Wednesday March 12: Vancouver Canucks 3 - Winnipeg Jets 2 (shootout)

Everybody's jobs are safe for another day. The Vancouver Canucks actually mounted a third-period comeback, then Chris Higgins scored the only goal of the shootout. Vancouver defeated the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 3-2 to snap a seven-game road losing streak.

Here are your highlights:



We've waited all season for this: Alex Burrows was the difference. There were beaming smiles all 'round on the Canucks bench when Burrows finally potted his first of the season with 4:22 remaining in the second period. He had six shots in total, tying the season-high he set back on October 30 against Detroit, and also scored the game-tying goal with 8:43 remaining in the third.

Tied in the standings with quickly dwindling hopes of making the playoffs, the teams played an entertaining game that wasn't lacking in emotion. Tom Sestito set an aggressive tone when he got into his first fight since the January line brawl against Calgary when he stood in with Anthony Peluso early in the first period.

After the disaster against the Islanders on Monday, it was a win for Vancouver to escape the first period in a scoreless tie. The Canucks outshot the Jets 14-9 and Eddie Lack was solid when called upon, showing no lingering effects from the shelling he received from New York.

Though the Canucks went 0-for-4 on the power play, they were also able to successfully defend against Winnipeg's five power play chances and Evander Kane wasn't able to convert on a penalty shot, firing the puck just wide.

Of course, the game wasn't without its dark spots. Taking a penalty for too many men on the ice when defensemen Kevin Bieksa, Jason Garrison and Alex Edler are *all* engaged in the play has to be one of the more awkward moments I've seen. How can a player not notice that someone else is also playing his position?

Also, Edler was on the ice for Winnipeg's first goal, by Andrew Ladd. That pushes his plus/minus down to minus-28, now in sole possession of second-last spot in the league and just one goal ahead of Nail Yakupov.

Finally—yes, I've been avoiding this—Ryan Kesler's injury. He went down hard after a knee-on-knee hit from Jim Slater just 42 seconds after Burrows' first goal, and didn't return to the game. Slater was only charged with a minor penalty for tripping, but Kesler left the ice in obvious discomfort and is on his way back to Vancouver for further evaluation.

I can't overstate what a huge hole this leaves in the Canucks' lineup. Kesler was leading all NHL forwards in ice time at 22:08 per game when he went down. The Canucks are already without injured centers Brad Richardson and Mike Santorelli.

Some are saying that it was only a matter of time until Kesler got hurt, but he has missed just one game this season: that hand injury from the Olympics healed pretty quickly!

The results of the MRI on Kesler's knee will certainly have an effect on whether or not the Canucks could be able to move him this summer. If the injury's at all serious, it would almost guarantee that Kesler will be back in a Vancouver uniform next season.

Though the win puts Vancouver into 10th place in the Western Conference standings and vaults them a point ahead of Winnipeg, it still increases the teams' chances of making the playoffs to just 3.2 percent, according to sportsclubstats.com. The greatest likelihood is that they'll end the year right where they are now: there's a 39 percent chance they'll finish in 10th place.

The team has already left Winnipeg and is headed for sunnier climes. They'll face Washington on Friday, then perhaps Roberto Luongo can have the boys over to his Florida home for dinner after their Sunday afternoon game against the Panthers?

I miss the witty banter from @strombone1. Mad at Don Cherry for taking him to task about his tweets.

The Cause of This Mess?

There has been lots of chatter about what has caused the Canucks' 2014 free fall. Torts has received his share of blame for the night he stormed the Calgary locker room; Mike Santorelli's injury has also been suggested. Those incidents were two days apart in mid-January, with Santorelli's injury coming first, but the situation was going south well before that.

In the seven January games before Martin Hanzal's wrecking-ball third period in Phoenix, the Canucks were 1-4-2. The 9-1 loss to Anaheim had come the day before. Leads had been blown against the Penguins, the Kings, even the Flyers back in late December—just to name a few.

The writing was already on the wall, which has to be part of the reason why John Tortorella lost his mind so uncontrollably in that game against Calgary.

I wondered if the presence of those "NHL Revealed" TV cameras has been any sort of catalyst—they've certainly been on hand for plenty of drama here in Vancouver. But that lighthearted early teaser of Dale Weise losing his helmet dates back all the way to December 6: everything was fine then.

Last week's episode ended in the Canucks' press room after the Heritage Classic, as Torts fielded questions on why he chose to start Eddie Lack over Roberto Luongo. The series will conclude tonight. My understanding is that Luongo's trade is the centerpiece, so it should be worth watching.

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