I couldn’t believe when I heard that that was Henrik Sedin’s first career hat trick.  I mean, I know the guy isn’t as prolific a scorer as his brother, but I certainly would have thought that he’d have gotten a hat trick by now. 

I don’t know which made me happier – the Canucks being up as quickly as they were, or the Leafs already being down by a pair with only four minutes gone in the first period in their game against the Flames.  Pity that a loss like that had to come at the hands of a Northwest division team.  But oh well.

The Canucks more than got the monkey of their recent three game skid off their backs with their performance last night.  Although they did manage to let the Avs make it a little interesting with their two goals before stepping on the gas again and leaving Colorado in the dust.  It was hardly what I’d call a complete game, but this was one of those nights where they didn’t really need to go hard for the full 60 minutes.  It would have been better if they *had*, but you can’t always have everything.

Mason Raymond played a hell of a game, though, particularly on Hank’s second goal, getting down the ice and sending the puck back out into the slot for Henrik to chip both the puck and himself over Craig Anderson.  Also great to see were Mathieu Schneider and Jannik Hansen picking up goals, along with Steve Bernier (with a pair!) and even Tanner Glass.

Now the Canucks have some time off (5 days again?!?) before they start a 5 game western home stand that could go a long way towards helping them make up some ground and get back to where they should be – at the top of the Northwest standings.  Sure, only two of those games are against NW teams (Avs again and Oilers), but it’s safe to say that they’ll probably wind up chasing either the Hawks or Sharks for playoff position as well.  And the Kings aren’t what they were last year.  No pushovers this time around.

Hopefully the layoff will give them a little more time to get the regulars back and ready to play.  Henrik, after all, is more than halfway past his season best mark of 22 goals in a season.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens when his brother gets back on the ice.

I wrote yesterday that a pissed off Roberto Luongo usually means that he’s destined to have an incredible game in his next outing.  Seems that I was a little wrong in this case.  While Luongo certainly played well, it was the rest of the Canucks that looked like they were pissed off about the outcome of the previous three games.  As they should have been.

But, damn, that was a good game last night.

Henrik Sedin scored twice, including a 2 on 0 break where he would normally have passed the puck.  This time he took the shot, and was well rewarded.  He should remember that good things happen when you shoot sometimes, too.

But it seemed like everyone was scoring last night.  Mason Raymond, Ryan Kesler, and Steve Bernier all got their first goals of the season, with Alex Burrows and Mikael Samuelsson rounding things out.

The best moment of the night for me, though, was watching 5’11” Rick Rypien squaring off with 6’7” Hal Gill.  And Rypien handled himself perfectly.  I really thought the crowd would respond more vocally than they did. 

Yeah, it’s only one game, but the Canucks showed what they were capable of last night.  Complete domination of another team.  And Jacques Martin is supposed to be a defensive specialist of a coach?  Uh, not from what I saw last night. 

So that’s the first win of the season and now the whining can stop (okay, okay, at least die down a bit).  But it’s time to get ready for the Stars on Sunday night.  It should be interesting to see what they do with three days off between home games.

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.

Back in 1982, when I was lucky enough to see all of the games at the Pacific Coliseum during the Canucks run to the Finals, one thing that was well known was that the Chicago Stadium was a hostile, scary place to play.  The loudest place in the NHL by far.  Evidently not much has changed.

The Hawks rolled Bobby Hull out last night to try and get the crowed roiled up, and it sure seemed to work at first.  But the Canucks refused to be intimidated by the whole thing, and within the first eight minutes or so, it was as quite as a baseball game between a couple of teams who are 25 games out.  Just what the Canucks needed.

Jumping out to a 3-0 lead helped even more, with Mason Raymond, Steve Bernier, and Henrik Sedin scoring for the Canucks.  This time, though, they didn’t let the Hawks back into the game, playing their best technical game of this series.  Now they’ve got their split at least, and if they’re able to do the same thing on Thursday, they could close the whole thing out on Saturday night here at the Garage. 

Think it was loud downtown when they swept the Blues?  Get ready for even louder.

If they can just keep their focus for Thursday night, and not try and play above their heads, coming home with a 3-1 series lead shouldn’t be an issue.  Bringing back a bit more of the physicality wouldn’t hurt, either.  Take the crowd out of the game, and a big part of it’s already won.

Rather amazing to think, isn’t it?  That the Vancouver Canucks, that team that couldn’t win a game in the month of January, the team that lost 9 straight at home, would end that streak and start one going in the other direction.  They lost 9 in a row at home, and they’ve gone on to win their last 10 at GM Place, setting a new club record in the process.

Their killing of the 5-on-3 in the third period was almost text-book perfect.  The only way it could have gone better was if Ryan Kesler had gotten to that puck that had been chipped out, and had a breakaway from his own blueline.  Damn Marty Turco.  Other than that, though, it was great.  They followed one simpe rule, which they should keep in mind for the balance of the season:  If the puck touches your stick, slap it down the ice. Simple but very effective.

That was about the only thing that didn’t work out for Kes, though, picking up another goal and an assist.  And it was great to see Mason Raymond chip in too, with an assist on Steve Bernier’s goal.  The kid just hasn’t been able to get any kind of a break lately.

And the team that was in danger of missing the playoffs if it didn’t get itself turned around has now pulled even with the Chicago Blackhawks for fourth in the Western Conference, and sits just three points back of the Calgary Flames for the lead in the Northwest.  Not many people saw that happening back in January when the lead was a dozen points, did they?

Home ice advantage in the playoffs would sure make a difference if they were to start today.  But, they don’t, of course, and the Blues are back in town tomorrow night.  The Canucks need to step on them early and often to make sure that the streak climbs to 11 in a row at home, and 16-3-1 in their last 20.

Sure does feel good to say that, doesn’t it?

When the Sabres scored on their first shot of the game, it had the potential to turn into a long night.  And when it suddenly turned into a 3-0 lead before the end of the first period, it was pretty much a given.  Obviously it wasn’t the best performance of the year, but the Canucks weren’t up for it like they obviously were for the Detroit game the night before.

All they can really do is forget about it and focus on Chicago for tomorrow night.  Being outshot 31 – 25 isn’t really going to win you a lot of games either, especially if you only get 8 shots in the final period.

Maybe shaking the lines up a bit will help, as it did with Steve Bernier, Mason Raymond and Henrik Sedin being in on the second Canucks goal.  The third line chipped in yet again with Kesler putting one in as well.

All they can do is try and forget about this one.  There’s too much time left in the season to dwell on the odd bad game in October.

Next up is Chicago tomorrow night.