In this last TGATT of the season, we recap the Canucks’ final game of the season – a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
Are you disappointed? Mad? Sad? Glad?
I'm so upset that I'm eating a salad #TGATT
— Elmee Baterina (@elmeebaterina) May 8, 2013
Some people drink to drown their sorrows, some eat salad. D’fferent strokes, I suppose.
Cory Schneider’s got the flu so Roberto Luongo gets a start. And the Canucks had to sign University of Calgary Dino, Dustin Butler, to back him up.
No worries though. Lu’s got this – he made stopped 40 of 41 Flames shots en route to a 4-1 Canucks win.
Hey guys, this Luongo guy is pretty good! #canucks #TGATT
— newvanfan (@newvanfan) April 11, 2013
Yeah, he’s not bad, eh?
Another game, another 3-goal deficit.
Still ravaged by injuries, the Canucks couldn’t muster enough emotion to keep up with the San Jose Sharks until it was too, too late.
Just like the #Canucks, I didn't wake up til the third period #TGATT
— Elmee Baterina (@elmeebaterina) April 2, 2013
The Canucks eventually lost 3-2; here, in your tweets, is how you saw the game.
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
Talk about two teams headed in opposite directions.
After their 4-1 win last night over the Colorado Avalanche, the Canucks have now won 6 games in a row. The loss was the Avs’ 4th in a row and 8th in their last 9 games.
Also, with Alex Burrows reunited with the Sedins, the first line once again looks rejuvenated and accounted for 3 of the team’s 4 goals.
Burrows, Hank, Dank. That felt right. That felt right. #canucks @vancanucks @canucksgame #TGATT
— Jay Jones (@BARJONESING) March 29, 2013
That’s good news for Canucks fans.
Dale Weise was out of the lineup so Cam Barker was back in. And Keith Ballard was back at forward. What could possibly go wrong?
Actually, it wasn’t too bad.
Against the worst team in the west, Cory Schneider got his fourth consecutive start and the Canucks extended their win streak to 4 games.
For good measure, Keith Ballard also got on the scoreboard with an assist on Alex Burrows’ game-winning goal.
Ironic that the only person who knows how to derail and contain Keith Ballard is Alain Vigneault. #TGATT
— j.Bowman (@jBowmancouver) March 25, 2013
Now on to the game.
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.
Courtesy of canucks.com
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
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.
The Vancouver Canucks dropped their 4th straight loss – this one a 4-2 decision to the Minnesota Wild in Minnesota.
I didn’t get a chance to watch this game so instead I relied on some insight from one of my colleagues here at CHB: Caylie King (@cayking). Through the magic of WhatsApp, Caylie provided me insight on scoring, fighting, and injuries.
With the Minnesota win, they overtook the Canucks for first place in the Northwest Division for the first time since December 2011. At that time, I wrote a song called “Under the Minneso” – a spoof of Justin Bieber’s “Under the Mistletoe”. I’ve included it at the end of this CCC.
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.