The Game According to Twitter: Canucks 0 at Oilers 4

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Mar 312013
 

There was a lot of anticipation heading into the Canucks’ matchup against the Edmonton Oilers last night. After all, a win against the high-powered – and suddenly streaking – Oilers would extend their win streak to 7 games and keep the Minnesota Wild at bay in the race for the Northwest Division title.

Good vibes, right?

Ummm… not quite.

The Canucks gave up 3 goals in 3 shots in the first 3 minutes of the game, and Taylor Hall had a hat trick before the first period was 8 minutes old, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now on to the grisly details and your reactions.

Read more #TGATT goodness past the jump.

Canucks vs. Oilers Game Day Preview: Oil Spills

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Mar 302013
 

Chris Tanev of the Vancouver Canucks celebrates his first career NHL goal - an OT winner against the Edmonton Oilers.

Photo credit: Vancouver Province

A question as the NHL trade deadline approaches: Are the Edmonton Oilers buyers or sellers?

On the one hand, the Oilers, with their big four up front consisting of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov, and prized defenseman signing, Justin Schultz, have slogged their way through just 13 wins in 33 games this season.

On the other hand, after back-to-back wins against the the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets, they’re only 3 points out of a playoff spot heading into tonight’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.

It’s no secret the Oilers need to add some sandpaper to complement the skill in their lineup. Earlier this season, they traded for enforcer Mike Brown. More recently, there have been rumors linking them to the Boston Bruins, who may be willing trade partners and may be interested at the likes of Ales Hemsky, Magnus Paajarvi and Ryan Whitney. Presumably, the Oilers would receive a power forward type to replace what they tried to make Ben Eager bring to the first line.

Or maybe the Oilers would want an upgrade in goal where Devan Dubnyk is 29th in the NHL in GAA (2.69) and 16th in save percentage (0.918). Not that Dubnyk has been absolutely horrid, but bringing in a Ryan Miller or even a Miikka Kiprusoff could provide a security blanket of sorts should the team make the postseason.

Or, for better or worse, perhaps they want to simply ride out the season – and maybe the postseason – and get as much future help in return for vets like Hemsky, Whitney, Shawn Horcoff and Eric Belanger.

Including tonight’s game, the Oilers have two games before Wednesday’s trade deadline. (They play the Calgary Flames on Monday.) Looking at the rest of the Western Conference schedule, it’s not at all inconceivable that they, currently in 12th place, could be in a playoff spot by then, and in which case, GM Steve Tambellini and company have some interesting decisions to make.

Canucks Record

19-9-6, 44 points (1st in Northwest Division, 3rd in Western Conference)

Season Series

The Canucks and the Oilers split their first 2 meetings this season: the Oilers won in a shootout at Rogers Arena in the first week of the season, and the Canucks won in OT at Rexall a couple of weeks after. In the Canucks’ OT win, Chris Tanev played hero, scoring his first career goal in the extra frame.

After tonight, the two teams meet twice more before the end of the regular season.

Who’s Hot

The kid line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins between Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle have been smokin’, combining for 14 points in their last 3 games – RNH (5 assists) and Hall (2 goals, 3 assists) have 5 points each, and Eberle has 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist).

After being separated for a couple of games, the Hank – Dank – Burr line were reunited against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday and combined for 6 points; each had a goal and an assist in the Canucks’ 4-1 win.

Who’s Not

Chris Higgins scored on the empty net on Thursday, but it was only his first goal since he potted one against the Minnesota Wild back on March 10 – a span of 9 games.

Quickies

  • Enemy intel. (Copper & Blue)
  • Having Dan Hamhuis as a defense partner worked wonders for Kevin Bieksa. Now, Hamhuis is working his magic again, this time helping Jason Garrison adjust to playing the right side. (Vancouver Sun)
  • More rumblings about Roberto Luongo and a possible trade to TO. (ESPN)

Millionaires vs. Red Wings Game Day Preview: Seeking Payback

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Mar 162013
 

Coach Alain Vigneault admitted the Canucks were embarrassed after their 8-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings back in February. They should be. They had a 3-2 lead going into the first intermission of that game before allowing the Wings to score 6 unanswered goals in the second and third periods.

Roberto Luongo, who was in net for all of the Wings’ goals that afternoon, will get the start tonight and a chance to redeem himself.

Vancouver Millionaires Jerseys

Courtesy of canucks.com


If it’s any comfort, the Wings’ offense has sputtered a bit since then. In their 9 games since putting 8 past Luongo, they’ve only scored 15 goals. They scored 3 powerplay goals that night; their powerplay is 3-for-26 since.

Not that the Canucks are hot themselves. Sure, they scored 7 goals against the Nashville Predators the other night, but their powerplay hasn’t connected in their last 27 opportunities.

This is the Wings’ 3rd game in 4 nights. They beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in overtime in Edmonton last night and lost 5-2 to the Calgary Flames in Calgary on Wednesday night.

Canucks Record

13-7-6, 32 points (1st in Northwest Division, 3rd in Western Conference)

Who’s Hot

Pavel Datsyuk has points in 5 of his last 6 games (1G-4A-5P), and is second in the team in scoring with 27 points (9G-18A) in 27 games. Defenseman Niklas Kronwall scored in both games in Alberta and has 3 points (2G-1A) in the road trip so far.

Jannik Hansen sits 3rd in the Canucks in scoring behind Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Hands-up if you saw that coming. (Didn’t think so.) The Honey Badger has 9 points (4G-5A) in his last 7 games.

Who’s Not

God bless his effort, but Alex Burrows is pointless in 4 games.

Wings scoring leader, Henrik Zetterberg, and 27-year old rookie, Damien Brunner, both have just 3 assists each in their last 9 games.

Quickies

  • The Canucks are celebrating the Vancouver Millionaires and donning the Millionaires jersey tonight. (canucks.com)
  • OMG IS KEITH BALLARD COMING BACK IN THE LINEUP?? (Vancouver Province)
  • It’s Luongo’s turn to be no. 1. (Vancouver Sun)
  • Dude, where’s our powerplay? (Vancouver Sun)

The Game According to Twitter: Canucks 7 vs Predators 4

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Mar 152013
 

The Canucks were back home against the Nashville Predators, having stumbled to and from Ohio, and were looking to set the tone for their second half journey in the shortened NHL season.

So what kind of game did we see?

Alberts almost scoring and people going streaking. Who knew Chris could be a trendsetter?

Read more #TGATT goodness past the jump.

Clay’s Canucks Commentary: Exacting Revenge on the Blue Jackets and Cam Barker’s Offensive Prowess

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Mar 132013
 

With a 2-1 shootout victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus, the Canucks were able to avenge last week’s 2-1 overtime defeat to the same team in the same arena.

This time, highlights included the strong goaltending of Roberto Luongo and Mason Raymond’s spin-o-rama goal in the shootout.

In this video, I touch on Roberto Luongo’s strong game, David Booth’s aggressive play, Alex Burrows sliding into Luongo, boarding penalties, the goaltending situation, Cam Barker’s offensive prowess, and Tom Sestito’s decreasing playing time.

 

Game Day Preview: Canucks at Blue Jackets

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Mar 122013
 

Matt Calvert, Columbus Blue Jackets vs Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks

Photo credit: Lancaster Eagle Gazette

The Vancouver Canucks have easily dominated the Northwest Division in recent years. Heck, they’ve dominated it early this season, going 6-2-1 in their first 9 games against NW foes to-date (versus a 4-5-6 record against the rest of the Western Conference). But after a lackluster effort in Minnesota a couple of days ago, the Canucks have allowed the Wild to pass them in the standings.

In fact, at the halfway point of this shortened season, the Canucks have just 28 points in 24 games – good for a 6th place with 3 other teams in the Western Conference – and only 4 points up from tonight’s opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets. They’ve been wildly inconsistent, especially in the last couple of weeks, and the frustration is clearly mounting among the team’s faithful.

In the meantime, the Blue Jackets are in the midst of one of their more successful stretches in their franchise’s history. Fresh off sweeping the Detroit Red Wings in a home-and-home series this past weekend, and unbeaten in their last 7 games (5-0-2), they are currently the NHL’s hottest team.

Add to that, they have the NHL’s hottest goalie. On Monday, Sergei Bobrovsky was named the NHL’s first star of the week after going 4-0-0 with a 0.77 GAA and 0.972 save percentage.

Think the Philadelphia Flyers are having a bit of seller’s remorse right now?

And as for the Canucks’ own goalies, well, right now, they’re struggling to make the critical saves at critical points in the game. Like, in the game’s first minute or so.

Canucks Record

24 GP, 11-7-6, 28 points (2nd in Northwest Division, 6th in Western Conference

Who’s Hot

After going goalless in the first 13 games of the season, Henrik Sedin has a 3-game goal scoring streak and a 7-game point streak (4G-5A-9P). Chris Higgins has 4 goals in his last 7 games.

For the Blue Jackets, Nick Foligno has 7 points (1G-6A) in his last 7 games. RJ Umberger has a 3-game point streak (2G-1A-3P).

Quickies

  • Roberto Luongo gets the start. (Vancouver Province)
  • Jordan Schroeder has been sent back down to the Chicago Wolves. It’ll be up to Andrew Ebbett now to get Dale Weise and Tom Sestito going. (TSN)
  • Manny Malhotra is also heading to Chicago to help the Canucks prospects with faceoffs. (Vancouver Sun)

Clay’s Canucks Commentary: Bad Weather, Bad Discipline and Ballard’s Benching

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Mar 042013
 

I look at the good, the bad, and the interesting from the Canucks’ 4-2 defeat to the Calgary Flames from Sunday, March 3 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.

Having arrived in snow-laden Calgary just 2 and a half hours before face-off, the Canucks played hard in the first period but wilted as the game wore on.

In the video, I touch on Jannik Hansen, David Booth, early penalties, Roberto Luongo, the Canucks’ lack of discipline, bad weather, Tom Sestito and another benching of Keith Ballard.

CHB’s Top 10 Reasons Why Detroit Fans Were Chanting “USA! USA!”

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Feb 252013
 

In a strange scene from Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena yesterday afternoon, the Red Wings fans began to chant “USA! USA!” during the last 30 seconds of their team’s 8 – 3 defeat of the Vancouver Canucks. 

For better or for worse, I know that this has happened in other hockey arenas before. 

And while there’s nothing wrong with showing a bit of patriotism from time to time, there is indeed a time and place for such showings. 

I’m not convinced that Red Wings fans picked the right place nor right time given that only 5 of the 20 players dressed for Detroit were born in the USA.

Thus, after much thought, research, and coin-flipping, I have come up with the Top 10 Reasons Why the Detroit Fans Were Chanting “USA! USA!”:

10.  They got tired of singing along to Don’t Stop Believing and Sweet Caroline (credit to @transcendwebs).

9. They are still bitter at Roberto Luongo and all of Canada for beating Team USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

8. Related to #9, they were cheering for their US-born netminder Jimmy Howard (and his American backup Tom McCollum for that matter).

7. They really wanted to affirm their US-born players: the 2 goalies (as mentioned above), Justin Abdelkader, Drew Miller, and Brian Lashoff…at the risk of insulting their 6 Canadians, 4 Swedes, and one each from Switzerland, Russia, Finland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

6. Chanting “United Nations! United Nations!” doesn’t have the same ring to it (credit to @lyteforce).

5. They were being very considerate and wanted to cheer up Canuck Americans Ryan Kesler, Chris Higgins, Keith Ballard, Jordan Schroeder, Andrew Alberts, and Cory Schneider.

4. They were inspired by a video tribute to Hacksaw Jim Duggan (see below) during the previous stoppage in play (credit to @DaveLeeSon1).

3. None of them were in their seats for the Star Spangled Banner prior to the game.

2. They wanted to do something fun before leaving the arena only to find that their cars are gone (credit to @browntobure).

1. They were giving a special shout-out and welcome to CHB writer @concretefluff who moved to Los Angeles last week.

Backup Lu better than Starter Schneider so far

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Feb 192013
 

Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Photo credit: cbc.ca

As I’m writing this, the Canucks still haven’t announced their starting goaltender for tonight’s match-up against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Perhaps coach Alain Vigneault lost his mythical coin. Or maybe he’s busy throwing darts at a dart board to select his new shootout lineup.

Or maybe, just maybe, the performances by both Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo to-date this season has thrown a wrinkle into his plans.

If we’ve learned anything through the first one-third of the shortened season, the Canucks’ goaltending hierarchy seems less clear. If Schneider – and his agent – expected to start 75% of the Canucks games, that plan hasn’t materialized yet. So far, both Schneider and Luongo have evenly-split the number of starts through the first 14 games of the season.

What is clearer, however, is whose numbers are better.

Luongo has been able to get the Canucks points in every one of his 7 starts. As he’s done throughout his career, he’s performed consistently and has a 4-0-3 record with all 3 losses coming in the shootout. He also has a 0.934 save percentage (6th in the NHL) and a 1.63 GAA (3rd in the NHL). His loss against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday was only the first time this season he’s allowed more than 2 goals in a game.

In the meantime, Schneider has a 4-3-0 record in his 7 starts, and has a 0.912 save percentage and 2.62 GAA. He’s been maddeningly inconsistent – good in wins and not so much in losses. He got shelled for 5 goals against the Anaheim Ducks on opening night before bouncing back against the Calgary Flames. He shut out the Ducks after the win against the Flames, but followed that up by being shelled for 4 goals against the San Jose Sharks. Against the Dallas Stars on Friday night, Schneider allowed 4 goals against in a 4-3 loss, the third time in 7 starts he’s allowed at least 4 goals against in a game. The Canucks gave him the ball early on, but he hasn’t quite run away with it yet.

Schneider has also enjoyed the benefit of receiving more offensive support. With him in net, the Canucks have scored 22 goals (3.14 goals per game). With Luongo in net, the Canucks have only scored 16 goals (2.28 goals per game).

In the shootout, Luongo has actually been decent. He’s been in 4 shootouts, and except for his Oshie-t moment on Sunday, he’s been able to stop about 65% of the shootout attempts against him, which seems to be the league average. And in those 4 shootouts, a grand total of one Canuck scored on their attempt – Jordan Schroeder, who was the 4th shooter in the Canucks’ 2-1 win against tonight’s opponent, the Blackhawks. Only once in those 4 games did Luongo allow more than 1 shootout goal; he allowed 2 on Sunday against the Blues.

This doesn’t, by any stretch, imply that Schneider is not a good goalie because I think he is. I simply think that Luongo is outplaying him right now. And if the Canucks go by merit in selecting tonight’s starter, it should be Lu.

Magic 8-Ball and Poker: 10 Alternatives to AV’s Coin-Flipping Brand of Decision Making

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Feb 092013
 

Much has been made about the goaltending situation in Vancouver and rightfully so: right now the Canucks have two high-calibre netminders making up arguably the strongest tandem in the league.  So with both Cory Schneider and Robert Luongo playing extremely well, it’s become a daily guessing game as to who will start in the next Canucks game.

Likely tired of these daily questions, coach Alain Vigneault introduced his now famous coin – the one he flips to determine which goalie will get the start.  It was humourous at the start but I hope he won’t be using the same line a few weeks from now.

Thus, your friends at CHB have come up with 10 alternative ways to determine the Canucks’ starting goalie:

10.  Asking the Magic 8-Ball.  It’s helped adults and kids alike make some difficult decisions since 1950, offering profound answers such as: “Concentrate and ask again”, “Very Doubtful”, and “My Sources Say No”.  Obviously, the question must be asked in a yes/no format.

9.  A Game of Laser Tag.  Imagine Luongo and Schneider darting behind walls and jumping over barrels amidst a bunch of screaming 8 year-old kids.  After getting shot at all their lives, they would finally have a chance to do the shooting.  Winner gets the start.

8.  Any Wrestling Gimmick Match.  This would be great way to attract new fans – have Luongo and Schneider participate in any of the following wrestling matches during the warm-up:  Hell in a Cell, Ladder Match, or Last Man Standing.  They should be good with it…they both participated in the Legion of Blog’s NHL Royal Rumble last month.  If that’s too violent or too risky, any game like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Settlers of Catan, or Twister will do.

7. Suiting Up.  Whoever gets fully dressed into their equipment and jersey first prior to warm-up gets the start. No questions asked.

6. Heads Up Poker.  Each goalie will receive 50 big blinds and Kesler and Bieksa can provide commentary.  Luongo is the all-in favourite in this competition…but look for Schneider to call AV’s bluff and surprise Luongo with some aggressive pre-flop (or make that no-flop) play.

5. Impressions Contest.  If the poker favours Luongo, then Schneider will definitely have the advantage in an impressions contest.  Remember his Hansen, AV and Burrows on CBC’s After Hours?

 

4. Rock, Paper, Scissors.  Nothing wrong with going to an old standard to determine who’s starting. Two main rules: no adding lizard and/or spock, and it must be best-of-7 to avoid flukes or cheating.

3. Canada Vs. USA (Round 1):  Luongo picks 4 Canadian players while Schnedier picks 4 Americans.  Tug of war at centre ice…winning country has their goalie start.

2. Canada Vs. USA (Round 2):  This doesn’t include an injury risk and is solely based on the economy.  Whichever dollar is stronger on game day means that country’s goalie will be the Canucks’ money in the bank for the game.

1. Walk-Off (Zoolander Style).  This is simple: both Luongo and Schneider need to remove their underwear without taking off any of their goalie equipment.  Given the extreme difficulty of this challenge, AV has the option of granting the winner 3 consecutive starts regardless of performance in the games.  David Bowie optional.

 

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