Move on from Minny

In the light l’Affaire Burrows-Auger (as it’s now being dubbed), the Canucks faced a few questions going into last night’s game against the Minnesota Wild.

1) Will l’Affaire Burrows-Auger affect the number of penalties called for or against the Canucks?
2) With 9 goals in 5 games, can Burrows move on and continue to play and produce at the same level?
3) Given what’s come out in the previous 24 hours, can Burrows still play like a pest and draw the ire – and penalties – from the opposition?

As it turns out, the short answers are: no, yes and yes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as they stunk up the Excel Energy Center and lost their 3rd game in a row.

The Canucks played well in the second period – their worst period all season – but were horrible in the first and third.

They played the Wild tough, but only when the game didn’t matter anymore. Darcy Hordichuk and Alex Bolduc fought Derek Booger-d and John Scott, respectively, and lost. (Though you have to give both credit for fighting a couple of weight classes higher.)

Roberto Luongo was horrible, but I suppose he was due for a bad game. He’s started the last 18 games – he’s started every game since December 8 after Andrew Raycroft started against Carolina on December 6 – and Lui’s been pretty darn good in most of them. His stats since then: an 11-5-2 record, 2.17 GAA and 0.923 save percentage. Not bad numbers, and hopefully, he returns to form when he faces Marc-Andre Fleury in the “Battle to be Brodeur’s Backup”.

Yes, this game was a stinker, but hopefully the boys can move on from Minny and bounce back against the Pens.