Canucks are in Minnesota tonight and due to a lack of popular demand there will be no running diary tonight, just a few notes on the game. Here's Shacks' take:
Cory starts tonight because Roberto has had as much bad luck in Minnesota as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. Henrik is a surprise starter taping up his wonky ankle and back with with his bro and flavour of the day Byron Bitz. Ballard is a surprise scratch for Andrew Alberts while Mike Duco is recalled from Chicago and slots in with Max Lapierre and Cody Hodgson who's reward for being one of the few players exceeding expectations is having to switch lines with Manny Malholtra who gets Hansen and Raymond.
Hodgson getting bumped to what appeared to be the fourth line may have seemed like a demotion but he still received his usual 13-½ minutes of ice time. It's hard to tell if that's a product of the Canucks being able to roll four lines from having a 2 goal lead early in the 2nd or if he would have received it regardless. We'll see Saturday in Calgary.
The Canucks propensity for giving up an early 2 on 1 set the record tonight at 10 seconds. This time it was costly as Minnesota scored before the game was ¼ minute old as no forward was back to take the third man on the rush allowing Heatley to get the puck on the sideboards and bring it to the net. Salo stayed with Cullen and Heatley was able to cut across the crease and snap it far side.
For the second game in a row, Vancouver overcame their early errors and played a solid first ending up with a 2 – 1 lead by period's end on a
I've long wondered why Vigneault would put his best sniper on the point for 5 on 3 power plays and Coach V finally agreed putting Daniel Sedin back on wing and replacing him with Alex Edler so Vancouver could have a second big blast to pair with Salo on the point. The new strategy pays immediate dividends as Daniel easily taps in a loose rebound off an Edler point shot.
I thought sure Byron Bitz was destined to be logging 4th line minutes before the 2nd period was up but another solid effort has put my Jeff Cowan comparisons on hold for at least another game. Bitz's backhand saucer pass feed to Henrik for the 3rd Canuck goal was, well Sedin like for the second straight game.
If Bitz actually turns out to be capable of playing with the Sedins what a huge boost that would be to the Canucks. Although I like Burrows, when other teams take liberties with the Sedins, it would be nice if the offending player faced a bigger threat than Burrows biting their fingers. I don't think Brad Marchand ragdolls Daniel if Bitz is nearby. I still think I'm going to get to use those Jeff Cowan jokes sooner rather than later but it's nice to dream for a while.
Max Lapierre proved the Canucks weren't missing their toughness with Keith Ballard out of the line-up landing the only punch for a decision over Cal Clutterbuck. I love when they do the old stand back, drop the gloves, remove the helmets and square off start to a fight, although I do wonder why Lapierre would do this when his fights rarely involve any punches landing. I like that Lapierre is answering the bell when he's called out, Max plays a style of hockey that requires him to be accountable on occasion. There's nothing worse than the player that gives the cheap shots but runs to the other side of the ice when confronted…cough Matt Cooke...cough
Dan Hamhuis also showed he missed Keith Ballard throwing a couple of nice hip checks during the game. Although neither sent anyone ass over tea kettle (seriously what the hell does that even mean? Who came up with the term 'over tea kettle' and why?), they were effective.
Minnesota has a pretty nice first line with Setogchi, Heatley and Koivu but the talent drop off from there is massive. Cullen, Clutterbuck and Christianson for a 2nd line, that's not striking fear into anyone and it showed. With Vancouver owning a 2-goal lead heading into the 3rd, both teams exchanged goals before Kesler kept his five game goal streak alive with an empty netter. Minnesota tried hard, they had a couple of pushes, but the outcome was rarely in doubt.
The Nucks are playing much better the last two games after their post all-star game swoon. Next up division rival Calgary, should be fun.
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