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Vancouver Canucks Game Day: March 8 vs. Calgary Flames, Steve Moore Anniv. |
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Vancouver Canucks vs. Calgary Flames - Saturday March 8 - 7:00 p.m. - CBC
Vancouver Canucks: 28-27-10, 66 points, 11th in Western Conference
Calgary Flames: 25-31-7, 57 points, 13th in Western Conference
The Vancouver Canucks have 17 games remaining in their season.
The team is looking to rebound from one of its worst outings of the year when it takes on the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.
This will be the first time the Canucks and Flames have met since the infamous line brawl back on January 16 that led to John Tortorella's six-game suspension. Despite the fact that the incident stemmed from bad blood between Torts and Flames coach Bob Hartley that has simmered for 20 years, Torts insists that tonight's game has nothing to do with an incident that happened just seven weeks ago—and that could be considered one of the key markers of the team's decline since Christmas.
Torts says the emphasis tonight is on trying to bounce back after two bad road games, but even he acknowledges that they *could* play badly tonight, and that the fans will let 'em have it if they do.
The Flames did not skate at Rogers Arena this morning, so there's no word yet on which line Bob Hartley will use to open the game. We do know that Kevin Westgarth remains sidelined with a concussion after a Luke Gazdic fight a week ago, so he won't be in the lineup.
New Flames netminder Joni Ortio will start, with Eddie Lack back between the pipes for Vancouver.
Forgotten in the ugliness is the fact that Vancouver won that game 3-2—and actually is undefeated against the Flames this season, with a 3-0 record. Will the team be able to pick up their first points in March on their fourth game of the month?
Brad Richardson and Ryan Stanton will both miss their second straight games with undisclosed injuries. As usual, all we know is that they're day-to-day.
Zack Kassian was suspended for three games for his hit on Brendan Dillon in Dallas. It's going to be tough for him to shake that 'reckless repeat offender' tag if he keeps this up.
Canucks fans will see red-hot Nicklas Jensen in the Vancouver lineup for the first time this season. He must have had a heckuva week, as the team chose to recall Darren Archibald to slot in for Daniel Sedin after his Heritage Classic injury because Jensen "wasn't ready."
Jensen has been on an offensive tear of late. He scored a shootout game-winner on Wednesday for Utica, so that could explain it. He also plays the right side, so he is a better fit as a sub for Kassian.
With all the Canucks' offensive woes, Torts is going all-in with Jensen tonight, starting him on a first line with Ryan Kesler at center. We'll also see Shawn Matthias at Rogers Arena for the first time, playing a third-line role with Tom Sestito and David Booth.
A Solemn Anniversary
As if the violent memory of the line brawl wasn't enough, Saturday also marks the 10th anniversary of one of the darkest days in Vancouver Canucks history: Todd Bertuzzi's sucker-punch on Steve Moore.
I was part of a group that shared season tickets during 2003-04 and was lucky enough to pick the straw that gave me the first choice in our allocation for the year. I picked that March 8 game against Colorado because our rivalry was strong with the Avs at that time. They were the elite team in our division but we were climbing back to respectability thanks largely to the offensive explosiveness of the West Coast Express line: Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison and Bertuzzi. Hopes were high.
Of course, by the time the game rolled around, Steve Moore had concussed Markus Naslund a few weeks earlier in Denver and revenge was on everyone's mind. The game was a disaster.
In addition to the Bertuzzi incident in the third period, the game had already been filled with fights as the Canucks fell 9-2 in one of the worst defeats in franchise history.
I won't link to the video of the incident—seeing it once on TV this week was more than enough for me. Steve Moore has also been making the rounds this week as his civil case against Bertuzzi and the teams continues its long road to trial. It's still saddening to think of how one moment can change a person's life so dramatically and how, at 35, Moore is still a young man who had his career and his long-term health snatched away in the blink of an eye.
Bertuzzi was never the same player again either, and that dark day marked the beginning of the end of that era. The Canucks finished the season strong but fell in seven games to Calgary in the first round, then had their momentum stalled by the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
Once play resumed, the winds of change were blowing as our current core began to create the next wave in the evolution of the Canucks.
After all that foreshadowing, it would be nice if we could get through tonight's game without another indelible moment of ultraviolence. Hope that's not too much to ask.
Loooooo!
If there were doubts about Roberto Luongo's ability to stop pucks, he put them to rest with a a 2-0 shutout win over the Buffalo Sabres in his first game as a Florida Panther on Friday night. The Panthers outshot Buffalo 44-27, scoring two power play goals as the Sabres also debuted their new goalie Michal Neuvirth.
The Panthers are off tonight, so keep an eye out for more tweets from @strombone1 during our game.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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