Canucks-Blue Jackets preview: Vigneault finds the cure

-Word on the street is that Kyle Wellwood will draw back in and Mason Raymond will sit out. No confirmation of that yet.
**UPDATE**
This was quoted from somewhere at the CDC Forum:

Mason Raymond will be the odd-man out tonight as Wellwood returns to the lineup in a role on the fourth line. Raymond has scored nine goals in an inconsistent season. He definitely needs some work on his game but won't be getting that in the AHL.
Raymond has played 95 NHL games. After 80 he lost his waiver wire exemption.
"Without a doubt he couldn't clear waivers" Vigneault said. "He needs waivers to go down an that's just not an option anymore"

-Rick Nash, who has missed the last 4 games with a lower body injury is expected to play. Damn. C Jiri Novotny (upper body), C Derick Brassard (right shoulder surgery), LW Jason Chimera (groin), D Rostislav Klesla (bruised foot), and G Pascal Leclaire (ankle) are all on the injury reserve for Columbus. The Canucks will probably still be without Sami Salo. Salo tore a butt muscle when he sat down on the toilet to poop.
**UPDATE**
From the Province:

He should finally make his return tonight against Columbus.
"He's done everything in practice and it looks like he's pain free," head coach Alain Vigneault said.
Salo was coy Saturday and said his status hasn't changed.
"The bone has to be fully healed," Salo said. "You don't want to go out there if you can't do everything on the ice."

-No Pascal Leclaire. No problem. The Jackets have a potential rookie of the year in goal named Steve Mason.
-Columbus has won both games against Vancouver this year: 3-2 on December 1st and 4-2 on October 21st. Rick Nash had 2 goals and 2 assists in those games. Kyle Wellwood had 2 goals and 1 assist.
-The Canucks will play more physically, according to Ryan Kesler.

"We are going to take hard-working penalties, It’s the hooking and holding that we’re not going to take. If we play physical and take roughing or whatever, a punch in the head, we’ll kill those off."

Great plan. That part has been lacking in their game. Something needs to spark this club.
-Scoring the first goal wouldn't be a bad idea either. In their last 3 losses, the Canucks gave up the first 4 consecutive goals to Phoenix, 3 goals to New Jersey and 1 to San Jose. They obviously have not held a lead in any of those games.
-Columbus is 7-3-0 in their last 10 games. They are surging. They trail Vancouver by 3 points and can gain a playoff spot with a win tonight. Oh, and they have 2 games in hand.
-Let's see if the bleeding stops tonight. C'mon guys, it's like Yoda, I mean AV said: don't think....do!

The Canucks looked confident today according to the Province. Luongo said:

“You can’t take things for granted. Just because we’re good on paper doesn’t mean it’s going to happen on the ice. Look at Pittsburgh, they have the league’s two leading scorers and they’re not even in a playoff spot. We have to work hard, we have to play hard and we have to play smart. All those things translate into success. We can have the best team on paper, but if we don’t put it together on the ice, it’s not going to happen. “

We are going to turn things around, and when we do, there is going to be a lot of excitement in this city.”

GAME TIME: 5:00 PST
TV: Sportsnet

Canucks.com Fan Zone Live Blog can be found here. Several fans have been granted media passes for this as well as Canucks practices. This is a great thing for the organization to do and so far it is going very well, increasing the trust and relationship between the organization and bloggers.

Just saw this image at CDC under the name ramirez inc:

Beauty! ABC! Easy as 1-2-3! The big difference here is that I don't see one of the Swedes turning black or opening up a kid park.










T Tags: Canucks+Blue+Jackets+game+preview January+18+2008 Nash+returns Canucks+slumping

Matt Cooke helps out Canucks / Slumps happen

Matt Cooke's 2 goals to help the Penguins beat the Ducks tonight actually did us a favor. It launched us one point up in the standings because the Ducks have now played the same amount of games as Vancouver but have scored less. Thanks Cooke!
-The Devils beat the Blue Jackets to keep Columbus 3 points behind us.
-Now watch out for those Oilers, who beat Colorado tonight to move 2 points behind us with 2 games in hand.

The Canucks aren't the only team currently holding a playoff spot that have struggled during the season.

-The Capitals lost 5 games of 7 in late November.
-The Penguins lost 9 of 14 games in all of December and have lost 6 of 9 in January. That's a lot of losses there.
-The Flyers lost 6 games in a row at the very beginning of the season, and look at them now.
-The Atlantic Division-leading Rangers lost 6 of 12 games in December.
-From October 24 to November 14 the Devils lost 8 of 10 games. They would then go on to win 9 of their next 10.
-The great Canadiens lost 8 of 14 games in the month of November, and Koivu was criticized for not speaking French. Oh mon Dieu. They would rebound and win 8 of 13 in December.
-The Blackhawks have lost 5 of their last 9.
-The Flames may be hauling ass right now, but they lost 4 of their first 5 games in October, 5 of 8 in early November, and 5 of 9 in early December.
-The big and bad Bruins lost 6 of 11 in October.
-The Ducks lost 5 of 6 games to start their season, 5 of 6 in mid November (all home games), and 8 of 13 in December.

Feel any better yet Canucks fans? It makes me feel more confident. At least the Canucks are stinking it up now and not in March (yet). There is plenty of time left for this team to turn it around, even if it means we start winning a slew of games when we are in 10th spot in the West. I believe it will happen. I believe in this team. One way or another it will start rolling again. Sundin needs a bit more time. So does Luongo. A lot has happened to this bunch in the past few weeks with the aforementioned players, the backup goaltender situations in Luongo's absense, Sanford's exit, a dismal powerplay, etc. Like someone here said earlier, "this too shall pass." I mean, look at all the shit Frodo and Sam had to go through just to get the damned ring into the fire at Mount Doom.... haha.
Convinced? Still not happy? Try this:



T Tags: Western+Conference+standings January+2009 losing streaks shit+happens Canucks

Vigneault and Ohlund on losing

From Canucks.com: Alain Vigneault said after practice today:

“It’s tough to say sometimes why you lose your game, or parts of your game," said Vigneault. "I do think right now the way to get our game back is a simple one, pay attention to the defensive part of our game. Part of our offence was playing good defence, making the right decisions, the right reads and when we did that, instinctively it lead to good offensive chances. As soon as we do that we’ll be on the right track.”

AV had a message for his players after practice:

“At the end of practice today I talked about, sometimes you think too much on the ice," said Vigneault. "When you’re driving your car, instinctively you step on the gas, you step on the brakes, red light, green light, yellow light, car cutting in front, it’s done automatically without thinking. Hockey is the same way. It’s the reads on the ice, it’s like driving your car, you know what you’re doing."

Mattias Ohlund defended the coaching staff today:

“No, it’s not about the coaching staff,” said Mattias Ohlund. “We have a great coaching staff, they don’t play the game. We obviously get instructions on how to play, but it’s up to the guys on the ice to perform. It’s pretty tough to look around the room right now and find a lot of guys that are playing well or playing up to their potential. This league is just way too hard to play in when you don’t have everyone playing at their best.”

More on this here.

T Tags: Canucks Alain+Vigneault Mattias+Ohlund reaction+to+losing+streak January+2009

Mike Gillis on Alain Vigneault and the losing streak

"Listen, everyone is here because I brought them in so the responsibility is mine. We're at the point in this where we can get emotional and we can get angry and we can start pointing fingers," said Gillis. "Instead, my approach is that we're going to be more analytical, we're going to boil it down, and we're going to work hard."

"To suggest that the same coach that people were saying has changed his style - the team plays great, everyone's happy - a month and a half ago should now be replaced, is nonsense," Gillis added. "It's all of our responsibilities, it isn't just Alain's, and that's how we're going to approach it."

That and more from TSN.
It's tough to think positively right now. I'm not sure what the issue is in the locker room. I can see the issues on the ice. The character of this team is currently in question and who knows, maybe a win on Sunday will change the moral.
It has been a month since the Canucks have been able to win 2 games in a row. Since that point mediocrity and inconsistency has mired the team.

Thinking positively:

- maybe the Canucks need to play away from home, as they have lost their last 4 games at GM Place on the current skid. They hit the road for 1 game next Tuesday and then get a week off for the All Star break. Oh wait, that road game is against the Sharks. Yep, it's hard to be positive right now.

T Tags: Canucks Mike+Gillis+defends+Alain+Vigneault losing+streak