Canucks This Week: October 21st, 2009

What a week! Another tough loss to the Flames, a tight win against the Wild, a close loss to Edmonton, and a much-needed win against the Black Hawks. The Canucks finally got their first road win -- and it couldn't have come against a better team -- and Luongo looks like he's finding his game. Here's my breakdown of the last four games and a look at what's ahead:

What will it take to extinguish the Flames?

So the Canucks started out fairly strong against Calgary -- a couple of fights early on to set the tone, a lot of decent chances, and some quality stops by Luongo. What the hell happened? They came out so flat in the second period, I wasn't surprised at all to see them go down to that team. I don't understand that.

I really think the Flames are overrated, so why can't the Canucks beat them? Maybe it was just a case of them overthinking the game. Maybe they got it so far in their heads that they needed revenge that they just couldn't stick to the basics to come out ahead. They played all right in the third, but it really seemed more like the Flames were letting up a bit, and it's only natural for the team that's down to press hard in the late stages of the game. Another bad game for Louie; let's hope it's his last. We play Calgary again in December; I'm sure by then the Canucks will be firing on all cylinders and they'll get their revenge.

The Wild -- still Mild.

That was a dull game. Looking at that, it's no wonder that these teams are at the bottom of the division. Both teams played a tight defensive game, which can be exciting, depending on how they're playing it, but this had New Jersey-Anaheim '03 written all over it. Luongo let in one weak goal, but he was otherwise solid. I think he took the bad game on Friday and decided it's time to buckle down. His play since then has supported this theory.

With this whole game, it really looked like both teams were aware of how badly they've struggled, and they were just trying to make sure they didn't get embarrassed: playing to "not lose," which is one of the things I hate the most about Vigneault's coaching style (You have to play to win if you want to win big. Playing to not lose won't work against the good teams. See Vancouver-Chicago, round two, game six, 2009 NHL Playoffs for proof). It was good that the Canucks won this one, but it's not something that will be hard to forget.

Edmonton -- just a little more time???

Everyone was talking about how the Canucks could have tied it if they just had a few more seconds, blah, blah, blah... It doesn't make up for the fact that they played like crap for 40 minutes in that game. In the first period, they were fired up, going hard, and outplaying the Oilers, until the midway point.

They didn't get going again until they were down by a goal with 10 minutes left in the third period. I don't know what happened to them. They got outworked, outhit, and outplayed by the Oilers, and all that's left are excuses: Khabibulin was on fire, the team was tired from travel, Rexall Place is a tough arena to play in, the refs called a bad game. Let's break these down.

Khabibulin was on fire: Yes, he played well, but all the shots were from outside. No one went to the net to screen him or work for rebounds. When you're not scoring goals, you need to get back to the basics and score some "ugly" ones. When the game is over, all that matters is how many more you scored than your opponent, not how nice they all looked.

Travel: Sure, that was their third game in four days, but it's not like the travel from Calgary to Vancouver to Edmonton is worse than what they've dealt with in the past. There's no excuse to play that poorly for over half the game. Don't forget they had only one game in the week prior to that. They had plenty of rest before this string of games.

Rexall is a tough arena to play in: The Oilers were 18-17-6 at home last year. It's not that tough to win in Edmonton. Sure, they're a better team under Quinn, but that's another bad excuse.

Reffing: The bad calls went both ways all night. This was a classic case of the refs "evening up" the tally -- they'd respond to a missed call by calling a bad one on the next play; a bad call would result in a missed call against the other team on another play, etc. You can't blame the refs for this one.

The only excuse the Canucks have -- and Ryan Kesler, to his credit, said it publicly -- is that they got outworked by a team that didn't work that hard. Another tough road loss.

Chicago: An early-season turning point?

Well, this has been a long time coming. After choking against the 'Hawks last year, I don't know of any Canuck fan who hasn't been eagerly, and nervously given the poor start, waiting for this one. My PVR malfunctioned, so I didn't get to see the first period, but what I saw was a Canucks team who knew exactly what they needed to do: play their game and play it better than the 'Hawks played theirs.

The Canucks outworked the Black Hawks in most areas, but it was still a fairly even game. Luongo was outstanding -- neither of the Chicago goals were his fault -- and they did the one thing they failed to do in the playoffs against Chicago: FORECHECK! That was the difference tonight -- that and Mitchell's hit on Jonathan Toews, which TSN accurately called the "TSN Turning Point" tonight. When they got the lead, instead of trying to sit on it with five minutes left, which is precisely what killed them this Spring, they kept pressing, keeping the Black Hawks pinned in their end, and they kept going with strong positional play when things went in the other direction.

This is the kind of game the Canucks need to play from now on, especially with all the injuries, and I really hope they recognize that and carry it forward for the rest of the year. Finesse isn't what will win them the Cup this year; it's got to be because of hard work.

Looking Ahead

For the upcoming week, the Canucks are playing Saturday at home against Toronto, Sunday at home against Edmonton, and Tuesday at home against Detroit.
Unless they overlook the Leafs, this one should be easy. They are a complete joke, even more than I thought they would be this season. It will be a completely devastating loss if they come off a great win against Chicago with a stinker to Toronto.
Edmonton? Fatigue might be the factor here, but again, that's not just another weak excuse they don't need. Look for them to take their .500 record against the Oilers, play strong, and smoke them the way they should have on Monday.
Detroit, despite their slow start, will be a challenge. We always have trouble playing the Wings, and Tuesday will be no different -- don't let their record fool you. It's going to take more of the stuff they showed against Chicago and less of what they brought to Edmonton if they're going to beat this team.

Final Thoughts

Watching the game live in Edmonton on Monday, there was one big thing I noticed, and that was the play of Shane O'Brien. I've never been a fan of his. I think he takes way too many penalties and is too slow a skater to really be an impact player. However, watching him closely the other night, I saw a guy who finishes his checks regularly, plays a great positional game, and really shows some good hockey sense. He still has a tendency to take dumb penalties, but they have been going down this year. I'm no longer a hater, and while I won't go as far as to say he's one of my favorites on this team, I do now see what so many others have been saying about him since the Canucks acquired him last year -- he's a great asset that this team will regret losing.

Also, it shouldn't go without noting that Michael Grabner scored his first NHL goal tonight. Good for him! Here's hoping he has a great career as a Canuck.

I've been saying all year long so far that it's no time to panic: not when they started off 0-3, not when two more key players go hurt, and certainly not now. The slow start was never something to worry about; if they kept playing badly after the 10-or-20-game point, then I'd be a little worried. I really think they started to right the ship on Saturday, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect wins in all three of their next games. Until next week, thanks for reading Canucks This Week!