Ouch! That does seem the scoreline of a team that's jacked it in for the season.

After over thirty five years of Canuck watching abject failure is my default expectation. So in spite of the expectations many seem to have for the current squad I find it easy to maintain a stress-free "just happy to be here" demeanour. Unless we should get as far as the Conference final then serious panic will set in.

Well, maybe it isn't over quite yet. Sunday's 5-3 win in Washington was entirely unexpected in most quarters but we hung grimly on at the end.

Tonight's hard won game against Phoenix combined with the bizarre 5-2 Avs defeat to Anaheim leaves us two points behind with a game to play in Denver on Friday. The Ducks win was notable for five points for Jason Blake (!) +5 ratings for four players, and a third win on the bounce for Curtis McElhinney, last seen being ridden out of Cowtown on a rail for being, er, not much good.

Avs have lost seven out of eight and Anderson is starting to feel the effects of playing virtually all season. We still have to run the table, but at least we're being kept interested. All rests on Friday.

Possibly not just for you guys. Big Lulu let in eight goals on 21 shots last night. His bottle's gone big time since the Olympics, and he wasn't exactly having a vintage year before that. A big bounce back against the Ducks tonight is required, though he'll probably be watching it from the bench.

I wasn't going to say anything, but there was a sharp intake of breath when I saw the score this morning.

I'm telling myself that it is better for him to get those out of the way now, before the playoffs.

The Avs are keeping Element's boys alive in a completely unexpected way. Tonight's game is a genuinely big one.

Whereas the Leafs have announced themselves for next season by last night's victory over Buffalo...

ursus arctos wrote:
I wasn't going to say anything, but there was a sharp intake of breath when I saw the score this morning.

I'm telling myself that it is better for him to get those out of the way now, before the playoffs.

The Avs are keeping Element's boys alive in a completely unexpected way. Tonight's game is a genuinely big one.

Trouble is Vigneault and Luongo haven't yet discovered how or when he needs to be rested. He's been pulled seven or eight times this season, so between them they're obviously not reading his play correctly. Retrospectively it's easy to say he should have had the week after the Olympics off completely. Almost all the Canadian team suffered a sharp drop-off in form afterwards, but Luongo wasn't playing particularly well before them either. He claims it's better for him to keep playing when he's had a bad game — but all goalies think that I suspect. Fan gossip says he has too much personal power within the team. Personally I doubt it, neither he nor AV has never given that impression, but all the same something's wrong, as he admits himself. It doesn't help that the team had six regulars missing last night but, as I said, his erratic play this season is a longer term issue than a single game.

The Coyotes, Kings and Avs were this season's surprises in the West. The fact that they're all still in playoff spots with a week to go is a bit more than that. You figured one of them would blow a tire, maybe that's finally happened.

The Leafs, like the Oilers, are loosey goosey. Playing for next year as you say. They'll be back in October, as refreshed and useless as ever.

Ha, oh yeah I completely agree. Heaven knows why they bother with games like that, it'll only (falsely) encourage people for next season.

I think I may as well switch to the Blackhawks next season purely to complete the whole Chicago support - if nothing else it's the best spurious excuse.

As an aside, and apologies for forgetting who it was, but thanks for the Globe & Mail link. I'm enjoying just reading it in general.

Now, if only I can somehow squeeze in a little work...

Phew! That was a hairy last ten or so minutes. 2-0 up, in complete control, and then our PP kills all momentum once again. An Avs goal followed immediately - Iginla losing his man, again - and then Kiprusoff stood on his head in the last 10. He's the only reason the season is still alive right now.

Onwards to Chicago on Sunday afternoon. Given we blew a 5-0 lead there back in October, I'm more worried about that game than the one tonight. If we could win, though, the Avs would be under tremendous pressure playing SJ later in the evening.

Time for a drink!

It could yet come down to the last game, here in Vancouver...natch. We also play the Avs on Tuesday. They're just the type of games we need going into the playoffs too.

A much better effort in Anaheim tonight behind another solid performance from Raycroft. If Luongo continues to falter in the playoffs I hope AV has the cojones to pull him quickly, before we're four or five goals down.

Grabner with a hat-trick, on top of Samuelsson returning in a game or so, and Demitra rounding into form give this version of the Canucks three potent lines. Probably top to bottom, the best in the NHL — and I include the Capitals, who have a far easier schedule than any western team. Now if only the defence can hold out and the goaltending comes around.

Do you think that, if the Canucks position was settled by then, Vigneault would rest any players carrying knocks for the last games?

(Good news about Samuelsson as far as my pool team goes)

TBH I doubt it. The time for that has past. Demitra was given a leave of absence after the Olympics — his wife is ill — but is back now. Vigneault rested Daniel Sedin against the Kings and it backfired bigtime. He and Burrows — who took a nasty slapshot in the throat in that game — were both in the squad last night.

This is a team that can't cruise through the occasional game on it's defensive play, as it could a couple of years ago. If the Canucks don't spend more of the game inside their opponents blueline than their own they will lose. Also Luongo has to find his 'A' game soon and he's probably more likely to do that with a settled squad in front of him. So, no, I think AV will be putting his playoff team on the ice from here on in

We're 2-0 down at the first intermission in Chicago having played as well as could be expected against a strong side; Niemi is looking very good in goal. This could well be eight regular season defeats in a row to the Blackhawks.

Iginla -2 again. That line is a liability, defensively. They were beaten by the Hawks' fourth line for the first goal.

Edit: Chicago wins 4-1. We just can't score enough goals on a consistent basis. Go Sharks! (and Canucks, for Tuesday).

Edit 2: San Jose lose 5-4 in OT in Denver, and the Avs go two points ahead with a game in hand. SJ are 8-8-1 since the Olympics (their star Canadian foursome contented with their medals, perchance? Nabokov certainly still looks shell-shocked from his QF thrashing) and relying on them in the month of April is never the safest bet; that might be that.

Remaining games:
CGY: vs SJS, vs MIN, @VAN
COL: @VAN, @EDM, vs CHI, vs LAK.

It doesn't help SJ's cause that Thornton's carrying an injury (suffered in the last game against the 'Nucks.) He's in and out of the line-up, my guess is it may be more serious than they're letting on.

Sluggish win with a bizarre ending against Minnesota tonight. After scoring an empty net goal to make the score 3–1 our doughty defence contrived to let in two goals in the last 18 seconds. Fortunately Alex Burrows hit himself in the face with his own stick, for which the Wild received a penalty, and Sami Salo won the game in OT. I don't know whether it's just Canucks games but the officiating over the past couple of weeks has seemed even more eccentric than usual.

AV says Luongo will only play two of the last three games. This is interesting as he was expected to play every minute going into the playoffs. Obviously Raycroft is being prepped in case Lulu goes pear shaped. Meanwhile Detroit seem to have decided sixth place is just fine. Not necessarily good news for our lot.

Good luck against the Sharks. You should have no trouble with Minnesota. They were awful tonight, mustering three shots in the first period.

Well, that's that. We lose, Colorado win in a shootout. We can only finish level on points and Colorado own the tie breaker. Another feeble offensive show from the good guys tonight.

Time to sit back and listen/watch the fallout. Or rather try to, seeing as one of the forums has crashed already.

Condolences. I'm genuinely sorry the Canucks couldn't up their game on the Flames behalf.

We're playing out the string, and it looks like it. The last three games have gone to OT because they're trying to do just enough to win and no more. It worked against teams with nothing to play for — Ducks and Wild — but not against the Avs.

I like our chances in the playoffs less and less with each passing day. The loss of Ryan Johnson with (another) broken foot could be huge. He's arguably our best defensive centreman and a key to the PK, especially on face-offs and blocked shots. Meanwhile Lulu scored yet another goal with his own stick, and continued to give up rebounds like the Michelin Man. the Redwings must be rubbing their hands.

This is grisly viewing from our point of view, even if it is the last game. It almost looks like the Flames players are trying to get the coaching staff/GM fired. We could be four or five down by now.

I understand how you must feel but last night night was the Hank and Dan show and everyone else including — or maybe especially — the Flames were just the support acts.


I mean this was soooo pretty

While this is possibly the finest goal I've ever seen scored.

OK so it wasn't what you'd call a very competitive game but still and all those are purely God-like moves by the twins. Totally jawdropping.

Oh and the efforts were not in vain, Henrik has won the NHL scoring championship.

Oh, I knew it would be like that. I remember two years ago we were trying to get Iginla to 50 goals against a Canucks team that had been eliminated from postseason play. What goes around comes around. I was more annoyed that the outcome of our work hockey pool in my bosses' favour (rather than mine) was on the cards early in the third! He had Bieksa, Ehrhoff, Burrows and Daniel Sedin. I was worried!

Playoff placings are beginning to crystallise. The shootout that just took place between the Flyers and Rangers to determine who made the playoffs was a fine bit of theatre, but that's a really unsatisfactory way to determine the outcome of an 82 game season. Olli Jokinen torpedoes two separate teams playoff hopes in one season.

Amor de Cosmos wrote:
Henrik has won the NHL scoring championship.

Crosby making a determined run at it, 5 points through 35 minutes.

Hey don't scare me like that!

The Art Ross is Hank's fer sure. Sid was too far back — though he did make a heady run at it. Looks like OV was skunked for both scoring titles in the end. Maybe he'll think a little harder about his suspensions in the off season. I'd love it if Henrik got the league MVP too but I reckon that'll go to Crosby.

Looks like we've got LA in the first round. Of the three possibles they were the team everyone hoped for. They're inexperienced in the post-season and — aside from the aberrant drubbing they gave Big Lulu a couple of weeks back — we've handled them comfortably this year.