this a playoff game, it sure didn’t have the feeling of one.  Neither team really played like it was the post-season.

But I had a feeling that this game was going to go to overtime.  I was hoping that it wouldn’t get to the shootout, though.  Pretty ironic that it came down to Roberto and Luongo and Todd Bertuzzi, though.  Bert had Luongo beat on a spin-o-rama but hit the post to give the extra point to the Canucks, who jump into 5th place in the west, and now sit only 8 points back of the Flames for the Northwest lead.

Regardless, though, they now have to focus on the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.  I had a feeling they were going to win 3 of 4 on this road trip.  Hopefully they go four for four instead.

The Canucks keep finding more and more interesting ways to win, and Roberto Luongo is leading the league in shutouts.  Four shutouts in 14 games is not a bad percentage at all, particularly when you consider that Luongo hasn’t even played in all 14 of those games.

Kevin Bieksa was the only one to score last night in what turned into an almost perfect defensive game from the Canucks.  They blocked shots, and anything that they didn’t block, Luongo was able to stop because he had a clear view of the puck.  No screens, and no wild acrobatics were required.

It wasn’t the most wildly entertaining game to watch, but it sure was great to see that when the Canucks need to really shut the opposition down, they can do so.  Now granted, Phoenix ain’t the Detroit Red Wings, but the principles were all there.

And for the first time in awhile, it was nice to see that the Canucks didn’t lose a game after wining one.  Let’s hope that that’s a trend that continues for awhile.

Next up is a 4-pointer against the Wild, that will provide a real challenge for the Canucks, in what will probably turn into a battle for first place in the Northwest.

Yeah, I know, I haven’t posted anything in way too long.  But to be honest, the Canucks haven’t given me anything positive to write about, either.  Hopefully the win over the Avalanche the other night will turn out to be a turning point, because they sure played better than they have in the last few games.

It seems that what carried them for a lot of the second half of last season, the defense, is self-destructing, not entirely through any fault of their own.  Serious injuries to both Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo are leaving the corps rather depleted at the moment, and those who remain are going to have to pick things up in ways that they couldn’t have imagined a month ago.

At least these injuries didn’t happen in February – there’s still enough time left to recover, and get things going in the right direction.

I’ll be back more regularly, too.  Win or lose, I’m in this thing for the long haul.

According to Canucks.com, it looks like Sami Salo will play either tonight against the Wings, or Friday against the Capitals. Hopefully this will be the shot that the defensive corps needs after falling way off from where they were for the second half of last season.

Taylor Pyatt is going to play after getting clipped by Mason Raymond’s stick the other night, although Kevin Bieksa flew home to be with his wife, who’s giving birth to their first baby. Congratulations.

A number of people said that maybe the Canucks just needed to get away from GM Place for a bit and pick up some wins on the road. I was among those people. But so far they’re 1-1 with two games left that aren’t going to be simple wins. It’s time for them to start focusing on what they’re capable of doing, and if they play with the same work ethic they employed last year, they’ll be OK. I guess we’ll see tonight.

J.J. at the Canucks Hockey Blog has his thoughts on tonight’s game as well.

It turns out that if I don’t do a lot of posting about the Canucks, they tend to win games. Or maybe it’s just the fact that they weren’t playing at GM Place. Who knows. Being that this was a PPV game, in addition to being on at a weird time of day, I didn’t get a chance to see any part of it (not even the highlights – it was a long night and I overslept by two hours this morning, so…)

Goals from Ryan Kesler (with a pair), Markus Naslund and Kevin Bieksa and the Canucks pick up a much needed win. But according to Canucks and Beyond, it sounds like the Canucks played great in the first and third periods, and like a bunch of clowns in the second. I can’t offer much in the way of contradiction to this, as, like I mentioned, I didn’t see the game.

Hopefully they’ll be able to repeat this result against the Hurricanes tonight. A nice early start, too.