The Week That Was, The Week That Will Be, And Some Notes

Looking Back

The Canucks came home from a five game road trip this past week, with three home games, with Minnesota, Colorado, and Phoenix coming into the friendly confines of Rogers Arena. The only concern I had for this past week was, four games in seven days, none of which were easy wins, and two going into overtime, one all the way to the shootout. All four teams were also playoff teams or teams fighting for playoff spots. Fatigue was definitely a potential problem.

The Canucks came out with flying in the Minnesota game on Monday, and although Minnesota came back, but it was the Canucks game all the way. The Colorado game was a different story, with the Canucks going down 2-0 early, but they fought back, and Schneider just posted his usual .930+ Save Percentage and played great, improving to 14-3-2. 

The speed bump came with the Phoenix game Friday night. The officiating was questionable for both teams. But it eventually came down to the Canucks inability to score on a 5-on-3 advantage, and Burrows boarding Fiddler and the referees overreaction. I realize they are trying to prevent headshots and concussions, but to crack down on what should have been a two minute boarding call shows the NHL's inability to be consistent in anyway.

Looking Ahead

So out of three games, they won two, and lost a relatively close one. Not bad considering that loss ended a seven game win streak. Plus now they have four days off as they head east for a four game road trip. They go to Detroit on Wednesday and are in Atlanta on Friday. Atlanta started off hot, but cooled off after about 40 games. Detroit will be the challenge here, the two best teams in the Western Conference, and probably the whole league, should not disappoint. 

The problem with Detroit is their depth. Anyone of those guys can score, and when the big guns aren't firing Ruslan Salei comes out of nowhere with a goal, or Patrick Eaves, or Darren Helm, or whoever they pull out of their AHL affiliate. They're stacked. Also Jimmy Howard is showing no signs of a Sophomore-Slump. Head on over to Nightmare on Helm Street, to find out more. 

Notes

The big news from the past week of course stemmed from Wednesday night's game against Colorado when Manny Malhotra took a puck to the eye. There was a decent amount of blood, and he immediately left the ice. One good piece of news is the puck hit his orbital bone and not the eye itself. I just hope the guy can regain sight, let alone play hockey again. 

This is a huge loss, probably bigger than all the defensive injuries combined. Yeah the loss of Bieksa, Edler, Alberts, Hamhuis, Salo, and Ballard at various times hurt, but they were able to cobble together a defense and didn't seem to miss a beat. In Malhotra, however, they lost a top face-off guy, in the league. They lost probably a top three in the league penalty killer, and the engine that was running the top checking line in the NHL...right before the playoffs.

Nothing against Max Lapierre, Chris Higgins, or Mason Raymond, but Manny Malhotra they are not. It will be interesting to see how the lines shape up. They tried Max Lapierre centering the third line on Friday, which was pretty effective. I assume they will try some other options as they finish out the season, so it should be interesting.

On a lighter note, Ryan Kesler continued his interview-bombing, or "Keslurking" as our friends over at Pass It to Bulis have termed it. He got John Garrett and John Shorthouse pretty good after the Colorado game. It has not gotten old at all, and continues to be hilarious. Bobby Lou has even got in on it, or at least trying to. 

In some other good news, it appears Tanner Glass and, more importantly, Kevin Bieksa are on the mend. Both are expected to play Wednesday in Detroit. Getting Bieksa back is great, and it was reported in the first intermission of the Oilers/Avs game on Hockey Night in Canada tonight that Edler was skating as well. Manny's injury is just one of many the Canucks have had to get over this year. Can they? Of course they can. The real question is will they.