Canucks Win Games 1 and 2 At Home, Head To ChiTown Up 2-0

For the first time in the past three series against Chicago the Canucks have won both Games 1 and 2. They've actually won Game 1 each time, but this is the first time they won Game 2.

What's that about the Hawks being in Lui's head? He got a shutout in Game 1. Suck on that, Hawks! Good game, Hawks.

Hansen has been a friggin' BEAST so far in this series. He's got 2 goals in 2 games, he's hitting and forechecking and creating chances and working hard.

In the first game the Sedins were shut-out, but you knew that in the second game they would be better. They were. Daniel got 2 goals and an assist, and Henrik picked up 1 assist.

Edler has also shown the quality of beastiness in this young series. He had I believe, 7 hits in Game 1, and scored in Game 2 with 12 seconds to go in the second, to make it 3-1 Canucks. A crucial goal.

Now we head to the Windy City, where the Hawks and their fans will be blown away by the speed and skill of the Vancouver Canucks. Let's just end this as quickly as we can, alright? (Now, I'm not suggesting anything... but it is a possibility, right??)

Holy Crap, I Haven't Posted In Forever. Many Apologies!!!

Some news that occurred while I was lazy gone.

The Canucks won the Presidents' trophy!!! For the first time in franchise history by beating the LA Kings 4-1.

Daniel Sedin locked up the Art Ross despite a late push by Corey Perry. The hugeness of this accomplishment cannot be understated: Twin brothers on the same team winning Art Ross trophies in back-to-back seasons with the potential to also both win MVP. I'm pretty sure this will never, ever happen again.

And... the playoff matchup that you've all been waiting for... yes, we're facing Chicago. AGAIN. Chicago lost on the last day of the regular season giving Dallas a chance to make it into the postseason simply by beating Minnesota. But they failed to do it and now, despite all odds, we're facing the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round. What better way to start off a long playoff run than by beating the defending champs, the same team who happens to have knocked you out in the playoffs two years running? (Just make sure we don't lose...)

I think we can definitely beat them, because due to the cap, Chicago lost a lot of their depth players which had a huge impact in the playoffs last season. (Ladd, Eager, BYFUGLIEN.) But it's just a matter of the team playing its absolute best. And EVERYONE needs to contribute.

Also... Cody Hodgson and Victor Oreskovich get called up. The latter is not a surprise, the former may perhaps come as a bit of a shock, due to the fact that he has the worst plus-minus on the Manitoba Moose. In the AHL. Not so good. He'll be centering the third line while Raffi Torres serves the remaining two games of his suspension. (Yes, he got suspended 4 games for his hit on Eberle. I think that's ridiculous, but that's a whole other story.)

Signing off, and hoping to post more regularly. (I KNOW nobody reads this blog, but don't remind me!!)

Canucks Beat Wings, Virtually Lock Up West

Eight games left in the regular season and the Vancouver Canucks, my Canucks, have virtually locked up the number-1 seed in the West. They're now 10 points clear of Detroit and 11 clear of San Jose to lead the conference. So we'll have to play whatever 8th seed there is.

Even Daniel Sedin's brand-new baby girl wants him to win the Art Ross. She cooperated and was born on Monday night. Daniel flew out by himself to Detroit on Tuesday night. He participated in the game-day skate on Wednesday and played. And boy, did he ever. He got the Canucks' only 2 goals and almost got a third, ringing one off the iron in the third period.

Daniel continues to lead the league in scoring with 95 points now. He's 7 clear of Henrik (who is now 2nd in league scoring) and 9 clear of Stamkos, who's hit a bit of a dry spell here at the best time (for Henrik and Daniel). I don't think it can be understated how amazing of a story this will be. I mean, I dreamt about this happening at the beginning of the season, but you're just thinking, "What if?" Now it's actually, truly going to happen, barring a huge cold spell for Danny and a red-hot spell for Stamkos. But seeing as Daniel's longest point drought of the season was only 3 games, I think it's a foregone conclusion that he's pretty much a lock for the Art Ross as of now.

And yes, he also has a VERY good chance for the Hart trophy. He has 40 goals now on the season, only 3 behind Stamkos, so he could conceivably pass Stamkos and win the Rocket Richard! Now, with 8 games left (I don't know how many for Stamkos) it's highly unlikely that will happen. But, it's not impossible. And if you'd asked anyone 4-5, even 3 years ago about the possibility of either Sedin winning the Art Ross or the Hart, they'd look at you like, "Are you crazy?" Anything's possible, never underestimate the skills of the Sedins.

Hockey Hottie of the Week

I know... lots of guys may hate me for this (and some girls, too) but Sidney Crosby is just hot. You can't deny it. He's out with a concussion right now, but he's skating again, so that's good. Get well soon, Sid! But not too soon, I want Daniel Sedin to win the Art Ross. :)

For Once, Salo Is Okay

On Monday night (Harold Snepsts' ROH induction night) Sami Salo's left arm was hit with a puck near the end of the first period. Canucks fans everywhere were torn between sighing or just laughing about the ridiculousness of it all. Pass it to Bulis had a great stat: Salo has averaged one injury per 16.6 games over his career. That was his sixteenth game back. Right on target. But it wasn't broken, and Salo is scheduled to play tonight vs. the Colorado Avalanche. Canucks fans, breathe a sigh of relief. For once in his career, Sami Salo is okay. Savour this moment, folks; it may not come again soon. SALO'S OK!! WHOOOOO!!

Hockey Hottie of the Week

Today's HHOTW is Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens. The fans had little faith in the young goalie when playoff superstar Jaroslav Halak was traded during the offseason, but Carey has played his way into the hearts of Habs fans, and even in to Vezina trophy consideration. BC-born Carey has proved that he is up to the task of backstopping the Montreal Canadiens. He's also the first goalie we've had on Hockey Hottie of the Week. Congrats Carey!!

Nice muscles there Carey!

Last Night's Game

Last night's game was the first time this year's Canucks came back when trailing after 20. Shocking, ain't it? The Coyotes got their first goal when Sami Salo lost the puck between his skates in front of the net. Belanger goal. Bettman must've had something to do with this. Anyways, then the Coyotes got a power play on a Daniel Sedin penalty. (Interesting stat: both Sedins had a minor penalty in this game.) Canucks killed off most of the penalty really well, until they got scored on. It went off Tanev's leg and in. The camera panned to Tanev's face after the 2-0 goal and his lips were faaaaar too readable. Let's just say the rookie has a potty mouth. A couple of times over.

I had the game on the PVR, so after the 2-0 goal, I skipped a bit. Seeing Canuck fans cheering, I skipped back and lo and behold, 17 seconds after the Phoenix goal, Dan Hamhuis had opened the scoring for the Canucks! What a good response. After that, the Canucks were able to generate some more scoring opportunities, came close, but didn't score again in the opening frame.

Coming out hard in the second, the game was tied on a goal by Henrik Sedin after a crease clearing attempt by Adrian Aucoin landed right on the stick of Henrik. (On the power play.) The next thing it hit was the back of the net. Not more than 3 minutes later, Sami Salo threw the puck at the net, a shot going way wide hit Rozsival in front, banked off him like in a pinball machine and put the Canucks up 3-2. But with 43 seconds left in the 2nd period, Alex Burrows got beaten to the puck and Lauri Korpikoski chipped it up over Luongo. Tie game.

Third period was filled with lots of chances for both teams, but the score stayed the same. So it was off to overtime we went. Less than a minute into overtime, Alex Burrows got around Michael Rozsival and got pulled down. Penalty shot. In overtime. But the backhand was predictable and Bryzgalov knew where he was gonna go all the way. Deflected wide off Bryzgalov's pad. But it didn't matter, because a couple minutes later Hamhuis scored his SECOND goal of the night (!!!) to win the game 4-3 in OT. Asked after the game when his last multi-goal game was, he couldn't remember. It was his first 2-goal game in the NHL, and his 5th and 6th goals of the season. 3-game winning streak for our beloved Canucks!