It has been far too long since I last had an update here but now that I have some free time for the first time in weeks it seems like a good time to share my thoughts about what has happened with the Canucks in the last few weeks. When I made my last post the Canucks were in the middle of one of the worst stretches in franchise history and now they look like an entirely different team with wins in five of six and points in eight of ten. There are a lot of things that have been factors in the turn around and I’ll take my stab at explaining them later, but first I want to talk about last nights game against the Canadiens.
I was pretty excited going into the game on Sunday not so much for the product that was going to be on the ice but in the stands. It always makes for an interesting atmosphere when the visitors have a lot of content in the house. I’d guess it was probably about a 60-40 split in favour of the Canucks fans, but the Habs fans that were there were plenty noisy. It was much like the Leafs game in Vancouver back in January that I was lucky to attend as well, unlike that one, this game wasn’t over quite as early and despite the Canucks scoring two quick goals halfway though the first period, the Habs managed to keep it close until Henrik Sedin scored the back breaker in the last minute of the second.
After seeing the Canucks play pretty well in Dallas and lose a hard fought game and coupled with the fact that the Canadiens have been brutal on the road lately I was pretty confident that this would not be the game where the Canucks disappoint and obviously they didn’t. Javoslav Halak was great and kept the game close for a while, his save on the Kesler tip as well as the Sundin slap shot from the slot stick out the most. I also thought it was a nice gesture from Guy Carbonneau to stick Carey Price in even for a couple minutes so his family could see him play. You certainly can’t blame him for starting Halak after he stole the game in Colorado and Price being awful since returning from injury.
On the subject of goaltending, Sunday was definitely Luongo’s best game back since being injured and I think it would be pretty difficult to argue otherwise. He was pretty good against Chicago too, but on Sunday he made all the saves he needed to including a few great ones and most importantly he didn’t allow any bad goals which it seems the Canucks have had to overcome one a game. That was something that they were having trouble doing when they were losing.
So I think the big question for me right now is how have the Canucks turned their season around so drastically in such a short period of time? It seem like they have gone from a team that couldn’t win to a team that is scoring at will. A lot of people want to look towards the new “RPM” line as the major factor. Pavol Demitra has played like the guy a lot of people though he was going to be when we signed him (I was more skeptical at first) and the memories of the Mats Sundin parade to the penalty box and floating around seem to be long gone. On top of all that Ryan Kesler is the offensive force the Canucks organization hoped that he would be when he was drafted. While all that has been fantastic there has been a bunch of other factors that have contributed
The defense has been much improved and are chipping in more frequently on the offensive end of things. Alex Edler seems to have found his grove and his booming slap shot as well as cleaned up his defensive play. He is looking much more like the player from last season. Mattias Ohlund has also found his game and Shane O’Brien appears back to playing much more physical. Work could still be done on Bieksa and Mitchell but I expect both to be shutting the opposition down sooner than later.
Even the bottom two lines seem to be performing much better. In the last two games Kyle Wellwood has been much better than he has for most of the season and I am left to wonder if being scratched for a few games is what managed to light a fire under him. A trip to the minors was a wake up call for him earlier in the season and perhaps being scratched did the same. On the fourth line Jannik Hansen has meshed in well with Hordichuk and Johnson. Hansen provides a bit of scoring potential on a line without much pure talent. The odd man out right now is Mason Raymond and while he has played himself out of the lineup I wonder what sitting out for a long stretch will do to his development.
In general it has been nice to see some consistency in the lines for the last several games, but who knows how long that will really last with Vigneault has coach. I am curious to if people think that the consistency is what has allowed the Canucks to get things going the last two weeks or so. Demitra said in the media that he was upset about his always changing linemates and now it seems like he is set with at least Sundin for a while. Of course there is Alex Burrows who is now getting his chance with the Sedins. I can’t really see that stick for long and I imagine Pyatt and Bernier will get another shot up there
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