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Vancouver Canucks: Three quick notes from the Oilers game
Written on January 25, 2012 at 07:43, by HTTN
Shootouts for the Canucks are like rolling the dice…
-written by Shane Koka and Omar Rawji
The Canucks wanted to go into the All-Star break on a high note and the Oilers should have been just the tonic — Edmonton came in losing 8 of their last 10 games.
It turned out to be harder than that, as the Canucks were forced into a shootout. Surprisingly enough, they won this one. Here are our three thoughts on the game:
1. Ping!
On Tuesday, the Canucks hit more iron than Arnold Schwarzenegger when he looked like this.
The ghost of Nathan Lafayette must’ve been hanging around: Henrik Sedin, Jannik Hansen, Sami Salo, and David Booth all hit the frame. The Canucks also missed opportunities down low: either by mishandling the puck, or by getting muscled out of position.
Devan Dubnyk was stellar (at least in one sequence of action in the 3rd). The Canucks should have had more than just 2 goals and they’re lucky it didn’t cost them.
2. Luongo wins a shootout
Roberto Luongo’s shootout record was 1-4 so far this season before the Oilers game. Throughout overtime, several irrational Canucks fans wrote fatalistic tweets such as this one:
Hey #Canucks. #PLEASENOSHOOTOUT
(that was me, Omar)
And this one:
Is Schneider warming up?
(also me)
Why the hell are Canucks fans so irrational?
Anyway, Luongo actually looked incredible in the shootout, especially doing the splits to keep Jordan Eberle’s shot out of the net. He had a painful look on his face after the shot, but after the game said it was just his quad cramping a bit — not the dreaded groin injury.
3. Looking ahead
Sure, the All-Star Game might be fun but let’s look past the weekend for just a moment. Next week’s schedule is the real highlight.
Chicago comes to town on Tuesday. If your hatred for the team has subsided, let’s do some quick visualization exercises:
Patrick Kane
Jonathan Toews
Dan Carcillo
That’s the feeling – you want to drop your laptop to the ground and punch a wall, right? Or am I just an angry person…?
Oh and on Thursday, Detroit is in town.
Welcome to the stretch run, fans. With a playoff position up for grabs in the too close to call Western Conference, anywhere from top seed to completely out of the playoffs could be a possible finish.
