By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: December 7, 2011
Over the last couple of weeks the Canucks have begun to remind their fans that they are a quality team. They can win games. What has curiously distinguished the Canucks’ improved performance of late has been their ability to strike with multiple goals in quick succession: Four goals in a period against Nashville on December 1; three goals in less than five minutes against Calgary on December 4; On November 25, the Canucks scored three times against Phoenix in just over two minutes during the second period – then scored two more in under a minute in the final frame. It’s been happening a lot. Though it can only be speculated how the Canucks have managed to do it so consistently lately, what is sure is that it’s a good sign for the team in their pursuit of the Northwest division title.
Though a slow start to the year was expected by the more astute followers of the game, the on-and-off play of the team began to reach troubling levels when they were still struggling to put any wins together in their second month into the season. Fourteen games in and the Canucks had just six wins. To put that in perspective, in their next 12 games the Canucks won nine times – including a five-game win streak (largely in thanks to Cory Schneider).
The last victory in that 12-game span was the aforementioned 5-1 thumping the Calgary Flames last Sunday. As of that game, only New York, Boston and Minnesota had better records during their previous 10 games. Yet due to their poor start, the Canucks found themselves in a three-way tie for ninth in the league and only two points away from being out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
To say that their future is still in jeopardy is putting it lightly, but the team has showed a lot of promise since mid-November. Though it’s unlikely their ability to score multiple goals in rapid succession will continue on with such regularity for much longer, the team is finding a lot of confidence from their knack at intimidating goaltenders in this way. Sometimes, simply knowing that your team has the ability to score rapidly can give you the confidence to continue competing for a win even late in a game – a self-fulfilling prophecy that can lead to a lot of success.
With the Minnesota Wild somehow leading the entire NHL in points nearing the 30-game mark, the Canucks are going to need some of that confidence if they want to pass the Wild to win their division this year. Winning the Northwest division is a mark of great pride for the Canucks, and it’s something they’ve accomplished three years in a row – every season since 2007-2008, when the Wild won, and the Canucks were dead last.
The Canucks, now set to begin a five-game road trip, find themselves with an important opportunity to make up some ground against the Wild. The trip begins with a December 8 matchup against the struggling Montreal Canadiens – who are even worse at home than on the road this season. Then the Canucks play the worst team in the league, the Columbus Blue Jackets, on the 13th. If they can’t take that game, they’re in big trouble. Then the Canucks face the Carolina Hurricanes on the 15th, who are third-worst and almost ready to steal the position away from the Jackets. Then comes a bigger challenge (in comparison) to finish the road trip; on the 17th they faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With a strong effort, the Canucks could conceivably sweep the whole trip. It’s worth hoping, because when they return to Rogers Arena on December 19, the Canucks will face the Wild. If the Canucks make up ground in the standings over that time, it could mean a serious opportunity to swap positions with the Wild and re-assert their dominance as leaders of the Northwest Division. Canucks fans couldn’t hope for a better Christmas present than that.
