Beat Those Desert Dogs!
If only all games could be this easy. The Canucks made the desert their dessert last night, dominating the Coyotes all game long. Celebrating Black Friday in the States, the Canucks picked up a door-crashing win for little expenditure.
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Love Em
Cory Schneider picked up his second straight shutout, another relatively easy one that should reignite the goaltending debates around town. Roberto Luongo was supposed to return tonight against San Jose, but it looks like Schneider stole the start from him last night.
What the Canucks do with Schneider in the final year of his contract is the most interesting long-term storyline this year.
2. Kesler Again!
After finally nabbing an empty-net goal Wednesday, Ryan Kesler did one better and beat an NHL-calibre goalie (well, Mike Smith) last night. After stripping the puck off ex-teammate Raffi Torres, Kesler snapped a vintage wrister top shelf and celebrated in style.
He’s back baby.
3. Slump overwith?
Speaking of slumpbusters, Kesler followed up his goal with a beautiful set-up to David Booth. In a span of 40 seconds, the second line stepped up and put this game away. The American Express line gets all the credit in this game.
Canucks vs. Avalanche: Love em & Hate em
Hate Em
1. Pre Game Hype
Interesting comments from Kevin Bieksa pre-game. In a Coyotes-Sabres match earlier this month, Torres took a run at former teammate Christian Ehrhoff. When asked about the incident, Bieksa commented that Torres probably likes him a lot more than he like Ehrhoff.
Interesting.
Besides the Canucks have their Christian replacement already, David Booth.
2. Hatred
Hate the Canucks? The Sharks do. Ryan Clowe and the secret Swede Douglas Murray didn’t disagree with Mark Recchi’s now infamous comments earlier this week.
I wouldn’t expect the Sharks to have a favourable opinion on the team that dismantled them in the Western Conference Finals, but perhaps calling the team a bunch of whiners is a tad hypocritical.
3. He Said What?
Finally, let’s let Schneider and Chris Higgins verbalize the zeitgeist.
“We just followed our best game of the season with our best game of the season,” goalie Cory Schneider said Friday. “That’s pretty impressive.”
And then Chris Higgins added: “Until we lose again.”
About Richard Hodges
