Clay Imoo (@canuckclay) will be recapping every Vancouver Canucks game with a quick post-game video commentary. As a start, Clay looks at the good, the bad, and the interesting from the Canucks’ 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings from March 2 at Rogers Arena.
In the video, Clay touches on the Canucks’ top 2 scoring lines, Cory Schneider’s suspect puck-handling, the benching of Keith Ballard, the debut of new enforcer Tom Sestito, and the LA Kings twitter account.
Has everyone recovered from the Canucks’ 8-3 meltdown in Detroit on Sunday afternoon? How about from their Oscar hangovers? I hope so, we have a Phoenix game to watch!
Just before the puckdrop, it’s my dog Eddie’s 6th birthday. He’s getting a pregame nap in… #TGATT #Canucks twitter.com/KentBaskyNM/st…
— Kent Basky (@KentBaskyNM) February 27, 2013
That is adorable.
Welcome to Dallas, Texas, where everything is bigger. None bigger than Brett Hull’s skate.
Tonight, the Stars celebrate Marty Turco. Canucks fans have fond memories of him.
Marty Turco. The man who shut out the #canucks three times in one playoff series and still lost.
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) February 22, 2013
On Friday, Henrik Sedin passed Markus Naslund as the all-time leader with points as a Canuck, Ryan Kesler returned from injury, and Canucks fans were getting a chance to vote on what they felt the boys in blue should skate out to.
Clay, Chris, Ed and back again as a special guest, Alan from the Hogshack in Steveston, ponder these and more in this latest episode of CHB TV. Apologies in advance for the singing.
After 6 consecutive wins, the Vancouver Canucks fell a bit back down to earth last week. They did win a relatively low-key game against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, but then blew leads in back-to-back losses to the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues.
Without a doubt, the highlight of the last week was Henrik Sedin passing Markus Naslund as the Canucks’ franchise scoring leader. Against the Stars on Friday, King Hank assisted on brother Daniel’s goal to tie Naslund, and a bit later in the game, passed Naslund with a beautiful cross-ice assist on Alex Burrows’ marker. For good measure, he recorded another 2 points on Sunday against the Blues – an assist on Ryan Kesler’s first goal of the season, and also, his own first goal of the season.
This week, the Canucks embark on a four-game road trip through the Central and Pacific Divisions.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at Chicago Blackhawks (5:30 PM start)
The Canucks won the two teams’ first meeting back on February 1st behind some great goaltending from Roberto Luongo and Jordan Schroeder’s shootout winner. To-date, this stands as 1 of the Hawks’ 3 losses this season – they are 12-0-3 with all 3 losses coming in the shootout.
Patrick Kane is off to a hot start with 21 points (9G-12A) in 15 games, putting him in a tie with Steven Stamkos for 3rd in the NHL in scoring. (Stamkos has played 1 less game, however.) Starter Corey Crawford remains sidelined due to a suspected concussion.
With the Canucks placing Andrew Ebbett on waivers yesterday, it is expected that David Booth will make his season debut against the Hawks.
Thursday, February 21, 2013 at Dallas Stars (5:00 PM)
The Dallas Stars ruined Hank’s night last Friday by coming back from a 2-goal deficit and posting a 4-3 win at Rogers Arena. With 3 minutes left in the third period, Surrey native, Brenden Dillon, scored his 3rd goal of the season, which stood up as the game-winner.
Undrafted in junior and undrafted in the NHL, Dillon is a good story for the Stars in the early season.
Friday, February 22, 2013 at Nashville Predators (5:00 PM)
After last season’s offensive explosion of sorts, during which they ranked 8th in the league in goals per game (2.83), the Nashville Predators have somewhat reverted back to form, currently ranking 30th out of 30 teams and scoring a measly average of 2.06 goals per game. Losing Ryan Suter in the summer has surely hurt. And now, they’re also missing Patric Hornqvist (leg injury), who had 27 goals for them last season. Still, they sit 5th in the Western Conference, thanks in large part to gaining 5 “loser points” (1 in OT and 4 in the shootout).
The Canucks and the Preds split their 4 games last season with both teams winning two games each, one at home and the other on the road.
Tuesday, February 24, 2013 at Detroit Red Wings (2:00 PM)
For a team going through a turnover of sorts, the Detroit Red Wings are doing a decent job of staying in contention for a playoff spot. Sure they lost Niklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart and Jiri Hudler, but they’ve been able to break in guys like Damien Brunner, Tomas Tatar and Brian Lashoff into the lineup. They’ve also given Jonathan Ericsson a larger role in the back end.
The Canucks had a 2-1-1 record against the Wings last season. Henrik Sedin paced the Canucks with 4 assists while Daniel had 2 goals and 3 points. Darren Helm scored 5 (1G-4A) of his 26 points last season in the 4 games against the Canucks.
Having throughly erased the third period of Friday night’s game from our collective memory, we’re back for a Sunday night game against the Blues.
I suppose I’ll be hoping for a solid 60-minute effort from the #Canucks… about the only thing missing from Friday night.
— Clayton Corley (@opiatedsherpa) February 18, 2013
The Canucks look for a win against Dallas after a pedantic win over Minnesota.
And back after a spell with Chris Golden & Victoria Pattison behind the CHB TGATT desk tonight, you know Lizz will be bringing here A game. Just like Aaron Freaking Rome:
Henrik better not overshadow Rome’s return
— Taj (@taj1944) February 16, 2013
The Canucks and Wild don’t like each other much, but the only real fight tonight was the fight to stay awake while watching it.
The lovely and talented Lizz Moffat has a scholarly obligation and her usual substitute, @lyteforce, is busy riding around the Sky Train in his underwear so you’ve got me tonight!
Bachelor life starts now. When do the pants come off? Now on the train or at home?
— Chris Golden (@lyteforce) February 13, 2013
Ummm… we better just get to the game.
You Wanna Go?
This season has had more than it’s fair share of fights. As of February 5, the Vancouver Canucks have had 7 fights. Same with the Habs, but I preface the date because as I’m writing this, they’re about to play the Boston Bruins. Their fight count could be 20 by the end of that game.
A fight gets a crowd going, gets a team going, and fuels a good rivalry, but no one wants a player to sustain serious injury. Two fights in the last couple of weeks have me going hmmm… because they involve the same team and show the right and wrong sides of fighting in the NHL.
First, we have the right: During a fight between the Philadelphia Flyers’ Max Talbot and the New York Rangers’ Ryan Callahan, all the shirt-tugging, pushing and pulling injured Callahan’s shoulder. Sensing that something was wrong, Talbot stopped and waved over a training, calling for medical help.
Now, the wrong: On Tuesday, the Flyers’ Zack Rinaldo fought the Tampa Bay Lightning’s BJ Crombeen. After Crombeen slipped to the ice, Rinaldo continued to pound him.
Rinaldo is a notorious fighter in the league, but that doesn’t mean he has to be a jerkoff. Would Kevin Bieksa keep throwing punches once a guy is down? I don’t think so.
To me, fighting is part of the game, but what makes it tolerable is the code – the etiquette – and Rinaldo broke it just days after his teammate, Talbot, was a poster child for it. Hmmm… I never thought I would say this but Rinaldo needs to take a lesson from Talbot.
Freaky Friday
Disney came out with a movie in the 1970s called Freaky Friday in a mom and daughter switch bodies. Every time I watch a Vancouver Canucks game this season, I can’t help but wonder if this has happened to Henrik Sedin and Zach Kassian.
First, Zack started scoring goals, and at one point, he was among the league leaders in goals scored. Then, Zack’s leading the Canucks in scoring, and as of today, he’s still tied for 3rd with Henrik in team scoring.
As if that wasn’t weird enough, our demure Swedish Captain is turning into a goon taking roughing penalties and throwing checks like he’s… well, Zack Kassian. The Edmonton Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is actually sidelined – missing the Oilers’ game last night against the Dallas Stars – due to an injury resulting from a Henrik Sedin hit. It’s a total head scratcher. If Henrik drops his gloves next, I may just lose my mind.
The Mysterious Coin
The Canucks announced that Cory Schneider will get the start against the Minnesota Wild. Sure, Roberto Luongo is on a hot streak, but this isn’t about what makes sense. This is about what the coin says. Coach Alain Vigneault once again flipped his coin, and this time it came up Cory.
I am honestly starting to believe that AV soaks his chewing gum in vodka. He’s enjoying this too much, especially considering the media, the fans, and Schneider’s agent are all taking the goalie controversy very seriously.
I want to see this coin. Is it a loonie? A twoonie? A quarter? Does it have pictures of Cory and Bobby Lu on either side? Where does AV keep this coin? Is it always in his pocket? Does he lock it away somewhere with his crystal ball, voodoo dolls and a pack of vodka-infused chewing gun? If the media doesn’t insist on filming a coin toss before the end of the season, they’re not doing their job.
Are you ready for this? I hope so, because it’s Canucks v. Blackhawks baby!
If there’s one thing I hate more than bad 80s music, it is Vancouver Canucks fans.
— Scott Stewart (@Foos4Life) February 2, 2013
That is just unnecessary and uncalled for. 80′s music is amazing thank-you very much. I now officially declare it 80′s night.
Now, on to the game.
