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!

Hockey Hottie of the Week

So last week Sunday, I was really busy and forgot to do a Hockey Hottie of the Week. This is the first one in two weeks!! You're dying for some sexiness, aren't you? Well, today's HHOTW i-is... Alex Edler of the Vancouver Canucks!! Alex Edler is Swedish and has great hair. He wore skinnies to the Canucks jeans day. He's currently injured because his back has got ouchies, but he's one of the Canucks' best defensemen and has a flair for the offensive.

More LOLHockey

'Cause you know how much you love it!

Sorry, not as many this time. But I think they're also funnier, so it all evens out.

(By the way, I know I'm supposed to do Around the League today, but I can't look at Nhl.com because the Canucks game is on the PVR and then I'll see the score. So I'll do it after I watch the game. If I have time!)