Chemistry is bubbling on second line 30 Mar 2015 The Province Ben Kuzma

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1 Chemistry is bubbling on second line The Province Ben Kuzma PLAYOFF DRIVE: Canucks need big games from Bonino, Vrbata and Higgins who were flying against Dallas Nick Bonino found his finish and an elevated compete level. Chris Higgins found his legs and a way to the net. And Radim Vrbata found his way to the 30-goal plateau with a slick spinand-shoot exhibition Saturday. As the Vancouver Canucks open their most crucial road trip of the season Monday in St. Louis a demanding four-game odyssey that includes stops in Nashville on Tuesday, Chicago on Thursday and Winnipeg on Saturday their quest for a playoff position will either be enhanced or in danger. A 4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday did produce a point after Vrbata pulled the power play trigger with 1:32 remaining and Eddie Lack pulled in regulation time. It also produced hope. A combined three goals, five points and a dozen shots by the second line, which has been together for five games, should be a rallying point. Bonino has been better with the puck and in faceoffs, Higgins has more giddy-up after a groin strain earlier this month and Vrbata has been everything the Canucks could have hoped for as a prime-time finisher. Now comes the litmus test. That s the season right there, said Vrbata. We know what to expect and it s more about us being ready. Chemistry is big for me and we have gotten to know each other and hopefully we can keep it going. In the absence of the injured Zack Kassian and especially gritty Brad Richardson, Bonino has become a bigger centre of attention. The top line combined for zero shots through two periods against the Stars and only Daniel Sedin managed a pair in the third. Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows didn t even have a shot attempt. The trio will face top lines and top pairings this week, so imagine if the second line or that so-called energy-driven fourth line with relentless rookies Bo Horvat and Ronalds Kenins can click? Imagine if the Canucks can build on scoring on the power play in the last five games? It s going to be a long week and it s going to be a physical week, but those are the kind of games in which we seem to rise to the occasion, Bonino said of beating the Blues, Blackhawks and Jets twice each this season, yet losing twice to the Predators. I ve felt good lately. The goals haven t been consistent, but the way I ve played has been consistent. There aren t going to be goals every night. It s going to be blocked shots and battling in the faceoff circle and everything kind of worked out (Saturday). Bonino won five of his first six draws against the Stars and had three take-aways in the first period. He gained attention from converting a sweet feed from Vrbata in that period for his 14th goal, but Bonino also leads all team forwards in blocked shots with 81. Horvat is second at 42. And he also leads in takeaways with 51 with Jannik Hansen second at 39. While Bonino has been getting better in the circle the last week 9-for17 against the Stars, 12-for-20 against the Jets but just 3-for-16 against Arizona the focus is always going to be on goals when you score seven in your first 14 games as the trade replacement for Ryan Kesler. Then came a 15-game goal drought, scrutiny in the Vancouver fishbowl and a

2 seven-game absence with a foot injury. Bonino has had Shawn Matthias, Derek Dorsett, Brandon McMillan, Alex Burrows, Linden Vey, Kassian and Hansen as linemates this season. He may have found something with Vrbata and Higgins. We ve been finding each other and getting used to each other and it s paying off, said Bonino. Every game could have been like that (Saturday). We ve hit posts and chances and missed a lot more than we actually scored on (against Dallas). Bonino is fourth in club scoring with 34 points (14-20), and while he would have hit a hot streak to match the 22 goals he had with the Anaheim Ducks last season, the 26-yearold Hartford, Conn., native is under contract for two more years at $1.9 and $2.1 million US respectively and is starting to find his total game. So is Higgins. He got into position to deflect a Dan Hamhuis power play point shot Saturday, but was more noticeable for a stronger stride and being stronger on the puck. It was just his 12th goal but second in the last three games. It seems like it s been on the upside and things are starting to settle because it s been a tough year for me, said Higgins, whose name popped up in trade rumours. Hopefully, these last seven games I can be a big player for this team. This is a huge challenge for us against teams trying to fine-tune their games for the playoffs. Higgins, who was traded here in 2011, can relate to Bonino trying to make an instant impression. Sometimes when you re new, you re playing off adrenalin a lot, said Higgins. We didn t have a good middle part of the year and that s partially my fault. Hopefully we can have a big impact as a line in these games. I usually have four or five deflection goals a year and that one (Saturday) was the first one. It s been tough not getting any luck this year and it s been a struggle for the second power play unit, too. Canucks Eddie Lack delivers more than comic relief for sidelined Miller DAVID EBNER VANCOUVER The Globe and Mail Published Sunday, Mar A week before Christmas, Eddie Lack was on bended knee in a mostly empty Vancouver Canucks locker room. He had a harmonica in hand, hamming it up in a holiday spot for CTV. Does this thing have the mumps? Lack wryly joked. Moments later, Lack, the affable backup goaltender in his second NHL season, gamely slung on a red accordion and unfurled a few screeches from the instrument. Nearby, veteran starter Ryan Miller was in an interview and glanced over, his face corkscrewed with a smirk and a what the? look. It was vintage Eddie Lack, a 27-year-old Swede whose lively personality in a button-down league has received as much attention as his goaltending. Now, however, his work on the ice becomes central as the Vancouver Canucks attempt to bolt down a postseason berth. Miller went down with a knee injury in late February, with seven weeks left in the season. The Canucks were in a precarious playoff position, and a team in such a spot that loses its starting netminder usually wobbles and slides out of contention. The Canucks instead have won almost two-thirds of their games since Miller was hurt and Lack has been an essential stabilizing force. It s a big contrast from a year ago, near the end of Lack s rookie season, when he was shoved into the starting role after Roberto Luongo was suddenly traded. The trade was

3 precipitated by coach John Tortorella playing Lack in net in the Heritage Classic instead of Luongo, who had savoured the spotlight start for months. Lack considered Luongo one of his idols when he arrived in North America. There were chants of We want Lu! We want Lu! from the Heritage Classic crowd. It was not a fun afternoon for Lack. The game was near the beginning of a string of 19 starts in a row, and Lack s play had been strong until it wasn t. As March wore on, he played with barely any rest, Tortorella manically refusing to give him a game off. Lack faded, his weakening play compounded a back injury and the team s general implosion. This season, Lack s numbers have improved as he has assumed the starter s gig. He s the same goalie, 6-foot-4 and agile, but last summer he bolstered his body, moving his trainer to his cabin in Sweden, working from morning to night. It created a foundation of durability that produces night-to-night success. The Canucks are an average team, one that oscillates from impressive to ugly. But through the ebbs and flows, Lack has been steady. Last Thursday at home, in a bad 4-1 loss to Colorado, Lack was arguably the best Canuck on the ice. On Saturday, another loss, 4-3 to Dallas, Lack was good but missed the big save he could have made in overtime. The Canucks playoff position seems assured, barring a collapse, but the stakes will be raised this week on the final road trip of the year, a tough four-game slog through St. Louis, Nashville, Chicago and Winnipeg. Though 27, Lack is only a year removed from his rookie campaign; he remains an emerging goaltender. He has played just 76 NHL games, but his style is savvy enough that the Canucks top goal scorer, Radim Vrbata with 30 this year, hasn t quite figured him out in practice. When you practise with some goalies, after a while you know where their weak spot is, or what to do against them, Vrbata said. But with him, it s almost a full season Vrbata paused, tilted his head and pursed his lips, a scorer mulling a puzzle he hasn t figured out it s tough to crack him. It s hard for me to say what makes him good because I don t even know how to beat him yet. Lack s story in hockey is one of resilience. He grew up in a small city an hour northeast of Stockholm. His dad was his goalie coach until his early teens, the early 2000s, when Sweden s hockey system began to pour resources into goaltending. Lack is one of many who benefited and eventually reached the NHL. He was spotted at 16 by a Canucks scout, but was never drafted and came up through Swedish leagues before Vancouver signed him at After three seasons in the minors the third mostly lost to hip surgery he rose to back up Luongo in Last summer, the Canucks new management was unwilling to bank on Lack and signed Miller. Lack didn t see much ice time behind Miller and, during the season, there was talk about how well Swede Jacob Markstrom was playing for the Canucks American Hockey League farm team. In , Lack had backed up Markstrom for Brynas in Sweden s top league. The uncertainty of Lack s standing has been wiped away by his recent play. Even a careful reconsideration of his difficult March a year ago shows it was hardly all his fault: He was soso, but not bad at even-strength. When shorthanded, the Canucks were destroyed a team failing. Thinking back to last year is one of the few times the tone of Lack s voice dips to something akin to sombre. He paused, last week, for several seconds before answering, first smiling. Good, good, he said of his current state. I m pretty much done talking about last year. I know why it s a big thing. I m feeling good right now. Lack is still quick with a joke. When former AHL roommate and current first-line Canucks defenceman Chris Tanev scored a big contract last week, Lack quipped, It feels like just yesterday, we were sitting in Winnipeg, Tanev in his Grinch pyjamas. But as business has become serious, his interviews have become static, like most athletes, obvious talk of not getting too high, too low. We ve got to keep pounding away, Lack said, and doing our thing and winning.

4 For the seeming ups and downs, Canucks forward Jannik Hansen instead sees reliable season-to-season work from Lack. He s the same guy that s been here for the last three, four years, Hansen observed. Calm, big goalie, athletic. Hansen, a Dane who perhaps feels a natural rivalry with a Swede, is something of a comic, like Lack. Asked who is the funnier of the two, Hansen turns to some subterfuge. It s a facade he puts on for you guys, Hansen said. I m trying to start that rumour that he s not the same guy when camera turns off. He s miserable. You can run with that. Road trip could determine Canucks fate The Vancouver Sun ELLIOTT PAP After a mediocre homestand, they face a daunting trip through the Central Division The Vancouver Canucks have been better on the road this season than they have been at home, which is a trend they ll have to continue if they want to protect their playoff position. The Canucks are still sitting second in the Pacific Division with seven games remaining but their most recent homestand after losing 4-3 in overtime Saturday to the Dallas Stars wasn t much help. They couldn t put away either Colorado or Dallas, two teams sitting below the playoff bar, and now they face four teams above the playoff bar on their fourgame journey through the Central Division. It begins tonight in St. Louis and then moves Tuesday into Nashville, Thursday to Chicago and Saturday afternoon to Winnipeg. Those teams were a combined 83 games above.500 when the Canucks boarded their charter Sunday morning for St. Louis. It s scary stuff. I think we just have to worry about the first one, said Canucks left winger Chris Higgins. If you look at the trip as a whole, it s pretty daunting with the teams we re playing. So we ll just worry about that game on Monday. You always want to start off the trip with a win so you can get your confidence going. Hopefully, we ll do that. For Radim Vrbata, who netted his 30th goal of the season Saturday night and is emerging as the Canucks MVP, the trip is not about hope. It s about need. The losses to Colorado and Dallas have pushed the Canucks into a sticky position. With a poor trip, coupled by a few Calgary and L.A. victories, they could find themselves below the playoff bar in no time. We have to get some wins on this road trip, Vrbata stated. We have to find points. If we don t, we are going to be in trouble. We can t be looking at what the other teams are doing. I think we are in a position where we can control our own (destiny) and we have to do that. That s the season right there, he continued. I think every team we re going to play is a really good team, a playoff team. There are now seven games left and every point and every game will be important. We ve played everybody already so we know what to expect from St. Louis, we know what to expect from Nashville, Chicago and Winnipeg. So it s more about us being ready for each and every game. The Canucks have an excellent record against the teams they are facing on the trip with the exception of Nashville. They have defeated the Blues twice, the Blackhawks twice and the Jets twice. But they have lost twice themselves to the Predators, beaten soundly by 3-1 and 5-1 margins.

5 The Canucks have been a confounding team all season. In the last five weeks, they have managed to lose to non-playoff teams Buffalo, Arizona (in a shootout), Columbus, Colorado and Dallas. During the same span, they have taken out the Blues, Ducks, Kings and Jets. I think our record is better against the teams we re facing on this road trip than the ones outside the playoffs so I m happy we re playing the teams we are, said Canucks captain Henrik Sedin. I think it brings out the best in this group and it has all year. So it shouldn t be any different now. One thing the Canucks will have going for them is a reborn power play. It has scored six times in the last five games, including the winning goal in Los Angeles on March 21 (Vrbata), the winning goal in Arizona the following day (Alex Edler), the tying goal against Winnipeg (Yannick Weber) and the late tying goal against Dallas on Saturday (Vrbata) that salvaged a point after the Canucks had squandered a 2-1 third-period lead. Even the second-unit, which has been a black hole for most of the season, scored when Higgins deflected home a Dan Hamhuis one-timer. It was just the second power play goal for Higgins. Saturday s 2-for-3 performance boosted the Canucks power play to an 18.8 per cent efficiency rating, good enough to tie for 11th place (with Calgary) before Sunday s slate of eight games. The coaching staff has finally abandoned the four-forward concept and gone with the conventional three-forward/two defenceman set up. Edler and Weber are on the first unit, with Hamhuis and Chris Tanev on the second. I think it s a different look for teams, said Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins. I don t think they ve seen that look as much so I don t think they re quite as prepared for it. Another positive Saturday was the impressive performance of the Higgins-Nick Bonino- Vrbata line. It was their fifth straight game together and they were easily the Canucks top unit against the Stars. They each scored a goal, although Higgins and Vrbata did tally on the power play, and they combined for 12 shots and 21 attempts. I ve said it before, chemistry for me is big, said Vrbata. Now we ve played together a couple of games and we kind of know about each other now. Hopefully, we can keep it going. On the injury front, netminder Ryan Miller (knee) still isn t ready to practise with the team even though he has been taking shots in full equipment from goalie coach Rollie Melanson and skills coach Glenn Carnegie. So Eddie Lack and Jacob Markstrom, if he gets another chance, will have to continue to carry the load. Lack is in 13 decisions since Miller went down while Markstrom is Seven games left, summed up Lack. We need at least a couple of wins on this road trip, for sure. Yes, they do. ICE CHIPS: The Utica Comets, the Canucks American League farm team, are on a sevengame winning streak and were comfortably atop their division Sunday by 14 points. In their most recent victory, 4-2 victory Saturday over the Rockford Ice Hogs, Hunter Shinkaruk netted his 12th goal of the season and Joe Cannata made 37 saves between the pipes. RECENT RUN The Vancouver Sun The Canucks have lost two in a row for the first time since early March when they were beaten by San Jose and then Arizona in a shootout. They have not lost three in a row since

6 early January. On the road, they have won three straight. The Blues are coming off a 4-2 loss at home Saturday to the Columbus Blue Jackets. They are in their last five. WHO S HOT? The Canuck power play is 6-for-13 in the last five games. RW Radim Vrbata has 10 points in his last seven (5-5-10). LW Daniel Sedin has nine points in his last seven (2-7-9). C Henrik Sedin has five points in his last five (2-3-5). D Yannick Weber also has five points in his last five (3-2-5). Blues captain David Backes has 13 points in his last 13 games (5-8-13). WHO S NOT? Canuck C Linden Vey has no points in 10 games and no goals in 17. RW Jannik Hansen has no points in seven games and one goal in 13. LW Ronalds Kenins has one assist in 10 and no goals in 16. LW Shawn Matthias has no points in six and one goal (an emptynetter) in 13. RW Derek Dorsett has no points in six. Blues LW-C Steve Ott has one goal in 26. HEAD-TO-HEAD The Canucks have taken both meetings so far, winning 4-1 in St. Louis on Oct. 23 and 6-5 in a shootout at home March 1. The Canucks squandered a three-goal, third-period lead in the latter game before going 3-for-3 on Jake Allen in the shootout. The Canucks were outshot in the 4-1 win and in the 6-5 victory. Their power play went 1-for-5 in the two games. QUOTABLE It s a big challenge with what we ve got coming ahead with Chicago and Nashville and St. Louis. You can play good hockey in their buildings and not win. We have to play well and, hopefully, we ll get something. Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins on the daunting four-game trip that also includes Winnipeg. The Canucks have won in St. Louis and Chicago this season, lost in Nashville and have yet to visit Winnipeg. Making it hard on themselves The Province Jim Jamieson ROAD TRIP: Canucks are in a critical position after two mediocre home games These guys just can t seem to do anything the easy way. On a 5-1 spurt down the stretch run to the playoffs and having most of their injured players back in the lineup, the Canucks looked ready to finish strong, qualify and compete in the NHL playoffs. They even had two games against very likely non-playoff teams before a tough four-game trip that would complete their regularseason road schedule. So what happens? They don t bother to show up for Thursday s game with Colorado and allow the speed of the young Avs to be a factor. The result? An embarrassing 5-2 loss. OK, call it a Mulligan, but a better though not good enough effort against Dallas results in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Stars on Saturday. It was such that the Canucks were fortunate to even get the game to OT and salvage a point. Now the Canucks 91 points with seven games left are faced with the prospect of a brutally tough four games this week that likely will define their season.

7 The NHL s Western Conference has been strong and deep this season, so the playoff bar won t be the same 91 points that got Dallas into the post-season a year ago. It s going to be more like the 97 points required of Chicago in , maybe even 98 points. The good news is that going.500 in their remaining seven games (and getting seven of 14 possible points) should get the Canucks into the playoffs. Despite the disturbing stumble, the Canucks still occupy second overall in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of the Flames against whom they have a game in hand and three points up on the Kings. The Flames 5-2 win in Nashville Sunday moved them into the No. 3 spot in the Pacific Division and bumped the Kings out of playoff position. The Canucks also have more ROWs (regulation and overtime wins, which is the first tiebreaker for playoff seeding) than Calgary and L.A. But Canucks fans shouldn t get too comfortable. Vancouver takes on no-hopers Arizona and Edmonton at the end of the season, but a prolonged losing streak could be very costly and could put the Canucks in a wild-card spot against a tougher opponent. It all begins Monday when the Canucks visit the Western Conference, third-overall Blues in St. Louis, then travel to Nashville postgame to take on the West s No. 2 team the next day. Then it s in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Thursday and on to Winnipeg for a Saturday game with the Jets a team that is in a wild-card position and fighting for its playoff life. And that s not even taking into account the home game a week from Monday against the desperate Kings that will likely have huge playoff implications. The Canucks have generally shown this season that they get up for games against good teams and they can take solace out of the fact that they ve gone 2-0 so far this season against the Blues, Hawks and Jets. They ll need to find that form again this week. The road trip The Province Jim Jamieson At Blues (Monday, 5 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040) Record: points Position: Second in Central Division Home record: (fifth overall) Record against the Canucks this season: 0-2 Recently: Coming off a disappointing 4-2 loss to Columbus on Friday, where they lost key forward Alex Steen to a knee injury. Still, they are in their last 10. At Predators (Tuesday, 5 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040) Record: points Position: First in Central Division, second in West Home record: (second overall) Record against the Canucks this season: 2-0 Recently: Lost to the Flames on Sunday, possibly a letdown after clinching a playoff spot with a win in Washington the night before. Still, were 4-0 before that. Both scoring winger James Neal and star defenceman Shea Weber are out with injuries that are said to be shortterm. At Blackhawks (Thursday, 5:30 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040) Record: points Playoff position: First wild card in West

8 Home record: (eighth overall) Record against the Canucks this season: 0-2 Recently: The Hawks seem to be coping with the huge loss of star winger Patrick Kane to a broken collarbone on Feb. 24, going since then. Still, they ve lost three of their last five, including losses to Philly and Columbus, but they managed to beat Winnipeg 4-3 on Sunday. Key defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson is day to day with a hand injury. At Jets (Saturday, noon, Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040) Record: points Playoff position: Second wild card in West, one point up on the Flames Home record: (14th overall) Record against the Canucks this season: 0-2 Recently: Winnipeg lost a big game at home to Chicago Sunday. The Jets have been decimated with injuries this season, but are starting to get some of their key guys back, most recently top-six forward Mathieu Perreault. That, and a laudable display of urgency, had them on a 6-1 run heading into Sunday s game with the Hawks. Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec has been in goal for all of the Jets wins in the run and is red-hot. After the four-game trip, Vancouver closes out the regular season with three home games: April 6 against L.A., April 9 versus Arizona and Edmonton on April 11. Loss to Dallas reveals rule quirks The Province Ed Willes REFEREES: Controversial calls on goalie interference, slashing and icing had role in determining outcome As the Western Conference teams come hurtling down the stretch to conclude this thrilling NHL season, here s something that will slow everything down: the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports. Saturday s game between the Canucks and Dallas Stars was fascinating for a number of reasons, not the least of which was highlighting three of the more contentious rules in the NHL. The first concerns the goalie interference rule, which nullified Bo Horvat s goal early in the second period. On the play in question, Jannik Hansen was tied up in the Stars crease with defenceman Trevor Daley and was clearly trying to vacate the premises when Horvat shot the puck into the net. Just as clearly, Hansen s presence in the crease interfered with Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen, satisfying one part of the rule, which states: The over-riding rationale of this rule is that a goalkeeper should have the ability to move freely within his goal crease without being hindered by the actions of an opposing player. But, in the next paragraph, the NHL rule book states: If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will NOT be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player... provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact. The debate over this rule will only intensify next season when it becomes subject to challenges by coaches. In the vast majority of cases it s subject to interpretation, but the guess here is that if the officials got a second look at the Hansen play, they d overturn the ruling on the ice.

9 The irony, of course, is Alex Burrows got away with one just prior to Chris Higgins goal later in the second period when he shoved Daley into Lehtonen proving, once again, there is such a thing as karma. The second instance concerns the slashing penalty issued to noted comedian Tyler Seguin on Alex Edler, which led to a late Canucks power play and the game-tying goal. Seguin and the Stars bench were apoplectic: Their defence was the slash didn t break Edler s stick. Seguin even pointed to the stick on the ice, intact and not smoking. For reasons that are unclear, that s become the standard for slashing stick breaks, it s a penalty, stick doesn t break, no penalty but in this case the zebras got it right. Seguin knocked Edler s stick out of his hands, potentially setting up an odd-man rush at a crucial moment in the game. That his stick didn t break is irrelevant. And finally, the icing call against the Canucks which led to the faceoff which led to Patrick Eaves tying goal in the third period was just a blown call. But it also highlighted a play that has become almost farcical this season. How many times have you seen a defenceman pretend to be hustling back to retrieve the puck and just failing before it crosses the goalline? I mean, it looks like a mime walking against the wind. These are NHL defenceman. The linesmen know they can skate. Please, use a little common sense. As per colleague Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, a sign outside the Iron Horse Bar and Grill in The Big Smoke reads: Free beer for all Leafs playoff games. On a related note, love the spin coming out of Toronto that Mike Babcock will charge over to the Leafs following this season. Yes. MLSE can make him rich but, for pity s sake, he d be inheriting a team that is chaotic in the boardroom, directionless and spiritless in the lockerroom and is at least five years away from competing for a playoff spot. Sure, Babcock likes a challenge as much as the next guy, but let s get real here. If he decides to leave Detroit he ll have his pick of jobs, and stepping into that toxic waste spill in Toronto won t be at the top of his list. Further with NHL head coaches. Look at the work done this season by Willie Desjardins with the Canucks, Paul Maurice with Winnipeg, Bob Hartley with Calgary and Dave Cameron with Ottawa. All four teams are fighting for a playoff spot. All four coaches should be in the coach-ofthe-year conversation. But, to be taken seriously for the Adams, they have to get their teams into the postseason. That, in turn, will likely be decided by one or two points over the final games of the season. Win and they re heroes. Lose and they re yesterday s news. And it will come down the most slender of margins or a bounce either way. That job would make you crazy. Here s the thing about Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson. During his post-game pressers, you never have to ask him, What do you mean by that answer? On Saturday, Robinson knew his team got lucky in their 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers and didn t try to hide from that reality. I thought we were average, at best, he said. We were lucky to win the game. And. They were better for long, long stretches. And. We shouldn t be dominated like that in the midfield. Now, don t know how that candour plays in the Caps locker-room but if the players are interested in the truth, they should be listening to Robinson. The plain fact is Portland was the better team on Saturday, the Caps were outplayed badly in the midfield and they won, largely because their goalkeeper, David Ousted, was the best player on the pitch. The midfield question, in particular, is a vexing one because Pedro Morales isn t playing at the same level he was at last season. He saved his game with a genius pass to Robert Earnshaw on the late game-winning goal, which is the mark of a great player. But for the 89 minutes before that, he was average and the Caps can t have long-term success if their captain and best player is average this season. Robinson was asked if Morales is the same player he was last season. In the 90th minutes, yes. What about the first 89 minutes. I think all my players weren t up to scratch.

10 Like we said, not a lot of ambiguity there.