Flying V’s Wrap-Up: Vancouver Canucks shutout Avalanche

Game 21: Chalk Up Another W

The Vancouver Canucks played a perfect road game in Colorado capitalizing on Manny Malhotra’s first of the season in a 3-0 shutout victory Wednesday night against the Avalanche.

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Cory Schneider closed out his second career shutout as an early Christmas present to Head Coach Alain Vigneault who became the Canucks all-time leader in career wins as a bench boss with his 247^th.

Along with the milestone victory for Coach V, Manny Malhotra and Ryan Kesler both reached their own minor milestones, tallying their first of the season in the victory.

Malhotra’s late first period marker came from a sharp feed from linemate Cody Hodgson who looked solid in Wednesday’s victory following Jannik Hansen’s return to the third line.

Hansen made the most of his time alongside the twins however as the Canucks return to full health upfront it remains unlikely he will spend any more time on Vancouver’s top line.

First line replacement Alex Burrows returned to the top line with confidence Wednesday, looking off linemate Henrik Sedin on a second period two-on-one opportunity he ripped past a sprawling Simeon Varlamov to extend the Canucks lead.

Malhotra & The Canucks Win 3-0 In Colorado - (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Like Malhotra, struggling center Ryan Kesler tallied his first of the season on a late empty-netter that earned the admiration of his teammates who couldn’t help razz Kesler for his humble start in the scoring race.

Could Kesler’s effortless empty-netter help ease the forward out of his early season slump?

Canucks defenceman Aaron Rome left Wednesday’s game after blocking a shot with his hand against the Avalanche and was not on the ice for Thursday morning’s practice.

Consider Rome day-to-day as the Canucks remain quiet on his condition.

V’s Thoughts

Thanks to a few fantastic saves from Cory Schneider and timely scoring from a couple of slumping skaters the Canucks cruised to a commanding road win Wednesday.

Without a point from either of the Sedins it was nice to see other sources of scoring come through for the Canucks. Ryan Kesler will be saying thanks for last night’s empty netter over the holiday Thursday but must continue to catch up with the skaters around him after starting the year out due to injury.

Kesler and linemate David Booth have generated their fair share of chances but seemed to be fighting the puck at opportune moments again Wednesday.