GDT: 11/03/07 - Canucks at Colorado, 7:00PM CBC/1040

[George]

Best win of the season
Naslunds best game of the season
Lous best game of the season
Sedins best game of the season
Weavers Best game of the season

I was really impressed with Weaver tonight. Solid play throughout and the diving glove save at the end was classic...

[UpYerKilt]

loved the glove save by Weaver...old road hockey play.

Guts

[Ronning's Ghost]

So the overused adage proves out, and when the Canucks' best players are their best players (as was decidedly not the case against the Predators), they find success.

We've spilled many electrons on this board over what is wrong and what needs to be done to fix it, but the last two games just underscore what I think we have known for at least half a season : when Luongo plays like Tretiak/Roy/Brodeur/insert you favourite super-goalie here, the Canucks have a good chance. When he is anything less than that -- not even necessarily bad but merely mortal -- they usually don't.

From the play by play on the radio, it also sounded like they found success in a game where they traded chances. I wonder if one example is enough to convince Vigneault that that's the most effective use of a top flight goaltender.

[George]

We've spilled many electrons on this board over what is wrong and what needs to be done to fix it, but the last two games just underscore what I think we have known for at least half a season : when Luongo plays like Tretiak/Roy/Brodeur/insert you favourite super-goalie here, the Canucks have a good chance. When he is anything less than that -- not even necessarily bad but merely mortal -- they usually don't..

Don't underestimate the overall performance tonight though - Luongo was good but didn't need to steal the game. The Sedins with Naslund were dangerous, the third line with Hansen was strong, and the defence more or less held up. A lot of battles and races to the puck won.

I'm starting to think it's a chicken/egg scenario with Luongo and the team - he seems to bring his game to an extra level when the team plays well, more so than the other way around.

[whistler]

I saw all but the early second period.

Luongo played well but the real difference was...
1/ the whole team had jump and tenacity the entire length of the ice
2/ Nazzy & the twins created some magic.
3/ Surprisingly, for a team trying to simplify their game, they employed a much more dynamic and varied offence...carrying the puck into the offensive zone, attacking up the middle, crashing the net with passion, using a lot more ice on the cycle and saving the dump & chase for when it was the right thing to do.

I'd rate Weaver's glove save the play of the night. If that had gone in I think Colorado would have come back.
You could see they were getting tired by the end but there was enough gas in the tank to hold on.
They played like a team we could be proud of.

And, for what it's worth, I didn't see the 'dumb' penalties referred to in this thread.
I saw some penalties being assessed...but I didn't see 'dumb' penalties.
Some were bogus calls, some were necessary liberties.
Don't believe everything you hear on the radio.

Great game!!!
We needed that.

[Joe Rockhead]

I agree Whistler I didn't think Isbisters peanalty was "dumb" .

I didn't think Luongo was all that great, he seemed to lose sight of the puck a fair bit but his good positioning allowed him to get hit by alot of the shots.

That glove save by Weaver was awsome! A total reaction move! Loved it, I don't know if anyone saw the close up of him early in the game waiting for the puck to drop but you could see he was very intense. Good sign.

It actually wasn't to bad of a game to watch. Some frustrating moments( Ohlund's gaff on the pk was hard to take) but all in all a very good bounce back game. Some of the players whose "heart "had been questioned were the best players out there.

[levelheaded]

What a difference 48 hours makes eh? That was the Canucks I know and love. Tons of jump, strong forecheck, great goaltending, sound defensively, opportunistic and able to capitalize on their chances.

-Bourdon and Edler looked amazing for young guys, they didn't even seem out of place on the PP. I guess Bourdon's only problem during training camp and last year was confidence. Good on him.

-Sedins were good, I still can't say I like them with Naslund, but results are results. What is it about divisional games that gets those to so riled up?

-Luongo was awesome, that is the $7M man we've been missing all season. Some of those saves when it was a one goal game were unreal.

-I no longer feel like shooting Weaver into the sun. He actually looked good out there. He and Edler were our best defenceman all night long.

-Will Sakic EVER grow old? He looked 10 years younger than he actually is. I noticed him each and every shift he was out there. It was damn impressive to see.

-Naslund played with the most fire I've seen from him in years. I guess he's finally realized he has something to prove.

All in all a good night, don't disappoint me boys, keep it up

GO CANUCKS GO

[Linden Is God]

I got drunk regardless of the score. But whe I saw the Canucks go up 1-0, many shots of sour puss went arond......w00t w00t

[mr perfect]

Canucks are now 2 for 2 this season when the wife and I go to the John B on a Saturday and watch a HNIC Canucks away game. They have a draw where you pick a Canucks player's name out of a bucket and if the player scores you get a free round. We drew Kesler and again got a freebie round. Winning at both is lots of fun.
Good game by the Canucks, they actually skated the whole game. Colorado did not bring their A game but if the Canucks skated this hard in past games and do so the rest of the way they will win more often than not. The goal should be to make the playoffs. After that, anything can happen.

[Cookie La Rue]

This was the first game i actually saw after listening the last few ones on radio.

I wonder which team played in these games before.

Not brilliant but overall an effort of wanting the win. I hope this attitude keeps up for the rest of the season. Cheers.

[clearwatercanuck]

If they can carry the puck to the net and control the puck, they can score. That was the best game by far this year. It's a good start. Hopefully they can continue like that.

[JCardinal]

I've watched every game this season and I"m kinda wondering what some of you guys have been watching / smoking.

It was *not* by a long shot Louongo's best game of the season, he wasn't outstanding, he did the job but the team in front of him was playing much better defensively.

The penalties were not egregious, some were important, others were mis calls.

Edler's looked good since his very first game with the big team, it's something sportscasters seem to love repeating about how young he is and how good a game he's just had, but...he *always* plays that way.

Naslund has had more fire and energy in *most* of the previous games this season than he did last season, sure he had a couple of good plays last night, but overall he's been playing that way more often than not all season.

This wasn't the Canucks best game of the season in terms of impressive displays of skill and talent, maybe best in terms of winning after sucking, but there have been plays in more than one game this season when I thought to myself that a player was "back" to good form. The fact is all the players have shown excellence at one time or another, just not strung it together consistently. My worry is this game is a one-off, consistency is their most important asset and they need to have that above everything else right now.

Sure they needed a win badly, so did the fans, but that's not any reason to throw all logic out the window and start planning the parade.

Don Cherry pissed me off when he chewed out Vigneault for calling out "Bieska" and Mitchell saying those guys have heart and should be untouchable. That's completely unfair, Vigneault was asked a question and very mildly and completely accurately replied. Eastern reporters have blown it out of proportion, shoved it in the faces of the players to the point where they seemed to think it was much worse than it was and responded negatively towards the coach.

That save by Weaver was pretty awesome, but he would have been the goat if it had gone in. My biggest peeve of all with defensemen is when they try to play goaltender, either facing towards the net digging at the puck (they should never face the goal mouth for any reason, they shouldn't even be able to describe what their goalies mask looks like). Sure it was awesome and cool but it was millimeters away from being stupid. He was blocking Luongo's view of it and there's nothing to say Louie wouldn't have had it anyway.

The lack of a time out call did seem strange, I bet you if it was just a mistake on Vigneault's part and he is asked about it by a reporter he will say it was a mistake and make no excuses.

Who else thinks this schedule is sucking, almost a week between games? Is this all going to catch up with them with a whole whack of back to backs?

[mattola]

I've watched every game this season and I"m kinda wondering what some of you guys have been watching / smoking.

It was *not* by a long shot Louongo's best game of the season, he wasn't outstanding, he did the job but the team in front of him was playing much better defensively.

I listened to it on the radio and watch almost every other game other than the last 4 games as I have been traveling.

to me the way tom and shorty described it was one of the best team games of the season in a situation where it mattered to win most in almost every area. and they did that. after the way things have been going the last while this is to me the best win of the season. its the most important to me of who we faced, who we just lost to and how we just lost to come back with this. from the way it was described as well was Lou made some stops that were of the most timely nature. which was something he was missing alot of in the last few games.

The entire meaning of this game defined to me why it was the best win for me. maybe not game as I originally described but its up there. but it is the best win.

[mattola]

also to add. Its very important for a win like this for the next 7 games against Div teams. I would like to see a string of 3 or 4 wins before another loss occurs *not like we will win every game going forward but losing the next one or two just deflates this team more. we need a serious roll to start in a good way


obviously

[JCardinal]

to me the way tom and shorty described it was one of the best team games of the season in a situation where it mattered to win most in almost every area. and they did that.

Yeah I'll give you that, it was one of the best team games of the season and best game of the season in terms of intensity, but honestly and I'm trying to be as realistic about this as possible I think it was pretty much every other game this season with just that little bit more effort and intensity that was lacking before. I guess I'm not saying it well, but to me they've played the same way all season, good but not intensely, emotionally, "compete level" (to use Crowism) enough. Last night they had that little bit more intensity and it turned a sucky team into a winning team, nothing fundamentally changed except that one thing.