The Canucks flew into Edmonton on Tuesday to take on the blazingly fast Edmonton Oilers. Man, can these kids SKATE or what? The game followed a familiar pattern if you’ve been watching Vancouver this year. The Canucks stumbled out of the gate. They outshot and outchanced the Oilers but fired most of those shots right at the crest on Nikolai Khabibulin’s jersey. Eventually, Vancouver’s defense allowed a cross-ice pass to Jordan Eberle in the high slot. Eberle snapped the puck past Luongo, and his tally was quickly followed by two more Oiler goals. The Canucks rallied, but would only manage to score two. Edmonton would skate out of Rexall Place with a 3-2 victory.
The mouth breathers will be at it again on the call-in shows tonight. Roberto Luongo allowed three goals on 14 shots. That’s a .786 save percentage if you’re counting at home. Alain Vigneault gave Lu the hook after the third goal, but let’s be clear: he was trying to motivate the team more than punish Lu. Eberle’s first goal is one Luongo probably wishes he could see again. A player of Eberle’s pedigree is going to score from that position sometimes. It’s unavoidable. But Lu is also of very high pedigree, and it’s those types of difficult but routine shots that the Canucks are expecting him to make. The other two goals, however, were categorically not Luongo’s fault. Shawn Horcoff scored because Dan Hamhuis fumbled the puck, and nobody else on the ice thought it would be a good plan to put a body on one of the Oilers most experienced scorers. Taylor Hall scored because nobody could catch him or clear away the rebound from the initial Luongo save.
Adding fuel to the “debate”, we currently don’t know who’s playing in goal next. Cory Schneider had a good half a game. He only saw eight shots, but he saved all of them, including a glorious chance that had to be reviewed before it was confirmed he managed to get an arm on it. Following the game, Alain Vigneault declined to name his starter for tomorrow’s game against the St. Louis Blues. This was a mistake. I’ve been cutting AV some slack lately (I’ve never been a huge fan) but surely he has to realize how incendiary this omission would be. When a large percentage of your fan base already thinks there’s a goalie controversy, and you’ve just had to pull your number one, DON’T SHOW INDECISION ABOUT THE NEXT GAME’S STARTER!
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins needs a nickname. He sounds more like someone Occupy Vancouver would protest against than a hockey player. Also, “Nuge” isn’t a nickname. “Nuge” is something Mark Lee imagines whispering in Nugent-Hopkins’ ear as he lays abed on Saturday night in a hotel paid for by your tax dollars. (Seriously, how great was it to not have to listen to the third-string CBC broadcast team fawning over half the Oilers’ roster?) Come on, Oiler fans, get creative here. The guy’s fast, exciting and a key player for your organization for the next several years. Give him a decent name.
David Booth’s debut in blue and green will not be a thing of legends. The new Canuck, recently called up from Florida acquired via lopsided trade from the Panthers, had a solid game on the second line with fellow yankees Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins. (We’re going with “the American Express line”, Canuck fans? Seriously? Sigh… I digress.) Booth didn’t hit the scoresheet in his nearly 16 minutes of ice time, but did register three shots on goal. It was a decent start for the speedster, and the line showed flashes of promise despite getting shut out.
As usual, when the Canucks have a slow month of October, a segment of fans (probably the same ones who want Luongo fileted) is getting upset about the number of teams currently ahead of Vancouver in the standings. Two words folks: settle down! (Ha! You thought I was going to say “don’t panic.” I fooled you!) The Canucks have a record of 4-4-1 this year, good for nine points and a three-way tie for seventh in the conference. Their record after nine games last year? 4-3-2, good for ten points. The Canucks will still be a very good team this year. Luongo’s save percentage is .868 for the year. His worst ever save percentage as a Canuck is .913. The Canucks as a team are only shooting around 8%. This is also going to improve. The Bulin wall is playing out of his mind right now, and Vancouver’s not going to play against his ilk every night. Add that all up, take a deep breath, and put the scissors down.
Finally, I’d like to take the time to thank Katie Maximick (@kmaximick) and Justine Galo (@aviewfromabroad) for their hard work on behalf of Right to Play. The tweetup they organized tonight was top notch and raised over $2,000 for the organization. Congratulations, ladies!{jcomments on}