By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: April 11, 2012
The Canucks will only need to remember back to April 2010 as they prepare to take on the Los Angeles Kings in the Conference Quarterfinals starting today. It was a six-game series that saw the Canucks win three straight games after being down 2-1 in the series. While the departed Mikael Samuelsson was key in the turn around that year, Vancouver has some key players to fill that role that they didn’t have then. To name a few possible difference-makers for this years squad, look no further than Chris Higgins, Max Lapierre and David Booth. All three of them have the potential to turn the tides in Vancouver’s favour this year.
Unfortunately for the Canucks, as much as their team has improved compared to that year, so too has Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. While he had a 0.907 save percentage and a 2.54 goals against average (GAA) in the 2009-10 regular season, he’s managed an impressive 0.928 save percentage and a 1.95 GAA this year. In fact, thanks to Quick, the Kings have allowed only 179 goals this year – that’s second in the league.
Those are frightening numbers for a Canucks squad that has, at times, struggled to score. Thankfully for the Canucks, the Kings have had an even harder time scoring (finishing 29th in the league at 194 goals). Comparatively, the Canucks have scored both the fourth most goals (249) and allowed the fourth fewest goals (198). That’s a differential of plus-51 for Vancouver, compared to the still respectable plus-15 accomplished by the Kings.
Of course, all those numbers sometimes mean very little once the game has begun. As Quick has shown in his previous two playoff showings, he can sometimes let in an uncharacteristic number of goals; he had a 3.50 GAA in 2010 and a 3.16 GAA in 2011 against the Sharks. Truly, anything can happen.
Canucks fans will take hope from the strong push their team provided in the last 10 games of the season. The Canucks managed 17 of a possible 20 points in that span – all without their leading scorer Daniel Sedin. If Vancouver can up their game even more as they enter the playoffs, they should be able to find success against the eighth-place Kings.
Even more heartening for the Canucks is that in their last meeting with the Kings, in their seventh-to-last game of the season, the Canucks managed to win 1-0 – Roberto Luongo made 38 saves for the shutout. Hopefully, like on that March 26 performance, the Canucks will be able to keep leading scorers Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams and Dustin Brown in check.
With news that Daniel Sedin is skating and potentially ready to go for game one is promising news for the Canucks. However, it remains to be seen if he will be able to return to form in his first game back. Nevertheless, it is clear that the sooner the Canucks can get him back in their lineup the better. Equally as important though, is that difference-maker Ryan Kesler finds his game. If all else fails, at least the Canucks have Alex Burrows – one of the most clutch players to ever play the game.
Realistically, it will likely be a fairly close and stressful series for fans, but if the Canucks can find a way to beat Quick, they’ve got a great chance of making it through unscathed.
