Buffalo 5 Canucks 2

Ebb and tide... I swear the Canucks at least keep you guessing. It's not that tonight's effort was bad. Buffalo is a highly skilled team that took advantage of their chances, got some bounces and a little help from McCreary and Fraser (these 2 are getting grouchier and more out of step every year). The Canucks made a few errors and the Sabres made them pay for it. Should make for an interesting round of discussion with all the 'experts' on Saturday as they will no doubt pay more attention to the loss tonight than the victory last night. Oh yeah and all those guys on tv will talk about that, too. The Pyatt/Demitra/Raymond line looked better tonight, but the Sedins spent most of their evening doing that maddening 'cycling til we get the perfect set...oh... I lost the puck' thing. I feel bad for Curtis Sanford sometimes. I know he tries his ass off, and it's not easy being Luongo's backup, but at the same time he needs to make that big save and tonight he wasn't able to. Hopefully they can rebound in time for Sunday. The next podcast should be posted Saturday evening, but may be delayed til Sunday because of work tomorrow.

Canucks 4 Red Wings 3 OT

On opening night this year the Red Wings unveiled their Stanley Cup Banner, and then lost to the Leafs. After last night's ceremony honoring longtime Red Wing great Alex Delvecchio with a statue only to see them give up a 3rd period lead and lose in OT, you think maybe they might want to keep the ceremonies to themselves. A great road game for the Canucks last night led by the 3rd line of Kesler, Burrows and Hansen, each one scored along with Mason Raymond as the Canucks rattled off an impressive 4-3 OT win at the Joe Louis Arena last night. The Canucks did a great job of matching the Wings speed wise, and while it wasn't Luongo's best game, he made some key saves, especially in the 3rd period that enabled the team to get back in the game and tie it up. While they got a fairly consistent effort from the entire team, the Kesler line as well as strong play from Willie Mitchell, Sami Salo and Alex Edler showed that this team can compete, and sent a message after the Washington loss Monday night that they are a team that needs to be taken seriously. No rest for the wicked though as the Canucks are right back at it in Buffalo tonight. Curtis Sanford will be getting the start as The Canucks rest Roberto Luongo for Sunday's match against the Blackhawks. It will be a big night for Steve Bernier as he goes up against his former Sabres teammates for the first time. The Sabres are off to a great start, 3-0-0 with just 3 goals against in those games. Thomas Vanek is off to a great start, with 5 goals already in this young season, and G Ryan Miller is 2-0-0 with a 0.96 GAA. Curtis Sanford saw his first action of the season in the 3rd period of the Washington loss and stopped all 10 shots he faced, and was strong in the pre-season. With his 2 point performance last night Alex Burrows took over the team scoring lead with 5 points, as that checking line of the Canucks continues to do more than neutralize the opponent's top lines but score as well. Congrats to Jannik Hansen on his first career goal and to Roberto Luongo for career win #200! Game time is at 4:30 on Rogers Sportsnet and Team 1040, we will have postgame wrap up and the preview of Sunday's match against the Blackhawks on the next episode of WAACH on Saturday.