Thursday February 5 - San Jose Sharks 5 - Vancouver Canucks 1
Well, that was humbling. We knew the Canucks were in for a tough night on Thursday with all their of their best right-side defensemen on the shelf. The San Jose Sharks took full advantage, laying a 5-1 smackdown on the home side and moving into sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division.
This clip's for masochists only. Here are your highlights:
When the Sharks came out with guns blazing, firing 11 shots on Ryan Miller by the time the game was six minutes old, I flashed back to his fine performance on Nov. 6 in San Jose, when the Canucks were outshot 36-19 but still eked out a 3-2 win.
I was hoping we'd get a repeat performance, but a Matt Irwin goal from an impossible angle along the near boards found the top corner, surprising Miller, with 2:17 left in the first period.
That puck didn't appear to be deflected, but three of the other four that got past Miller on Thursday night certainly were. All told, not a great night for the goaltender—or the defense—but Vancouver's malaise seemed to run throughout the roster.
Even coach Willie, who rarely has a bad word to say about anybody, wondered aloud after the game why all the forward lines couldn't play with the same emotional commitment as the fourth-line darlings Horvat, Dorsett and Kenins.
Dorsett played 13:40 last night while first-liner Alex Burrows played 13:38, further blurring the boundaries between the top and the bottom of this roster. Bonino, Higgins and Vey were actually the busiest forwards last night, all with just over 17 minutes of ice time.
After that effort, I have to think that Zack Kassian will get a chance to re-join the team for Saturday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Not only does Pittsburgh boast All-Star offense from the likes of Crosby, Malkin and Letang, they're also now the second-most penalized team in the NHL thanks to bruising young defensemen Simon Despres and Robert Bortuzzo and agitators Steve Downie and, now, Max Lapierre.
Ready for more bad news? Here's the first word from the Canucks' Friday practice out at UBC, due to the Tragically Hip concert tonight at Rogers Arena:
Chris Higgins is also missing, in addition to usual suspects Tanev, Corrado, Bieksa and Richardson.
For those of you who are climbing back into your seats on the Tank Nation bandwagon, the Canucks' playoff chances did take a hit of six percent last night, according to
SportsClubStats.com, but Los Angeles, Dallas and Colorado also all lost last night, so Vancouver's playoff odds are still pretty good at 81.7 percent.
Tradewinds
The latest on the Evander Kane saga today: the embattled forward has elected to have shoulder surgery, which will put him on the shelf for 4-6 months. Though he won't be helping any team in this year's playoffs, it certainly seems like his time in Winnipeg really is coming to an end.
Kane's baggage makes him a risky acquisition target, but Jason Botchford argues in last night's
Provies that he's an option the Canucks could—and should—pursue.
If they really are going to step up and make a serious bid for Kane, something which still remains a reach, they have a long way to come around on this guy.
That’s not to say the Canucks shouldn’t travel the distance. Young, dynamic players are more difficult to find than Ogopogo.
And teams like the Kings and Stars have had success buying low on notorious bad boys like Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Tyler Seguin.
It just may be the fastest way to improve dramatically.
Botch cites two reasons why the tide could turn on the Canucks' interest in Kane:
• Willie Desjardins is close to Don Hay, Kane's old coach with the Vancouver Giants, with whom he won a Memorial Cup in his WHL rookie season in 2007. Hay loves Kane, therefore Willie might also love Kane.
• According to Botchford, Kane's agent is Don Meehan of Newport Sports, who's also Trevor Linden's agent. "If Kane really does want to come to Vancouver, there are few people who could influence the Lord more than Meehan can. Do not underestimate Meehan."
Botch suggests that the price for Kane would be a young, offensively gifted player who'd be obligated to the organization for several seasons. That could mean *gulp* Jake Virtanen.
Would you do it?
The other big news impacting the trade market today comes on the goalie front. Though he finished his game last Saturday after being hit in the throat by a puck and played again two days later, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers is now shelves with issues stemming from that incident.
Larry Brooks of the
New York Post goes a step further, reporting that Lundqvist could be sidelined for a month or more.
When Lundqvist missed the Rangers' game last Wednesday, Alain Vigneault said he was prepared to use backup Cam Talbot for both the team's games this weekend if necessary—back-to-backs against Nashville and Dallas. Twenty-year-old Mackenzie Skapski will be the backup, so Brooks says "General manager Glen Sather presumably will be in the market for a veteran to back up Talbot."
Perhaps the Rangers should replace a Swede with a Swede? AV would even have some familiarity with Eddie Lack from training camps in Vancouver. I hope Trader Jim's on the phone, seeing if he can provide the asset that the Rangers need in their time of trouble.
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