How about them Canucks!

[talloola]

And the Canucks lost to Boston. I think they'll squeak into the playoffs and then as you've always said it's a brand new "ball game". -

yep, that is a new season, all bets are off. i posted anaheim's points and canucks point above.

san jose just defeated dallas in overtime 2-1

 

[talloola]

Canadiens aim to extend Canucks' strugglesWednesday, 02.05.2014 / 5:06 PMArpon Basu - Managing Editor LNH.com

PrintCANUCKS (27-22-9) at CANADIENS (30-21-6)

TV: RDS, SNET-P, TSN-HABS

Last 10: Vancouver 3-7-0; Montreal 4-5-1

Season series: This is the second of two games between the Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks. They haven't met since the Canadiens won 4-1 in Vancouver on Oct. 12.

Big story: Neither of the two men involved wants to look that far, but this game pits the two favorites to earn the starting job in goal for Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price and his Canucks counterpart Roberto Luongo will likely have an opportunity to battle it out during the preliminary round to see which will be given the starter's job by coach Mike Babcock as Canada moves further along in the tournament.

This game could be seen by many as the first chapter of that battle, but it's definitely not being looked at in that way by Price and the Canadiens.

"It's the Canadiens against the Canucks, two teams involved in playoff races," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said Wednesday. "I don't see this as a showdown to see who will be the starting goaltender for the Canadian team. Absolutely not."

Team Scope:

Canucks: To say the Canucks are struggling would be an understatement. Vancouver has lost its past five games in regulation and is 4-11-3 in its past 18 games. The Canucks have been held to two or fewer goals in 12 of those 18 games and lost 10 of them.

"If we're not scoring goals, it's tough to win games," captain Henrik Sedin said after a 3-1 road loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, "and that's where we are."

Offense was not the only problem Tuesday. Luongo took the blame for the loss even though he allowed three goals on 32 shots, hardly a poor performance.

"I think this one's 100 percent on me," Luongo said. "I wasn't feeling too good out there tonight. I wasn't tracking well, my reads were off. I think I made a big mistake. Last night, we got in late, so I didn't skate this morning. And I just didn't feel like myself out there. So a disappointing performance from me here. I thought the guys deserved better."

Canadiens: Montreal appears to be coming out of a rough patch with one regulation loss in its past five games, and a lot of the improvement has to do with the play of Price. He has two shutouts in four starts and has stopped 130 of the 134 shots he has faced in that span, a save percentage of .970.

But Therrien, without taking anything away from Price, said it's the team's defensive play that has made a big difference over the past five games.

"Our defensive game, when we were struggling, was something we tried to pay a lot of attention to and I believe we've only allowed five goals in five games," Therrien said. "So that's a great sign. The players are paying attention to detail, so that means their focus is there."

Who's hot: Canucks defenseman Ryan Stanton has four assists in five games… Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty has two goals and two assists in five games.

Injury report: Canucks forwards Mike Santorelli (season-ending shoulder surgery) and Brad Richardson (undisclosed) and defensemen Kevin Bieksa (foot), Christopher Tanev (thumb), Yannick Weber (undisclosed) and Andrew Alberts (head) are out. Defenseman Dan Hamhuis and forward Christopher Higgins missed Tuesday's game against the Bruins with undisclosed injuries and are questionable against the Canadiens. … The Canadiens are without defenseman Davis Drewiske (shoulder), and forwards Alex Galchenyuk (hand) and Travis Moen (lower body).

 

[bill barilko]

As predicted here by me Henrik Sedin not going to Sochi

 

[JLM]

Bad luck, this was a game where the best team lost! Lots of shots anyway. Had Hank have been there perhaps the outcome would have been different!

 

[talloola]

i saw the game as 'quite even', price was marvelous, and luongo played well too. i didn't see canucks as the
better team at all, in fact in the last period they seemed a bit slow at times compared to habs, who were blitzing
all over the place.

canucks don't have a player as good as pacioretti, he is a gem. kesler is a better defensive forward but
not as good offensively.

booth actually played a decent game, and higgins had a very good game.

if he had of scored the penalty shots he would have had 5 goals, but luongo stoned him.

edmonton defeated rangers and calgary defeated the islanders, both
teams played well.

 

[JLM]

i saw the game as 'quite even', price was marvelous, and luongo played well too. i didn't see canucks as the
better team at all, in fact in the last period they seemed a bit slow at times compared to habs, who were blitzing
all over the place.

canucks don't have a player as good as pacioretti, he is a gem. kesler is a better defensive forward but
not as good offensively.

booth actually played a decent game, and higgins had a very good game.

if he had of scored the penalty shots he would have had 5 goals, but luongo stoned him.

edmonton defeated rangers and calgary defeated the islanders, both
teams played well.

Perhaps you are right. I was going by # of shots, # of hits, # of face offs won, fewer penalties taken, but I suppose Mtl. outhustled them. I also thought Canucks were trying harder.

Yes, Booth is certainly no slouch!

Blues beat Bean town, emotionally I love it, intellectually I'm not so sure! -

 

[talloola]

Perhaps you are right. I was going by # of shots, # of hits, # of face offs won, fewer penalties taken, but I suppose Mtl. outhustled them. I also thought Canucks were trying harder.

Yes, Booth is certainly no slouch!

they were trying harder than they have been recently, but montreal is a very quick team, not a big team,
and on many occAsions outskated canucks on breakouts, leaving our defence catching up, hence the two
penalty shots, and other justabouts.

 

[JLM]

they were trying harder than they have been recently, but montreal is a very quick team, not a big team,
and on many occAsions outskated canucks on breakouts, leaving our defence catching up, hence the two
penalty shots, and other justabouts.

Yep! I interpreted the penalty shots as Luongo's victory, but perhaps it was more Canuck's stupidity.-

 

[talloola]

Perhaps you are right. I was going by # of shots, # of hits, # of face offs won, fewer penalties taken, but I suppose Mtl. outhustled them. I also thought Canucks were trying harder.

Yes, Booth is certainly no slouch!

Blues beat Bean town, emotionally I love it, intellectually I'm not so sure! -

always good when 'west beats east'.
maybe near the end of the season i might cheer for the east to beat
the west if it would mean a playoff spot for canucks.

 

[tankNZ]

Good job canucks

 

[Kreskin]

Olympics can't get here fast enough for the Canucks.

 

[talloola]

Olympics can't get here fast enough for the Canucks.

thats right, hopefully the two weeks off will be some help for them.

henrik isn't going, but i imagine hamhuis is, as he is playing on saturday.

 

[talloola]

canucks have just been 'leapfrogged' over by phoenix, and are now in 9th place, one ahead of dallas,
two ahead of winnipeg and three ahead of nashville, too many teams above them now, and not that
many below, anyone feeling the wind from the freefall, hope it stops soon.

 

[JLM]

canucks have just been 'leapfrogged' over by phoenix, and are now in 9th place, one ahead of dallas,
two ahead of winnipeg and three ahead of nashville, too many teams above them now, and not that
many below, anyone feeling the wind from the freefall, hope it stops soon.

Might be an incentive for them to beat Toronto tomorrow!

 

[talloola]

Might be an incentive for them to beat Toronto tomorrow!

we hate losing to toronto, they can't, they just can't, it would be nausiating.

 

[talloola]

canucks/maple leafs


TV: CBC 3:00 p.m. pacific time

Last 10: Vancouver 3-7-0; Toronto 7-2-1

Season series: This is the second and final game between the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs. Roberto Luongo stopped all 21 shots he faced when the Canucks blanked the Maple Leafs 4-0 at Rogers Arena on Nov. 2. Vancouver has won 11 in a row against Toronto; the Maple Leafs' last victory against the Canucks came on Nov. 24, 2003.

Big story: Vancouver has lost six in a row and it's going to be a battle down the stretch to get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. The Canucks can give themselves something to feel good about heading into the Olympic break with a win Saturday.

Team Scope:

Canucks: On the bright side for Vancouver, its first three games out of the break (including the 2014 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic) and 13 of its final 22 will be at home. That next home game is a long ways away at the moment, though, and the Canucks must first try to salvage the finale of a five-game road trip that's seen them outscored 14-6 to this point, including a 5-2 loss Thursday to the Montreal Canadiens. They've been outscored 23-10 during their current skid.

Injuries have been a factor, as the defense corps is decimated and center Henrik Sedin is back on the shelf with a lingering rib issue that will keep him out through the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But the Canucks are fighting to stay positive.

"It's a challenge, you know," Luongo said in the Vancouver Sun. "But the only way we're going to get out of this is to keep our head high and work. If we feel sorry for ourselves, it's just going to get worse."

Maple Leafs: Toronto will play the bulk of its games after the break on the road. The Maple Leafs have only nine post-Olympic games at Air Canada Centre, where they are 20-10-1 and have the third-most home wins in the Eastern Conference.

A win Saturday could vault the Maple Leafs into second place in the Atlantic Division. They inched closer to the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning by beating them 4-1 in Tampa on Thursday, with Jonathan Bernier stellar again in a 33-save effort.

"Huge win," defenseman Tim Gleason said in the Toronto Sun. "We had a big game, a four-point game. We just have to get that game on Saturday because no one cares about (this one) now."

Who's hot: Canucks defenseman Raphael Diaz has a goal and an assist in his first two games since being acquired from the Canadiens. … Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bozak has three goals in the past four games. Bernier has the seventh-best save percentage in the League at .926.

Injury report: In addition to Sedin, out of the lineup for Vancouver are defensemen Andrew Alberts (concussion), Christopher Tanev (hand), Kevin Bieksa (foot) and Yannick Weber (upper body) and forward Mike Santorelli (shoulder). Defenseman Dan Hamhuis (undisclosed) will return after missing two games. … Toronto forwards Dave Bolland (ankle), Trevor Smith (hand) and Carter Ashton (hand) are on injured reserve.

 

[bill barilko]

What a uselesss bull**** 'effort'.

 

[talloola]

luongo kept them respectable for much of the first period, then they scored a goal that bernier
should have saved, so that was lucky.

they played a bit better in the second period, and luongo continued to play well.

they fell apart in the third, and luongo became an easy target, as the defense of the whole
team, which includes forwards faded away.

they were lucky to get the one goal.

ok, bring on the olympics, should be fun.

 

[shadowshiv]

we hate losing to toronto, they can't, they just can't, it would be nausiating.

As a Leafs fan, I am glad that Toronto won, but I would like Vancouver to start winning after the Olympic break and make it into the playoffs.

 

[talloola]

As a Leafs fan, I am glad that Toronto won, but I would like Vancouver to start winning after the Olympic break and make it into the playoffs.

their team is in a shambles right now, as soon as all of the injuries return, healthy, then they cAn
begin to asses the mess, as it is 'more' than just the injuries that is the problem.
and its also 'not' the goalkeeping.

i listened to mike gillis, 'again' the other day, and i wish he would listen to replays of his interviews,
because he is just giving excuse after excuse, going right back to the lock out, it is getting very
hard to depend on him any more, as he doesn't seem to see the reality of the situation, but on the
other hand torterella answers questions in a very honest way, taking responsibility, along with the
team, and stating that together they will strive to make it right, and he also stated that the team
just isn't doing what it takes, and maybe different players are needed.

people can trash the players and the coach over and over, but the g.m. has a job to do too, and this
team is at that point in time, where the g.m. has to start filling holes, and replace some players,
and also see that the team is entering a transition period, where 'he' is the 'fixer' not the coach
or the players, when certain players begin to reach a time in their careers where they just can't
quite be the stars, they must be joined by players who can help them out, become the new stars, and
keep the team respectable, so they don't fall to the bottom like their alberta foes did, canucks don't
want to spend the next five or six years getting top draft picks to rebuild, that takes a long time,
and that shouldn't be necessary with this team, they aren't 'that' bad yet, but work needs to be done
now.
if he starts now, maybe they make the playoffs, and get thru one round,
which is better than 'where' they seem to be headed right now.
gillis needs to do something before or on the trade deadline, and he
should 'not' trade away 'any' young hopefulls, like tanev or other such
players, they are the hope for the future of this team.