Canucks 6 Flames 0

It was a night the Vancouver Canucks set aside to honor a fallen teammate. They then served notice on the Calgary Flames, the rest of the NHL and pundits across the continent: This Threat Is Real. While some have noted that the Canucks have added toughness and some offensive ability to the lineup this season, no one was willing to give them a chance, and some have the team finishing as low as 14th in the conference. I am not saying that the Canucks are going to unseat the Red Wings at the top, but this Vancouver team is very much alive, thank you. An emotionally charged team shook away the fog after the moving tribute to the late Luc Bourdon and scored a late one in the first, Henrik Sedin from his brother Daniel and Ryan Kesler as the Canucks took advantage of some sloppy defensive play by the Flames. The Flames had a number of power play opportunities in the first, and 8 scoring chances, but Roberto Luongo kept the gates closed to give them a chance. And that was exactly what they needed, as they stormed out in the second, with goals from Steve Bernier (his first as a Canuck) and Alex Burrows in the first 2 minutes. The Flames had absolutely no response for this new version of the Canucks, as they were outhit and outhustled for the entire 20 minutes. Their frustration showed as they found themselves shorthanded 3 times, and their 3 biggest players, Iginla, Phaneuf and Todd Bertuzzi were the culprits, taking undisciplined penalties. The Canucks were right back at it in the third, Burrows netting his second early on from new Canuck Ryan Johnson, who was impressive, blocking shots and working hard on the PK. Mattias Ohlund was a tower of strength on D last night, leading the way with 5 hits and was rewarded with a PP goal into an empty net after a rush from Taylor Pyatt left the big Swede unchallenged in front of the net. The game was chippy at times, even Jannik Hansen dropped the gloves with Damon Langkow after he took a poke at Roberto Luongo. This was probably the biggest message sent of the night: This team is not going to let anyone take liberties any longer. That was evident again as Dion Phaneuf rocked Daniel coming across the blueline (he clearly leaves his feet to make the hit, but hey, there was no injury and we won so I will let it slide), and had to answer to Steve Bernier, who was an assist short of the Gordie Howe hat trick for the night. The PP the Flames recieved didn't help, as the speedy Rick Rypien stole the puck and potted a beautiful shot top corner on Miikka Kiprusoff for the final tally of the night. After the slow start, the Canucks showed what had been developing during that great 6-0-1 preseason run: speed, toughness and tenacity, the likes of which we have rarely seen in this town. Oh, and lost in all this offense was a 25 save shutout by the new captain (sorry Don Cherry, some goalies are not shrinking violets). Another notice served against one of the better goalies in the league for sure. To be fair to Kipper, his D left him hung out to dry a number of times. Kinda sad to see how ready the CBC crew of Mark Le and former Canucks coach Marc Crawford were to remind everyone that Robyn Regehr was back in Calgary with his wife in labour. One player makes not a team, and as good as Regehr is, nothing could have stopped a team as focused as the Canucks were last night. A fitting tribute to Luc (who wore the #6 in Moncton for his Jr. team, as someone on the Canucks board pointed out), and a hell of a way to open the season. The team has a 6 game road swing coming up, starting with a rematch against the Flames Saturday. You know they will come out fighting after being thoroughly embarassed last night, so this will be the first real test. After that its 5 games out east, starting with Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals Monday. We will have the Canucks/Flames pregame podcast for you tomorrow, so check back.
The Canucks announced today that they have signed Alex Edler to a 4 year contract extension. A great move to lock up a kid who is becoming a bright light on our backline, and may be a star in this league if he continues to develop at the pace he has shown.