Sunday February 21 - Vancouver Canucks 5 - Colorado Avalanche 1
The Vancouver Canucks' journey to the bottom of the NHL standings was put on hold on Sunday when Ryan Miller led his team to a 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, snapping the team's four-game losing streak.
Here are your highlights: there are some good ones!
I didn't realize until after the game that the 0-5-1 home losing streak that was snapped last night is the worst stretch I've seen since I started covering the Canucks from the press box in January of 2010. We have to go all the way back to the first year of the Mike Gillis regime to find something worse...
Between 0-6-3 slump in 2008-09 and 0-5-1 this month, Canucks never lost more than 3 straight at home in regular season.
The lowest point of the Torts season in 2013-14 was the seven-game losing streak heading into the Olympic break, between January 27 and February 8, but the last five losses of that streak all came on the road.
Even when things were going well last night, I was still preparing for trouble. As the Canucks started the third period with a 3-0 lead, I remembered back to the New York Islanders' visit on March 10, 2014, when the Canucks led 3-0 going into the third before surrendering seven third-period goals and eventually falling 7-4.
But it didn't happen! The only bum note on Sunday was Ryan Miller losing his shutout with 42 seconds to play when he got trapped under Jarome Iginla as Matt Duchene scored the Avs' only goal of the night.
Considering it was Jared McCann, who's constantly said to be lacking NHL strength, who bumped Iginla as the throng of players went to the net, I thought there was a good case for a goalie interference call.
Losing the shutout should be small potatoes for Miller, who may have played his best game as a Canuck on Sunday night. The Avs came out hard in the first period and dominated the chances in the second, ultimately outshooting Vancouver 38-29 for the night. But Miller shut the door with some acrobatic play, giving Adam Cracknell the opportunity to open the scoring on a skillful backhand at 8:31 before Jannik Hansen collected the first of his two goals on the night at 18:46.
I was a little surprised to see the attendance at Rogers Arena looking pretty consistent on Sunday after such a tough losing stretch. I might have been even more surprised to hear some cheers and feel some positive vibes—it has been awhile! The last time the Canucks scored the first goal in a home game was against Toronto on Feb. 13—and that lead lasted just 1:09 before the first of Mark Arobello's two quick goals.
Before that, we have to go back to the Columbus game on Feb. 4, when Linden Vey opened the scoring midway through the first period and the Canucks held the 1-0 lead until the middle of the third before falling in the shootout.
The night went so well, Radim Vrbata even scored—on the power play! The goal was Vrbata's first in 15 games and first at home since his hat trick against Buffalo all the way back on December 7.
At last, something good for the visiting scouts to see!
Every scout up here was scribbling detailed notes after Vrbata's goal. Not even joking. #canucks
The Canucks reassigned forward Alex Friesen to Utica after he has been a scratch for the last three games, so it seems like the team is satisfied with its forward depth for the time being.
The feeling seems to be that the Chicago scouts, in particular, are keeping an eye on Vrbata. In his latest edition of The Provies, Jason Botchford makes his case for Dallas being the top suitor for Dan Hamhuis:
More than one of the national insiders have linked Hamhuis to Dallas this month, which should tell you everything you need to know about the potential of this one.
It’s real.
Hamhuis would be a solid play for Dallas, to me. They already have Goligoski and Oduya running down their lineup as left-side D.
You add Hamhuis to that mix, it could give you three nice pairings which would make for the type of depth you’d need to wipe out one of the big dogs in a Western Conference playoff series.
Slip Hamhuis into your top four and Oduya starts looking better as your 3rd pairing D.
As Botchford points out, Vancouver ownership and Dallas ownership would have to put their longstanding differences aside in order to make this deal. But don't you think both sides would like to think they could earn the bragging rights after getting the better of the other? Can a deal be structured that makes both sides think they're coming out as winners?
The market for defencemen got a little clearer on Monday when the Leafs shipped defenseman Roman Polak and depth forward Nick Spaling to San Jose in exchange for two second-round draft picks and the $2 million cap hit of Raffi Torres, who has been playing in the AHL with the San Jose Barracudas and apparently will remain there.
Lamoriello said he didn't think Torres, or any veteran, coming into the Marlies would be a good fit, so Torres stays with Sharks AHL club
The supplemental pieces make it hard to treat this trade as an exact framework for a Hamhuis deal. I think it sets the bar at two second-round picks, but the Canucks don't have as much roster and cap flexibility as Toronto does. Lou Lamoreillo is earning his money by finding ways to make his assets attractive enough to generate maximum return.
The Canucks' Monday practice is just getting underway out at UBC. Here's the early word on who's at work:
The team doesn't play again until Ottawa comes to town on Thursday, so I don't think we need to worry about Vrbata's status just yet. Lots could happen between now and the next game.
One final note—I think Henrik Sedin is starting to feel better!
#Canucks Henrik Sedin records his 10th career 4-point game
Despite the team's woes, Henrik now has nine points in the Canucks' last six games, dating back to the win in Arizona. His faceoff numbers are also back in normal range—the only recent game where he wasn't close to 50 percent was last Thursday against Anaheim, when he went 2-for-10 against that pesky Ryan Kelser and 0-for-4 against Ryan Getzlaf for a 6-for-19 performance on the night.
Henrik now has 46 points in 53 games this season—an average of 0.87 points per game that is actually a hair above his career average of 0.84.
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