Canucks 3 Wild 2

Are you freakin' kidding me? As I had mentioned in the pre-game post, I didn't think this one would go down as a win, but it would be great to hang on for a point. No one told the Canucks that, as they battled back twice to tie it and then to paraphrase Joey Kenward on the Team 1040 last night "Henrik scores!! Or was that Daniel? I don't care, it was a Sedin and it's 3-2 Vancouver". Classic. Now unlike some who pander to the eternal pessimists out there, (*coughDanRussellcough*) I think it is a very big deal that the Canucks were able to win that game last night. Playing their 3rd game in 4 nights on the road, with a 3 hour flight and a time zone change tacked onto it, the Canucks went into a place where they were 6-1-2 in their last 9 visits with Curtis Sanford and without Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa and won it. They did it with hard work, a great job of line matching by Alain Vigneault (congrats on win #100, Coach!) and great nights from 2 players in particular: Willie Mitchell and Pavol Demitra. Funny that not only did Mitchell not get recognized for his efforts last night in the 3 star selections, but neither did Curtis Sanford. Can't blame them though, as it's hard to look good when you have the league's premier player Cal Clutterbuck on the ice. Seriously. Clutterbuck was an even, with 3 shots and 8 hits. Fine, 8 hits. Good for him. But he had 9:34 TOI. Then we go to Mr. Mitchell: 1 assist, +2, 24:01 TOI, 2 hits and 4 blocked shots. But maybe they just wanted an excuse to get Mr. Clutterbuck on the scoresheet, because you won't find him anywhere else except the program. Is this a big deal? No. But it speaks volumes about the perception of things in the Cult of Lemaire (tm). Can't say enough about Curtis Sanford. he certainly showed how hard he can battle, and it was truly inspiring to see how hard the team was battling for him last night. Sanford is a relentless worker in practice, and it certainly gives the Canucks a boost to have him come in and give them the chance to win such a huge divisional matchup. Good on Steve Bernier to get off the Schneid as well... He has been busting his ass out there, so a goal, especially the timing of it was huge. So that's 5 of a possible 6 points on this road trip, and they head into Pittsburgh with a well-rested Roberto Luongo to take on Crosby, Malkin and the Penguins tomorrow morning at 11 am PST. Yeah, ask me how happy I am about that. The game is on Sportsnet with Shorthouse and Garrett, and Joey and Tommy have the call on the Team 1040.

On a side note, the game took on a bigger meaning as the Flames shutout Colorado 1-0. The win moves the Flames into a tie with the Wild, but they retain 2nd due to games in hand.