On paper it looked like doom for the Canucks, coming off a shootout loss in Edmonton the night before, having to take on one of the NHL's best home teams with little rest and a goalie whose last game was 1 month ago. Someone forgot to tell that to Markus Naslund. The Captain was stellar with a hat trick (not to mention a disallowed goal on a quick whistle and a slapper from the point that hit the post), playing as fine a game as I've seen him play post-Steve Moore incident. Curtis Sanford was solid despite giving up a couple to Marian Gaborik, and we also got an absolute beauty end to end rush from Ryan Kesler. Nazzy now has goals in 4 straight games and leads the team with 10. And as for the most anticipated aspect of the night, the "revenge" on Canucks players by Wild knuckledragger Derek Boogaard on Pinky & the Brain? Boogaard had 3:53 of ice time and was a -1, while the twins set up 2 of Naslunds 3 goals and were both +2.Guess that showed us. Full credit to AV and the coaching staff who did a fine job of getting the guys ready and keeping them focused, pulling down what is no doubt the biggest win of the year. The Canucks now sit atop the Northwest Division, 1 point behind San Jose for 2nd place in the Conference with 24 points. Next up for the Canucks is a visit to Curtis Sanford's old stomping grounds in St. Louis to take on the much improved Blues team on Friday. Oh and hat tip to Squirrel E. Doom on CDC for the photo.
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