GDT: 03/20/08 Canucks vs Oilers, SNEt & 1040, 6pm

[antro]

This should be another good test for the Canucks, who had a spirited contest with the Oilers last time around. Roloson is in the nets for the bad guys, and he's played well over the weekend. The Oilers have have quite a run going in an unlikely attempt to make the playoffs. I'm not really sure who the players are that have stood out in all of this, but they are young and excited.

In short, it's time to teach these punk-asses to respect their elders.

Like various Canucks said in interviews, they have to come out like they did last game. These are important games for the Canucks to establish themselves before they enter the playoffs. Looks like the only change will be Shannon in for the injured Raymond.

Some keys: (1) Oilers have a hot PP, stay out of the friggin' box!
(2) Like they did to get to Bryzgalov, get in Roli's friggin' face!

I'm thinking the Canucks pull out a nail biter, 3-2, Daniel (finally), Kesler and Pettinger with the winner. Hemsky and Gagner respond.

GO CANUCKS GO!

[Kikbutt_10]

Lets GO NUCKS! We gotta crank up the intensity, the Oil have been riding some hot goaltending and the kids are putting in some puck lately. However, their D is still very suspect, like antro said, stay outta the box and get on the forecheck! This game could be a huge momentum swing, all the radio and media outlets have been pumping up this game for the last couple days so the Nucks have to try and take the crowd out of it early and (hopefully) often. Lastly, I would like to take this oppurtunity to raise a prayer to the hockey gods and ask for the blessing of finding a relatively affordable scalper's ticket for tonights tilt!...

[antro]

way to go Kikbutt, I'm also praying for you!

let us know how it was if you get in.

[Linden Is God]

Playing pick up tonight so I'll probably miss most of the game. Huge game tonight (when aren't they?)!!

Go Canucks Go!!

[Daniel Wilson]

No fights yet. Who do you think will be involved in the first tilt tonight?

Canucks going onto the power play, which has been hot lately. Hopefully they can get a spark from it tonight and build on it from there.

[Daniel Wilson]

I'm not sure if I agree with Morrison's placement on the point for power plays. With his wrist not at 100 per cent,, there's has to be other options to quarterback the PP. I know Morrison is a great choice for the spot when healthy, but I don't think he's going to blast many shots from the point.

Where he might be good there, is for setting plays up and finding backdoor passes. Bad wrist or not, he's still a great playmaker.

[UpYerKilt]

great start... just stay away from the penalties.

[Daniel Wilson]

Way too many penalties for the 'Nucks. Three straight, in a span of six minutes against a hot power play that has scored 10 goals in their last seven games. That's not good math.

Luongo saves the day once again and the way things are going I think we all smell another overtime clash between these two teams...

[JCardinal]

Anyone getting this game in HD?
I'm watching on Sportsnet HD channel on StarChoice which is normally fine, but this game is not in HD for some reason so far.

No one seems to be able to consistently broadcast the Canucks games without screwing them up from time to time.

[UpYerKilt]

sedin will get credit...first goal went off oiler d-mans stick...

[Daniel Wilson]

I'm watching the game on Delta Cable's HD channel... which like you said is not very consistent as to when they're on or off.

Onto the Canucks, it's great to see Alex Burrows continue to roll along. What a pleasant surprise he has been the last couple years and he's really come into his own this year. Same goes for Kesler and Edler, who have picked up the pace where others, like Markus Naslund, have fallen by the wayside.

[Daniel Wilson]

Markus Naslund continues to take the dumbest, most inopportune penalties. It's always a hook in the neutral zone or a trip in the offensive zone. Now a closing the hand on the puck call. For that reason alone, he should be stripped of the 'C'. How many times are the Canucks rolling along smoothly and Naslund gets sent to the box. It's very frustrating.

[Daniel Wilson]

All season long, Alain Vigneault has searched for the right line-ups and last week he may have finally found them... and the answer was right in front of him all along: split the Sedins. Since he split them up for the Dallas game on Saturday, the Canucks have iced three strong lines: Kesler-Burrows-D. Sedin, H. Sedin-Pyatt-Raymond/Shannon, Pettinger-Naslund-Morrison and all lines seem to be functioning well together. Not to mention the fourth line has been kept togetherwithout one component of the line constantly being put in the press box.

The moral of the story: consistency is a good thing!

[levelheaded]

Markus Naslund continues to take the dumbest, most inopportune penalties. It's always a hook in the neutral zone or a trip in the offensive zone. Now a closing the hand on the puck call. For that reason alone, he should be stripped of the 'C'. How many times are the Canucks rolling along smoothly and Naslund gets sent to the box. It's very frustrating.

I hate that Naslund gets held to a higher standard. Seriously, if ANY OTHER FORWARD OTHER THAN HIM OR THE SEDINS PUT UP THE NUMBERS HE HAS THIS YEAR FANS WOULD BE CLAMOURING FOR A LONG TERM EXTENSION.

Sure Naslund is the captain, and people expect him to lead by example, but we really don't know what goes on in the locker room. If we lose, it's Naslund's fault. If we win, it was in spite of Naslund. For all we know he's the only thing keeping this locker room together right now. The truth is we have no idea what's going on behind closed doors.

Sure he's overpaid right now, but he's been hilariously underpaid in the past ($4M for his best years when he probably could have been a $9M player). It sickens me when people point out every one of his flaws. What about the fact that Linden (who I adore by the way), is essentially useless these days. People play down the fact that he adds almost nothing offensively and little defensively to the team, and play up his supposed awe-inspiring speeches. As for bad penalties, everyone on the team takes them. Naslund seems to have taken a couple awful ones lately, but other than Raymond every player on the team goes through stretches like that. Even our probable captain-to-be Mitchell.

Seriously, Naslund hasn't been good this year. But Canuck fans/the media dump on him so hard that it's no wonder. If everyone said I couldn't do it constantly, I doubt I'd ever feel confident in myself either. Lay off him.

[Cookie La Rue]

2:0 after 2, the record when leading after 2 is nearly perfect.

Nashville lost to Detroit, so if we're winning tonight it's almost safe to say we're in.......

Hell yeah