Hard to rate injury-riddled Canucks

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1 Hard to rate injury-riddled Canucks Here's our 25 cents worth at the season's quarter pole By Gordon Mcintyre, The Province November 16, 2009 The Canucks are 25 per cent through the season but, as indicators go, predicting where they'll finish on this trajectory is as meaningless as the first-quarter score in a CFL game. It's taken 91 to 96 points the past four years to make the West playoffs, meaning the Canucks will have to play at least.590 hockey the rest of the way. To gauge the Canucks now with all the injuries they've had is an exercise in incomplete data. That said, there are patterns emerging so let's address a handful of them and see what Mike Gillis, who was on the Eastern Seaboard on Sunday to catch some women's NCAA field hockey, has to say. Brother's keeper At times he's been invisible in the 17 games since Daniel broke a bone in his foot, but Henrik Sedin has 17 points in those games. Impressively, 12 of those are goals, nine coming in the past 11 games. "At the start when Daniel was injured, we were trying to find a fit for him and it was difficult for him at first," Gillis said. "But in the last couple of weeks in particular, he's been really solid, one of our leaders." With Henrik scoring, maybe Alain Vigneault should split them up at even strength when Daniel returns. Big shot Of the eight Canucks goals on Saturday, the best example of teamwork was Matthieu Schneider's. Alex Burrows forechecked hard, Michael Samuelsson patiently controlled the puck before feeding Schneider, who then pump-faked like Eli Manning to give Burrows another second to set up his screen and Kyle Wellwood a second to turn and put himself into position for a potential rebound. Getting more bodies in front of opposing goalies is something the Canucks discuss before almost every game.

2 "We want increased shots at the net and increased presence in front of the net," Gillis said. It sounds easy, but doesn't happen enough. Wither Wellwood? Speaking of Wellwood and Burrows, the latter hasn't put the puck past an opposition goalie in 16 games, Wellwood hasn't scored at all in his 17 games. Worse, Wellwood barely gets any shots and has just one assist, although at plus-1 he hasn't been a defensive liability. Burrows, too, is plus-1, is getting shots (52) and is overall, a far cry from the 28 goals he had last season. "A lot of times Alex and Kyle have been without complementary players," Gillis said. "We haven't lost any faith with them." Defence rests Schneider's was just the eighth goal from a Canucks defenceman. Coming into the season this was going to be the year of the four-man rush, while Christian Ehrhoff and Schneider joined Sami Salo as cannons from the blueline. Salo hasn't scored and Schneider is still getting his legs after missing the first 13 games. Ehrhoff has pretty well come as advertised. "With all the forwards we've had out we needed play a more conservative style to be competitive the last six weeks," Gillis said. "We decided to sacrifice [offence] by protecting our goalie and eliminating [opposition] scoring chances." Goal by committee After a sluggish start, Roberto Luongo has been solid since returning from a cracked rib. Backup goalie Andrew Raycroft, 4-2-1, has had two spotty games and a shutout. Third-stringer Cory Schneider was brilliant in making 45 saves during a 2-1 loss at Dallas. "Yeah, Raycroft has played well," Gillis said. "And we knew Cory was going to step in and play the way we knew he could play. As he got more opportunity, his nerves settled down." gordshockey@hotmail.com

3 Copyright (c) The Province Goals galore as Henrik does the trick Critics answered as Canucks get it together in all departments By Jim Jamieson, The Province November 15, 2009 Accused of a litany of hockey sins in three straight losses on this road trip, the Vancouver Canucks answered their critics here Saturday night in a key Northwest Division game. Powered by Henrik Sedin's first career hat trick, the Canucks finally found their 'A' game against the division-leading Colorado Avalanche and came away with an 8-2 win at the Pepsi Center. Told they couldn't score, they filled the net behind Avs goaltender Craig Anderson -- arguably the best in the league thus far. Accused of not going to the net hard enough, they made life miserable for Anderson, who's been the Avalanche's catalyst this season. Called out for not finishing their checks, they did that early and often, wearing down Colorado pretty much from the opening face-off. "They made some really good plays out there, on the last one there was an open net. It's a little late, it took me nearly 700 games, but it's nice to have it," said Sedin, who now has 12 goals in 21 games. "We had all four lines coming to play tonight and all six Ds and that's a big difference. We've had one or two lines going every night, but we need everybody going to be successful and that's what we did tonight." Sedin said he's not shooting any more this season, just getting into better shooting position. "I'm in more scoring positions than I used to. I'm taking better shots." And when the Avs did get some push, goaltender Roberto Luongo was sharp in his second start after missing two weeks with a cracked rib. "We had a good meeting about getting right in front of the goalie," said Luongo who made 32 saves. "If we don't give him that room it's really tough on the other goalie."

4 After managing just one goal in each of their three previous games, the Canucks solved Anderson for three even-strength goals to take a commanding lead barely halfway through the first period. The Canucks scored three goals by 10:59 of the first period -- the first two by Sedin and another by Jannik Hansen -- and were in command the rest of the way. "I thought we built on what we did in Detroit (a 3-1 loss on Thursday). We got off to a good start and our guys had a much better net presence," said coach Alain Vigneault. "We made life very hard on their goaltenders. We got contributions from the whole team." Anderson finished the period, but was replaced by back-up Peter Budaj for the third period. Marek Svatos broke Luongo's shutout bid at 5:52 of the third period when he shovelled in Kyle Quincey's rebound. Matt Hendricks made it a two-goal game at 10:52, but the Canucks then scored four straight -- including two by Steve Bernier -- to win going away. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and allowed the Canucks to move within five points of the Avs -- who now have just two wins in their last seven games. NOTES: Kyle Wellwood and Rick Rypien were the only two forwards to not collect a point in the rout. jjamieson@theprovince.com Copyright (c) The Province The Van Provies Nightly Awards By Jim Jamieson, The Province November 15, 2009 Best stat Ryan Johnson set a career high with three assists, helping set up Henrik Sedin and Jannik Hansen in the first period, then Steve Bernier in the third. It was also Johnson's first multiple-point game as a Canuck. Best quote Colorado defenceman Tom Preissing, who hadn't played an NHL game since Jan. 15 due to being sent to the minors when he was with L.A. and then injuring his knee with the Avs in the

5 preseason, on playing his first game of the season: "I'm here and excited to play. The season has been cut down by 20 games, which is probably the way it should be anyway." Best tribute Avalanche icon Joe Sakic may be gone but there's no way he'll be forgotten in the Colorado dressing room. Not that the franchise's greatest player would be anyway, but the club made the unique tribute of preserving the Burnaby native's corner stall with his name plate and a complete set of his equipment behind plexiglas in the dressing room. Classy touch for a guy who deserves it. Best new jersey The Avalanche wore their new third jersey for the first time. We're no fashion critic, but it's definitely a winner. The shoulder area and two sleeve stripes are burgundy, the diagonal Colorado lettering is white, and the collar and some trim are black. To top it off the neckline has throwback-style laces. Copyright (c) The Province Canucks waiting for word on Forsberg status Back still bothering Hodgson By Jim Jamieson, The Province November 15, 2009 The pursuit of Peter Forsberg continues to heat up, although Foppa is still mulling whether he's sufficiently happy with his conditioning and his problematic foot to go ahead with a return to the NHL. The Boston Bruins are the latest team to admit interest in the Swedish one-time superstar. They join the Canucks, New York Rangers and Philadelphia as clubs on the official list of suitors who are in limbo awaiting a decision. "We're waiting to hear if he thinks he feels good enough to play," said Canucks assistant GM Lorne Henning. There are other teams interested, of course. They are rumoured to be Nashville, Montreal, Edmonton and one of Forsberg's former teams, Colorado. It might seem surprising that the Avs, who are on a re-tooling youth movement, would be interested in Forsberg, but consider that attendance is down significantly here even though the team has had a great start. On Nov. 4 against Phoenix, a Colorado franchise low of 11,012 showed up for the game. Would Forsberg, hugely popular here, fill some of those seats? You think? Although Canucks prospect Cody Hodgson returned to the ice with his Brampton Battalion junior team this week, stepping up the on-ice workouts hasn't gone well and it could mean Hodgson's time frame on getting back to playing may be put off. Hodgson was quoted on the

6 Battalion website as targeting early December for a full return. According to the website, Hodgson is scheduled to see Dr. Tony Miniaci of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio on Monday for another evaluation of his ailing back. Copyright (c) The Province Raymond putting it all together Speedster is proving he belongs on top line with Hank and Kesler By Jim Jamieson, The Province November 15, 2009 It's hard to believe he's the same player who went 26 games without a goal last season. Vancouver Canucks winger Mason Raymond has had his struggles, with lots of company earlier this season, but he's been one of the team's most consistent forwards since the end of October. Raymond, who had five goals in seven games heading into Saturday's contest here with the Avalanche, came through with three assists -- a career high in points -- and created the key goal in an 8-2 Canucks victory. Raymond embarrassed Craig Anderson midway through the first period when he raced out of the penalty box and arrived at the puck at the same time as the Avalanche goaltender. Raymond took the puck and centred it into the slot for a wide-open Henrik Sedin to deposit in an empty net It was a huge goal, just 7:09 into the contest and put the Canucks up 2-0. "We dumped it down and Anderson couldn't play it because he was outside the (trapezoid)," said Raymond. "And Hank made a good move. I don't know if he saw me or not." It was another dominant game for the Canucks' top line of Sedin, Ryan Kesler and Raymond. Sedin finished with his first career hat trick, while Kesler added an assist. Raymond, who's worked his way up from the third line to start the year, now has 10 points (5-5) in his last eight games. "It was a big game for everybody, we talked about coming out strong," he said. "It wasn't the best road trip for us, but it was nice to finish on a high note with a win." Coach Alain Vigneault said Raymond played well. "He's playing with some good players and he's doing good things with the puck," he said.

7 Raymond agreed that his confidence level is high right now. "Things have been going well," he said. "I feel like I worked hard in the off-season to get where I am now. I've enjoyed playing with the linemates I've had. Playing with those guys makes my job a lot easier. I'm just working hard just trying to get the puck to the net and going to the net. "Things are going my way right now, which is huge. Hopefully, we can keep rolling along." He hardly looks like the player who appeared riddled with self-doubt at times last season. "Every year helps," said. "The more experience you get, the better you feel. The more you learn about each club and the way professional hockey needs to be played night in and night out. Every year is a stepping stone." jjamieson@theprovince.com Copyright (c) The Province The light at the end of the road Schedule-maker offers feast or famine for weary Canucks By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun November 16, 2009 It turned out at least a little good came from the Vancouver Canucks' road odyssey -- space missions are shorter -- that looked at times as stormy as the blizzard that hit Colorado as they were leaving Saturday night. Roberto Luongo successfully returned from a rib injury with two solid starts. Injured winger Daniel Sedin returned for the rookie dinner in Dallas and went home again. Party animal. Steve Bernier came back from the flu and scored twice Saturday. Jannik Hansen came back from a hand injury and scored his first goal since February. Henrik Sedin, whose annual goal totals in the National Hockey League are 9, 16, 8, 11, 18, 10, 15 and 22, had the first hat trick of his career. Once every 667 games. And, veteran Mikael Samuelsson noted: "We probably saved ourselves two bag-skates this week from the coach. At least two." These are all good things.

8 But we wouldn't be noting them had the Canucks not quelled the scoring crisis and obliterated a three-game losing streak with the 8-2 feel-good win against the Colorado Avalanche. It allowed the Canucks to escape their five-game, 10-day marathon at 2-3, reeled the Northwest Division-leading Avalanche within five points and renewed hope that Vancouver may yet have enough scoring to succeed. Kyle Wellwood, however, had no points in 16 minutes Saturday and is stuck on one assist for the season. You can only do so much in one night. It was a good night, though. The Canucks could use a bunch more of them. They don't play again until Friday -- surely the NHL schedule was made on a dare over beers -- and, by then, the Canucks will be at least a couple of points out of a playoff spot At through the season's first-quarter, the Canucks have played more games than anyone else and are on pace to miss the Stanley Cup tournament. If the Canucks are lucky, the brother Sedin will be back Friday from his broken foot in comeback attempt No. 2. Hopefully, the Canucks will not be reckless enough to have him do another conditioning skate with teammates in his first practice back. If Vancouver's really lucky, Peter Forsberg will be signed, too. But while everyone including agent Don Baizley waits for procrastinating Peter, the Brett Favre of the NHL, to decide whether to play and where, all the smart money is on the Philadelphia Flyers. Maybe the Canucks can sell Forsberg on the idea of playing the Olympics at home -- and the 14 games around them on the road. But until management foresakes Wellwood the way the hockey gods obviously have, the Canucks will have to make do with the players they have. They looked just fine in Denver, although it was only one game. Even if Luongo continues to get sharper -- he's the only Canuck saddened by this week's layoff -- and the defence solves its consistency issues, Vancouver absolutely must get the kind of secondary scoring it received Saturday to be successful long-term. Checking centre Ryan Johnson, who had one point in his first 16 games, had three assists, triggering several bonus clauses in his contract. Grinder Tanner Glass joined Hansen on the scoresheet. Bernier hadn't scored in eight of his previous nine games. And Mathieu Schneider scored the first goal by a Canuck defenceman in nine games.

9 "I'm hoping it's the type of night that's going to get the whole group going, confidence-wise, offensively," Canuck coach Alain Vigneault said. "We were going to the net harder and staying in front of their net a lot more. We got off to a good start. Our guys had a much better net presence. We made life very hard on their goaltenders." Goaltenders. Plural. The Canucks scored four times on early-season Vezina candidate Craig Anderson, including three in the first 11 minutes, then lit up reliever Peter Budaj for four more in the final nine minutes. Luongo made 32 saves, including three brilliant ones early in the third period when the Avalanche had a brief surge. He also spilled a sloppy rebound on Matt Hendricks's goal. But his comeback from injury, given the duration of his absence and the state of the team upon his return, is as good as could be expected. "We wanted to end with a win for sure," Luongo said. "We'd lost three games in a row and we didn't want to come back home with a 1-4 road trip. Guys battled hard tonight." Samuelsson said: "It's always good to have a win like this, especially when you lost three before this. It could be huge for guys who haven't scored that much. It was a perfect scenario." The road trip was far from perfect. For 10 days, the Canucks zig-zagged across the middle of the United States, their performance changing as abruptly as their course. We're still not sure they actually made it to St. Louis, where the Blues beat someone 6-1, but the trip ended in Denver as well as it started in Minnesota. "It was a must-win for us," defenceman Willie Mitchell said Saturday. "We couldn't let Colorado stretch that big a lead [nine points if the Avalanche won] because it's too tough getting points at the end of the year. "We're all happy to be going home. It's been a long trip." But never dull. imacintyre@vancouversun.com NEXT GAME Friday vs. Colorado Avalanche

10 7 p.m. At GM Place NET-HD/ TEAM 1040 Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Canucks taking a breather By HOSEA CHEUNG, SUN MEDIA Who makes this NHL schedule anyway? With five days off between games, the Canucks will have plenty of time to reflect on their surprising eight-goal performance against Colorado on Saturday. More importantly though, they'll also have plenty of practice sessions to improve on areas of their game that contributed to the three losses prior to the 8-2 win against the Avalanche. The offensive outburst, which saw Henrik Sedin get his first career hat-trick, overshadowed the lack of scoring on the 2-3 road-trip that dropped them to on the season. Of their three defeats, the Canucks only scored one goal per game, with two from Mason Raymond. They were also out-shot in four of their five games. Moose use Marlies to regain momentum By KEN WIEBE, SUN MEDIA Apparently all the Manitoba Moose needed was a visit from a North Division rival to get their mojo back. When the Moose returned home last Sunday from a three-game trip to Texas, they were tired, banged-up, offensively challenged and in the midst of a five-game losing streak. The good news was the Moose had four full days to prepare for the Toronto Marlies and used the time wisely. All week they preached about paying attention to detail and getting back to basics in an attempt to emerge from an offensive funk. By the time the weekend was over, the Moose were feeling better about themselves after a twogame sweep over a team that'd been breathing down their necks in the standings. Though goaltending had been an area of strength during the losing skid, the return of Cory Schneider from the Vancouver Canucks was an obvious boost for the Moose.

11 Schneider wasn't overworked, but his presence seemed to give the Moose a much-needed boost. The reigning AHL goalie of the year came up with timely saves and was dripping with confidence as he gave up just two goals in two games. As for the goal-starved offence, the Moose got five goals from five different players in a 5-1 win Friday night. That matched a season high and was one more goal than the Moose scored during the fivegame losing streak. The outburst was cause for celebration and you could see the relief on the faces of head coach Scott Arniel and players in the locker-room. Arniel was hoping for a similar onslaught in the rematch, but that didn't transpire.however, the Moose were able to generate plenty of chances and launch 35 shots on goal before gutting out a 2-1 shootout victory. Since there was no offensive help coming from the Canucks or the injured list last week, the players in uniform understood they needed to contribute more. Manitoba's top two centres, Marco Rosa and Marty Murray, combined for two goals and five points, while Russian rookie Sergei Shirokov continued his push for consistency by producing a goal in each game against the Marlies. The defence corps stepped up big-time and the Moose showed they weren't going to back down or be pushed around by the more rough-and-tumble Marlies. Until the Moose get closer to full health, they're going to continue to face some challenges (scoring being one of them) but the importance of the sweep can't be discounted. The next challenge is to see if the Moose can follow up the victories with a solid effort next Friday, when the Hamilton Bulldogs come to town. That means there's nearly another week left to work on the struggling power play, which is 0-for- 31 during the past seven games and dropped to 27th overall at a woeful 10.6% efficiency rating (10-for-94) through 21 games. ken.wiebe@sunmedia.ca Canucks snap 3-game skid Sedin scores 3 goals By Pat Graham, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENVER - In game No. 667, Henrik Sedin had a first.

12 The centre - an all-star last season - notched his first NHL hat trick, helping the Vancouver Canucks halt a three-game losing streak with an 8-2 rout of the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night. Sedin's three-goal spurt was part of Vancouver's biggest offensive outburst of the season, and broke the Canucks out of a scoring funk. "It was huge for us, especially after the last few games where we haven't scored a whole lot of goals," said Sedin, whose team had found the net three times in three games. "So we got some easy ones tonight. That's what happens when you put pucks to the net." There were plenty of Vancouver players joining in on the scoring parade. Steve Bernier netted two goals and Mathieu Schneider, Jannik Hansen, and Tanner Glass also scored as the Canucks wrapped up a five-game road swing (2-3). Nearly a dozen Canucks had assists, including three each by Ryan Johnson and Mason Raymond. "It's something to build on," Sedin said. "It gives the guys confidence." As for his hat trick, better late than never. "I've played almost 700 games, but of course it's nice to get a hat trick," Sedin shrugged. Roberto Luongo was solid in net all night, stopping 32 shots. Marek Svatos broke up Luongo's shutout bid early in the third period when he knocked in a rebound for a power-play goal. Luongo was making his third appearance since coming back from a broken rib that sidelined him for about two weeks. He wasn't tested much until the third period when Colorado turned up the pressure. Colorado forward Matt Hendricks scored a goal in the third to cut the lead to 4-2. But any thoughts of a comeback were quickly ended by Bernier's goal. Sedin, Bernier and Glass then scored in about a seven-minute window to decisively pull away. "They made a strong push, they had a few chances," Luongo said. "Unfortunately, they got a couple goals but we bounced right back and answered right away." Neither Avalanche goalie was immune from the barrage. Craig Anderson was replaced by Peter Budaj to start the third period after he allowed four goals on 22 shots. Budaj fared even worse, allowing four more on eight shots. "They outworked us in all aspects of the game," forward Paul Stastny said. "We have to be ready to play and we weren't and it showed. From top to bottom, we have to be better."

13 The Avalanche unveiled a new look Saturday, donning royal blue sweaters. It was a departure from their predominantly burgundy outfits. They needed to try something new. Since a sizzling start, the Avalanche have struggled. They are over their last seven games. Sedin sparked Vancouver early as he scored two of the team's three goals in the opening period. He poked in a puck that had trickled behind Anderson 1:57 in. Later, Sedin lofted a shot over a sprawled-out Anderson on a goal made possible by the hustle and thievery of Raymond. Just out of the penalty box, Raymond flew after a puck deep in the Avalanche zone. He stole it off the stick of a surprised Anderson, then hit Sedin with a pass in front. Anderson couldn't scramble back in time as Sedin scored his 11th goal. Hansen scored midway through the first period when Glass found him wide open in front. "Sometimes, it's a mental game," Stastny said. "You can make mental mistakes when you don't know where you're going and boom, boom, boom, it's one, two, three to nothing and that's tough to come back from." Luongo had a great view of the offensive fireworks in the first period. From his vantage point, he saw a team generating traffic in front. "We weren't giving (Anderson) that room to come out and challenge the shooter," Luongo said. "We did a great job in the first period, a lot of pucks went to the net - and then away we went. It was a good effort all the way around." Notes: Avalanche F Milan Hejduk returned to the lineup after missing two games because of an aching back.... Avs D Tom Preissing made his season debut, returning from a right knee injury. He played just over 13 minutes and had one blocked shot.