How long has it been since I last posted here?  Let’s see…the Canucks’ record before I updated the sidebar widget, was 19-15-0 for 38 points, 3rd in the Northwest, and 10th in the Western Conference.  Since then, they’ve gone 7-1-1, and are STILL 3rd in the division, but have moved up to 6th in the conference.  Well, at least they’d be in the playoffs if they started today.  Unlike the Detroit Red Wings, who wouldn’t.

The difference is, though, that they’re only two points out of a tie for first in the division.  Makes that game coming up against Calgary seem even better, doesn’t it?

Back in November I wrote a post on Canucks.com saying that if the Canucks were to go 10-5 in December, that they’d probably be all right for the balance of the season.  What was their record?  10-5 (yeah, yeah, there was an overtime loss, I know.  But it’s still 10 wins and 5 losses, okay?)

So far they’re 2-0 this year, and they completely dominated the Blue Jackets last night, after they recovered from spotting them a 2 goal lead early in the first period.  Roberto Luongo didn’t have to stand on his head, or save the game for them, as scoring wasn’t an issue.  And whenever someone like Rick Rypien chips in with a goal, you know that the secondary scoring is contributing the way that it should be.  A hat-trick from Alex Burrows doesn’t hurt either.

I have to admit that Mikael Samuelsson’s goal was one of the weirdest I’ve seen in a long time.  Sure looked like the guy was offside, but it appears that the officials indicated that the Blue Jackets put the puck back over the blue line, which made Samuelsson on-side.  But shouldn’t that have made it an unassisted goal, rather than giving two assists?  No matter.

Two more games coming up this week, and with the Phoenix Coyotes not playing the way they did last year, maybe the Canucks will play a little better, too.  Not play down to the level of their opponents.  And the Calgary game on Saturday night is just going to be nothing but fun.  Especially if the Canucks knock them off 5-1 like they did in their last meeting.  Time will tell.

I’d like to announce right now that while the league might be shutting down for the Olympics, CanuckNation.ca will be posting on all of Canada’s games during the tournament.  Or games that involve Canucks players, anyway.

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.

So let me get this straight.  Willie Mitchell throws a perfectly legal hit on Johnathan Toews, and gets a penalty for it.  The Canucks have a 2 on 0 breakaway blown dead because Dustin Byfuglien jumps Mitchell.  Beautiful.

Apparently goaltenders don’t need to stop breakaways anymore.  Someone just needs to jump someone behind the play, and things get blown dead.  No more breakaway.

This whole thing lately about a fight breaking out over a clean but hard hit is just pissing me off. It’s a physical game, for God’s sake.  People get hurt.  Just because someone gets hurt from a hit DOESN’T mean it was a dirty hit.

Did the Pens get jumped when Roberto Luongo got hurt last year?  Was there a fight after Daniel Sedin or Sami Salo got hurt earlier this year?  (Okay, bad example on Salo).

Regardless, the Canucks played as close to a complete game as they have in awhile, coming back to beat the Blackhawks for their first road win of the year.  Killing off 5 on 3’s, Michael Grabner getting his first NHL goal, and Mikael Samuelsson chipping in the game winner.

Alain Vigneault has been a little too light on the Canucks (at least in the media) by saying that the Canucks have been out-chancing their opponents two or three to one lately.  Uh, coach?  How many points do you get for outshooting the other team 40 – 20 if you lose 3-1?  That’s right.  NONE.  You need to get chances, but if you don’t finish more of them, you might as well have not had them.

Hopefully the trend continues tonight with a Leafs team that’s had a week off, but is still looking for its first win.  Best thing that they could do?  Jump out to a quick two goal lead to take the pressure off, and then keep driving.  Hell, run up the score.

Because, of course, there’s nothing better than beating the Leafs on national TV.  Until the playoffs start, of course.  Not that the Leafs will be playing in the post season anyway.

I’m not in much of a position to comment on the Friday game against the Flames, as when I finally got a chance to turn the game on, there was only about 9 minutes left in the third period, and the score was 5-1 for Calgary.  Okay.  Let’s just turn that off now and hope for a better result against the Wild.

When I got around to checking the score I found that they’d at least made a bit of an effort and popped in a couple more goals to make it at least a little more interesting.  It also happened to be the second time that Roberto Luongo has been pulled this season.  Can’t remember the last time that happened in the first month of the season.

So I was looking forward more to the game against Minnesota.  Especially considering that they’re missing a whole lot of their better players, and consequently are winless on the road this year.  Nice to see that trend continuing. 

If it hadn’t been for Nick Backstrom, the score last night would have been a lot higher than 2-1.  The Canucks completely dominated the last two periods of the game, particularly Mikael Samuelsson, who buried the puck behind Backstrom after picking up the rebound on his backhand, and transferring it to his forehand.  While normally this leads to a goaltender making a miraculous save because has time to get somewhat back into position, it didn’t happen last night.  Mason Raymond is playing the best hockey of his career lately.  Things are going to start going his way.  And Ryan Kesler’s shot got behind Backstrom from just an impossible angle.  Sometimes those lucky bounces sure go the right way.

Michael Grabner didn’t look all that bad, and neither did Andre Bolduc, despite his taking a penalty at a very bad time.  And I wouldn’t say that Henrik Sedin looks lost at all without his brother.  Although I do think he shouldn’t have tried to walk around Backstrom late in the game when he had that chance.  Just shoot the damn puck.

It’s nice to see that they’re not going to be just sitting around for the next week waiting for the Leafs next Saturday, either.  Games on both Monday and Wednesday should keep them sharp to face Toronto, who have a week off to contemplate that they’re 0-6-1.  Wonder how long it’ll be before they start calling for Ron Wilson’s head? 

Thoughts from around the Canuck Nation:

Okay, so it’s just Nucks Misconduct with any reactions to the game.  But jeez, when Zandberg is posting at 3am, you know that the guy’s got some good stuff to read.  Go check out the post here.

And because it’s more entertaining, here’s some posts from Leafs blogs:

• Leafs Winless In More Places Than One – (budblog)
• Leafs Lose Again – Gone Until November – (budblog)
• The Pit of Ultimate Darkness – (Pension Plan Puppets – We’ll Win A Game Eventually)
• The Bright Side: Six Good Things About Six Awful Losses – (Down Goes Brown)
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Ugly Numbers – (Bittler Leaf Fan Page)