GDT: Oct 15: Canucks @ Oilers - 7pm - CBC, 1040

[Carl Yagro]

If RNH had any character he would give back that last goal.

[Corb]

I likes Dubnyk's strategy of literally not moving.

Here's a question, did Rollie Melansson play on his face most games? Just curious.

[ukcanuck]

malhotra =4
sturm-3
bieksa-3
hanson -3
ballard-4

After 5 games here are your the goats. bring out the firing squad blind in one eye, hobbled by knee surgeries, slowed by fat wallet syndrome, the worst trade in Canucks history and who ever said Danes could play NHL hockey anyway ?

Then there is Red light Roberto, 3 11 3.61 85 .871 over three games !? Thats 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11...wow how do we get this millstone off our backs?

or

fuck it, its only 5 games in lets see in 25 where we are at.
Although if i was Ballard I would be wanting to work on my plus/minus after the long stay with beethoven last season I dont think I'd want the worst minus on the team at any point of the year.

[Meds]

Well they won that one despite their goaltender...

Sedins and Burrows were our best line again, as well they should be. Was nice to see Bur finally get rewarded for going to the net. Daniel really hurt the team with his penalties in the first period, but everyone is going to have a game or two where they get busted. I'm not sure how a player can take a stick to the face and then get the only penalty, yes he interfered with Jones, but Jones sold that a bit and also player's still have to be responsible for their own stick.

Ballard had a decent game I thought, threw a really nice hip check on Hordichuk right after holding the puck and making a solid pass in the early going.

Salo had a great game at both ends, he may not be fleet of foot, and his fragile frame is always going to be suspect, but his experience and steady decision making is always welcome.....as is his bomb of a shot when it hits the net. His first goal (our first opening goal in a game this year) was nothing short of a howitzer.

Bieksa needs to get it together, but I think some of the problem with him is the problem that appears to be systemic withing 2/3's of our lineup. I don't think he's playing lazy hockey, I think he just doesn't quite have his groove back. He plays best when he has some swagger going on.

Hansen is a pure forechecker, he's quick, and he's aggressive on the puck, he has zero finish.

Hodgson was more of the same, granted, our kid was overshadowed by Edmonton's kids, but CoHo is going to start finding the net soon if he keeps playing this way.....having TWO linemates will help too.

Higgins was a beast tonight, great puck pressure and effort up and down the ice.

Luongo was weak.....again. That first goal was the direct result of him laying on his belly again. Sure he made a really nice first save, but if he'd come across with his toe in a butterfly position, instead of sprawling and putting himself in a position that ensures there will be no second save if the puck is even a foot off the ice, that goal doesn't happen. The second goal was a deflection, and usually I give goalies a pass on those, not this time. He saw that shot all the way in from the point, it wasn't a one-timer or cross ice pass where he had to move from post to post, it was shot-pass that was obviously designed for a tip, so what does he do.....yeah, he tries to play the grounder instead of getting his body square in front of the puck and at least taking away one side of the net. If he had been in butterfly mode and squared up that deflection hits him in the shoulder. The third goal was a scramble, but another one of those goals that I'm pretty sure Schneider prevents simply by not playing on his stomach in full sprawl. I'm really loathing the $5.5M worth of space that he's going to be taking up for the next 9 years, if Gillis can move him for a top 5 forward or a top 2 defenseman and an upgrade on Sturm he needs to do it and then pick up an experienced back-up goalie who can play 30+ games and give the starting role to Schneider. I figure if we are going to have to score 4 goals against bottom feeders like the Oiler's in order to win games, we may as well take the chance on a young goalie and bolster our attack or defense, honestly I'd shop a combo of Lou and Alberts or Sturm and see what offers come back. Apparently there was some mention by the talking heads prior to the game about Canucks management starting to put pressure on Luongo for his performance.....or lack thereof.

Note on officiating, thought it was sub-par, but not nearly as bad as in Detroit. One that really stood out was Burrows being cross-checked square in the numbers and into the post on the PP, to me that had to be called either on the cross-check from behind (particularly after the call on Hansen earlier), or a delay of game for the net being dislodged due to that cross-check when the puck was loose in front. I also really hate it when goaltenders play the puck behind the net and then turn to deliberately interfere with the forechecker behind the net after the puck has been passed. I'm all for goaltenders engaging by playing the puck, but the league needs to look at this and start keeping goalies honest if they want to rome and be the "6th skater".

[Meds]

With all the shot blocking in the third it was almost as if the canucks simply said "we know we can't trust our goaltender to get us this win".

Fixed it for ya.

[darren]

Well they won that one despite their goaltender...

Luongo was weak.....again. ... another one of those goals that I'm pretty sure Schneider prevents simply by not playing on his stomach in full sprawl.

Obviously Schneider should be our starter (instead of the Vezina nominee).... it sounds like that kid NEVER lets a goal!

[tantalum]

THE Shift.....Hordichuk style.

[Potatoe1]

Even though they are still a bad team there is something very satisfying about beating the Oilers on HNIC. Canucks still have far to many guys off their game to win with any consistency, but if the can plod through the rest of the month and finish a hair over 500, we should be in good shape for the rest of the season.

-One fairly significant change that seemed to go un noticed during the game was that Ballard and Edler were the second pairing with Salo dropping down to play on the right side with Alberts. This is an important move as it finally puts Ballard in a position where he can play enough to justify his contract, further to that it drops Salos even strength responsibility which is a good thing given his age. The results last night were mixed as the Ballard / Erhoff pairing was not particularly effective, but hopefully the coaching staff shows some patients and gives both players time to adjust.

-The Ballard / Edler pairing may have struggled but the Alberts / Salo pair did not. Salo is looking great to start the season and having him on the second unit power play is a luxury we did not have last season. That second unit should be a lot better this year with the additions of Salo, Hodgson, and Higgens. We may have lost a little from the first unit with the departure of Erhoff, but if the second unit can pick up the slack we should still have a top5 group over all.

-Hodgson had a quite game but unlike previous efforts was actually rewarded with a point. That play on Salos goal was eather a total fluke or an incredibly deft backhanded pass, you decide because I have no idea.

-Chris higgens with another fantastic game. Not sure if I have spent enough time this season gushing about this guy but he really is a fantastic forward when he's healthy. Strong on the puck, tough in the corners, fast, gritty, good in both zones. He really is exactly the type of player the canucks should be filling out their top 9 with.

-On the flip side there is Marko Sturm, who once upon a time was a lot like Chris Higgens. Right now however the guy is just killing us. He's doing nothing offensively and is a total liability in his own zone. What I cant figure out is why he's on both special teams. I get why he is in the line up as the canucks want him to get his game on track, but do they really need to feed him ice time like this?

-Luongo looked much better last night. He still isn't in top form but he looked a lot better then his first 2 starts.

-The first line pretty much won us the game but that seems to be the norm these days. Darcy Hordichuck is an idiot. Coming out in the papers and saying he is going to go after the Twins is dumb. The Oilers have no one in their line up who can play against Daniel and Henrik and the Twins have feasted on that for years. The oilers best hope is that Hank and Dank don't come in motivated and coast for a couple of periods. All Darcy did was ensure that they came in motivated and consequently the first line scores 3 times. What an idiot, him injuring himself taking a run at Ballard was simply the icing on the cake.

-Is it me or does Taylor Hall get more respect from the refs then the Sedin Twins?

[Hockey Widow]

It's really hard to get into these games. I mean its nice to watch a Canucks game without all the stress and anxiety that has been attached to them in the not so distant past. But it really is pretty boring hockey. So I wonder if it is hard for fans to get their grove back if it is hard for teams that go to game 7 of the SCF. Oh Ya its called the SCF hangover right?

It was interesting when HNIC showed the graph for the last 5 Canuck starts for the month of October. Below .500 every year in Oct. Perennial slow starters. For whatever reasons our team is slow out of the gate. Throw preseason away, we can go undefeated or lose every game, we will still be slow out off the gate. So no panic.

Our defence still gets running around easily. Bieksa and Hamhuis don't seem to have found that magic from last season. Hamhuis is playing great and Bieksa is just OK. He isn't the casual Kev of old but he still needs to pick up the intensity.

Edler is still struggling IMHO. He needs to find his mean streak.

Salo has been our best defence man, very steady out there and Ballard has been very good. Some nice hip checks again last night, without that stupid kneeing penalty attached. He got Hall early in the game and then evaded Hordichuck and turned it into a nice hip check. Poor Darcy wanted to be tough last night and ended up playing a 5 second shift. Alberts was all right. Tanev is certainly a more mobile player with a great outlet pass but Alberts does bring a tougher approach. Personally I would send Tanev to Chicago and let him get 20+ minutes a night in all situations. Get him to work on the physical side of his game as well as his offensive potential. He is clearly ready to play in the NHL right now but we can afford to let him work on his game and develop a bit more.

Up front what is there to say? The twins and Burrows have been solid from game one. Dank took some real stupid penalties that cost us but he is entitled to once in a while.

Hodgson/Higgins/Samuellson looked dangerous most of the night. You gotta believe it is only a matter of time for the points to come from Cody if he keeps playing the way he is. Samuellson on the other hand is a confusing player to watch. So many turn overs followed by a few aggressive shifts and a scoring chance.

I agree with whoever said we miss Kesler and Raymond. The absence of Raymond's speed is apparent in the line up. Nothing needs to be said about Kesler's absence. We all know what he brings and what we are missing.

4th line had some decent shifts last night and gave us some much needed energy and toughness. But where has Hansen gone? Has he always been a slow starter? He needs to play more like Higgins.

Luongo had a solid game. I don't fault him on any of the goals. He made a terrific save a RNH on that second goal, unbelievable actually. Too bad no one was there to clear the rebound or flatten RNH. But overall I think he had his best game of the season so far, which isn't saying much really. But he was not the problem last night.

We had 2 uninspired periods and then played a great 3rd. Reminiscent of last year were we won games by only playing 15-30 minutes a night. I lost count of hearing players say last year that even though they won they knew they could play better and that they had to play a full 60. Looks like we will see more of that this year. Doing enough to win but never truly dominating from the opening whistle.

[Potatoe1]

Our defence still gets running around easily. Bieksa and Hamhuis don't seem to have found that magic from last season. Hamhuis is playing great and Bieksa is just OK. He isn't the casual Kev of old but he still needs to pick up the intensity.

They have been ok at even strength but their work on the PK has been very poor, not sure what's going on with the PK but it's a major weak spot so far this season.

Oh wait I do know what is wrong with the PK. Lu, Sturm, Manny, Hansen and Bieksa have all stunk.

Salo has been our best defence man, very steady out there and Ballard has been very good.

Have to disagree on Ballard.

He has skated better but his defensive zone coverage has been very erratic.

Right now the gap between Erhoff and Ballard seems to be much larger then the 1 mill or so that would have separated their salaries.

Then again our forwards haven't come back the way they did last year and our goaltending has been crap so perhaps things will look better moving forward.

4th line had some decent shifts last night and gave us some much needed energy and toughness. But where has Hansen gone? Has he always been a slow starter? He needs to play more like Higgins.

Volpatti had his best game and Lappy always seems pretty good. Hopefully they can keep it going.

Hansen has been horrible, this player needs to bring it every shift or he simply isn't an effective NHLer.

[coco_canuck]

Luongo was weak.....again. That first goal was the direct result of him laying on his belly again. Sure he made a really nice first save, but if he'd come across with his toe in a butterfly position, instead of sprawling and putting himself in a position that ensures there will be no second save if the puck is even a foot off the ice, that goal doesn't happen.

Seems like your frustration with Luongo is boiling over...

It's awfully funny reading about Luongo on his belly on the first goal after he sprawled post to post to stop a one timer in close. If you don't think goalies end up on their stomach over 90% of the time when they slide over like that then you need to give your head a shake. If he would have slid over with a more upright posture he wouldn't have made it over in time to stop the shot.

The second goal was a deflection, and usually I give goalies a pass on those, not this time. He saw that shot all the way in from the point, it wasn't a one-timer or cross ice pass where he had to move from post to post, it was shot-pass that was obviously designed for a tip, so what does he do.....yeah, he tries to play the grounder instead of getting his body square in front of the puck

So he should anticipate the tip before it happens, and when it's not tipped it'll weakly flutter by him. He was in fine position before the tip happened, he was square and covering much of the net and the tip went high short-side above his elbow. If he doesn't stay more centre in the crease when that shot was released it could have gone in without being tipped. Goalies anticipate shots when they come off the stick and get in position according to the initial projection of the release. Also, how do you anticipate where the tip is coming?

To be fair, it was the most savable goal he gave up, but not because he should have anticipated the tip and stayed tight to his post, but rather because he was a touch slow picking up the direction of the tip. Typically however, tips are the hardest things for goalies to read, and with the butterfly goalies are trained to get in their stance and when the tip goes high it has a good chance of going in. This isn't a Luongo phenomenon, but a very common characteristic of all butterfly goalies.

The third goal was a scramble, but another one of those goals that I'm pretty sure Schneider prevents simply by not playing on his stomach in full sprawl.

Yeah, it's impossible to score on jam plays when Schneider is net. The guy never loses his ground and I've NEVER seen him let in a bad goal.

Also, Luo didn't end up on his stomach on that play. He kicked out his leg and fell back when the puck had already gone in.

I also find it frustrating when goalies can't hold the line, and if Luo was on his game he probably doesn't give up the 2nd or 3rd goal, or maybe even both.

Like Tater said, he had a better performance, but like many on the team, he hasn't completely found his game yet.

[Per]

We're getting destroyed by the youngsters..

This is embarrassing.

Two or three years from now they will have a really good team. Lots of young kids with tons of talent. They lack the experience to be a contender now though. Guess they'll finish at the bottom and pick up yet another great prospect...

[trouble]

Yep another sloppy game by the Canucks, They should beat a team like the Oilers easy.

That was pretty funny about hordi, saying he was gonna get in the Canucks faces and get taken out in his first shift, gotta love Ballard

[BCReefer]

malhotra =4
sturm-3
bieksa-3
hanson -3
ballard-4

After 5 games here are your the goats. bring out the firing squad blind in one eye, hobbled by knee surgeries, slowed by fat wallet syndrome, the worst trade in Canucks history and who ever said Danes could play NHL hockey anyway ?

Then there is Red light Roberto, 3 11 3.61 85 .871 over three games !? Thats 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11...wow how do we get this millstone off our backs?

or

fuck it, its only 5 games in lets see in 25 where we are at.
Although if i was Ballard I would be wanting to work on my plus/minus after the long stay with beethoven last season I dont think I'd want the worst minus on the team at any point of the year.

If I was Ballard I would ask to play with the 1st or 2nd line instead of the scrubs on the third line. The D's +/- are based a lot on how well the forwards come back and right now the Canucks are horrible in their end. I like your comment on Luongo, Sturm so far is been nothing short of a complete failure, will wait until the 10 game mark to see how it changes.

Luongo - for freaks sakes man, stay up and quit flopping around no the ice.

[T-BONE]

I was at the game last night, so just a few thoughts.

We were sitting just to the left of the oilers primary net, so we got a real good look at Salo's bomb. Wow, that shot could've killed somebody. An absolute rocket.

Luongo was better. Not great, but getting better. The goal I really didn't like was the second one. There was no traffic, he should've been able to track that puck and failed to do it.

Volpatti bouncing back after it looked like Sutton won was just awesome!

That Oilers kid line is going to be one of the best lines in the league in a few years. Things got scary everytime they were on the ice.

The Nucks were staying at our hotel. We had our jerseys on and hung out in the lobby as they were coming down to lad the bus. We're not the type of people to harass them so most players just walked by. But Luongo approached us of his own free will and chatted for a few seconds. Very cool and classy!