Well,it's not like the Canucks had a game on each boxing day in those 36 years. Possible 12/36 at the very most?first win in 36 years for Vancouver Canucks at home on Boxing Day! WOW!
Source:http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=2387004CALGARY - For the fourth time this season, the Vancouver Canucks have strung together three straight wins. Tonight in Phoenix, they will try to earn their first four-game winning streak.
On the three previous occasions they had won three in a row, the Canucks lost the next game -- all of them by one goal. They hope tonight, against a surprising Phoenix team that has won nine straight at home, will be different.
"If you want to be a top team in this league you have to be able to put together six, seven, eight wins in a row and that's what we are looking for here," centre Henrik Sedin said yesterday before the Canucks boarded a bus headed for the Calgary airport and their early-afternoon flight to the Valley of the Sun.
The Canucks look poised to continue what has been an impressive run of late. They've won their last three games, including Sunday night's 5-1 drubbing of the Calgary Flames, by a combined score of 13-3 and have now won seven of their last nine.
Sedin, who headed into last night's action second in NHL scoring with 50 points, thinks the team is finally starting to play with the focus that too often has been lacking this season.
"I don't know if desperate is the right word, but we have been more focused, I think, going into games and throughout the games," Sedin said. "We haven't taken a lot of shifts off and that's a big difference from the first 20 games.
"We had letdowns that cost us goals, guys were pinching when they shouldn't be pinching, guys were taking penalties when they shouldn't take penalties. You could say it's small things, but in this game, in this league, it's going to cost you goals and if you give away easy goals like that you are not going to win games. That's the biggest difference, I think."
As a reward for their effort on Sunday night, coach Alain Vigneault cancelled a scheduled late-morning practice in Calgary.
Vigneault cited improved penalty killing, timely power-play goals and clutch goaltending by Roberto Luongo as reasons for his team's recent success.
Over the last nine games, the Canucks have successfully killed 30 of 33 opposition power plays. A penalty kill that not so long ago was one of the worst in the league has moved into semi-respectable territory -- 15th in the NHL heading into last night's games.
"Our penalty killing lately as been better and our power play has found a way to score goals at a clutch time, at pressure moments, and that is what we need to keep going," Vigneault said.
"Obviously, a huge part of us getting on a roll is Roberto playing the way he is. When he plays the way he can and he covers up some of our flaws and mistakes, then the rest of the group is so much more confident and I think that's what we are seeing right now."
Luongo's play earned him the NHL's third star of the week honours yesterday. In Vancouver's last three wins, Luongo has posted a 1.00 goals-against average and a .961 save percentage.
The Canucks are also continuing to score lots of goals, averaging 3.10 goals a game, good enough for fourth in the league. Among Western Conference teams, only the San Jose Sharks are scoring more goals. Last season, the Canucks finished 11th in goals per game, averaging 2.96 a game.
"Any time you can be around three goals a game in this league, you are doing a pretty good job and that's what we are doing right now," Vigneault said.
The Canucks are doing a better job at the other end of the ice as well. They are tied for sixth in the NHL in goals against, yielding just 2.46 a night. Not surprisingly, the players are a confident bunch.
"The homestand, I think, was huge for us," defenceman Shane O'Brien said of Vancouver's recently completed 6-2 run at GM Place.
"Obviously, the way we came off the road last time we were very disappointed and I think it woke us up a little bit and we had a pretty good homestand."
What my statement or the story on Canucks? If it's the statement you are reffering to I said "possibly 12/36". I didn't watch the Canucks 36 years ago. But if you can,can you tell me how many times did they actually play on boxing day for 36 years? Thanks in advance.are you sure about that? you don,t want me to make a liar out of you do you?
What my statement or the story on Canucks? If it's the statement you are reffering to I said "possibly 12/36". I didn't watch the Canucks 36 years ago. But if you can,can you tell me how many times did they actually play on boxing day for 36 years? Thanks in advance.are you sure about that? you don,t want me to make a liar out of you do you?
Source:http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/gamecenter/preview/[email protected]/canucksblues-preview*
* TIME: 07:00 P.M. EST
VENUE: Scottrade Center
The Vancouver Canucks quickly ushered the St. Louis Blues out of the 2009 playoffs, but they can't seem to figure out how to beat them this season.
The Blues, meanwhile, are having trouble finding a way to win at home.
St. Louis will try to turn around a season full of struggles at the Scottrade Center in its New Year's Eve matchup against surging Vancouver, which will be hoping to avoid a third straight loss to the Blues.
Vancouver allowed five goals during its opening-round sweep of St. Louis in April, but the Canucks (23-16-1) have been outscored 9-2 in two meetings this season.
"There's obviously a little vendetta," said Blues right wing David Backes after scoring two goals in a 3-1 win at Vancouver on Dec. 20. "Maybe we should pretend every team kicked our dog before the game. I'm an animal advocate by the way, but it seems like when teams show us up we come back the next time and play a good hard game and get the best of them."
The Blues (17-17-5) certainly haven't been bringing that sort of effort for every game, especially at home. They're 6-13-2 in St. Louis, by far the NHL's worst record at home.
The high point of their home season was probably a 6-1 win over the Canucks on Nov. 10 in which David Perron notched a hat trick. The Blues fell to 1-6-1 in their last eight home games with their third straight loss Tuesday night, 4-3 to Nashville.
"I don't have answers," goalie Chris Mason said. "We just have to be so much better at home. I guess it starts with hard work and using our brains and our hearts."
Although their three-game winning streak was snapped in a 3-2 shootout loss at Phoenix on Tuesday, the Canucks have been much happier with their recent play. They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 to surge back into playoff position in the Western Conference.
Workhorse goalie Roberto Luongo has started each game during that stretch, stopping 93.2 percent of shots (259 of 278) for a 1.90 goals-against average. Since joining Vancouver in 2006, Luongo is 12-4-0 with a 2.15 GAA against the Blues, including playoffs.
Tuesday's loss made the Canucks the final NHL team to pick up a defeat in overtime or a shootout, but coach Alain Vigneault doesn't appear to think highly of the result.
"We got one of those loser points so everybody can get off our case because we didn't have one," Vigneault said. "But I would rather have won and still have people on our case for not having one of those loser points."
The Canucks are 7-10-1 on the road, but they've shown some positive signs lately with a 4-2-1 mark in their last seven. They opened this four-game trip with a 5-1 win over Calgary on Sunday.
Henrik Sedin had an assist Tuesday to give him at least one point in 13 of his last 14 games. He has an NHL-best 23 points in December.
His twin brother Daniel is not far behind with 20 points this month. The duo combined for three goals and six assists in the sweep of the Blues last postseason.
*
Copyright 2009 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
To clarify: Daniel Sedin did immediately place it thus the goal was allowed.79.1 Hand Pass - A player shall be permitted to stop or “bat” a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the Referee, he has directed the puck to a teammate.
A player shall be permitted to catch the puck out of the air but must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice. If he catches it and skates with it, either to avoid a check or to gain a territorial advantage over his opponent, a minor penalty shall be assessed for “closing his hand on the puck” under Rule 67 – Handling Puck.
Source:Vancouver Sun.The Vancouver Canucks have made comebacks an art form this season but they couldn't conjure another complete one Saturday night against the Detroit Red Wings.
Trailing 3-2 after 40 minutes, the Canucks pulled even on Daniel Sedin's goal at 4:40 of the third period and managed to get the game into overtime, securing at least point. However, Henrik Zetterberg scored with just 3/10ths of second remaining in the extra period as the Wings prevailed 4-3.
The so-called 'loser point' pushed the Canucks' record to 44-24-4 and moved them six points up on the second-place Colorado Avalanche in the Northwest Division. Colorado holds two games in hand.
Canuck head coach Alain Vigneault was subdued by Saturday's loss, especially the season-high 54 shots allowed. The Canucks also surrendered two goals five seconds apart in the second period to set a dubious team record. Their previous low point for consecutive goals allowed was seven seconds, which they managed to do three times.
"To some extent, we were fortunate to get a point," Vigneault said. "Our puck management in our zone and their end was not good. It led to numerous turnovers that they jumped on. Obviously when you get 50-something shots on you, you're giving up a lot of chances. Our goaltender was really good tonight but their top players took their game to a really big level. They were really good, really desperate and they played really hard."
Zetterberg netted the winner on a backhander as Canuck defenceman Christian Ehrhoff's stick broke on the play. It was Zetterberg's ninth shot of the night.
"Ehrhoff didn't have his stick and I thought Pavol [Demitra] should have come in there a little bit to help with the amount of time that was left," Vigneault continued. "He didn't and the puck ended up in the back of our net."
Despite getting out-shot 17-8 in the opening 20 minutes, the Canucks still emerged with a 2-0 advantage as Kyle Wellwood and Shane O'Brien, with his first goal in 33 games, beat Wings starter Jimmy Howard.
Wellwood deflected Ehrhoff's point shot at the 4:10 mark while O'Brien, on an assist from Wellwood, drifted a long wrister through traffic at 13:38.
The Canucks then squandered their lead in the middle period when Todd Bertuzzi, at 12:34, and Pavel Datsyuk, at 12:39, beat Roberto Luongo for the record-breaking scores.
Vancouver's second-period misery was completed when the Wings took a 3-2 lead on a shorthanded goal by Valtteri Filppula, at 17:39, after Alex Edler misplayed the puck at Detroit's blueline. Filppula easily deked Luongo with a backhander on the breakaway.
The Wings scored their three second-period goals on their final four shots of the period. Bertuzzi's goal was particularly galling as Bieksa, after turning the puck over on a poor breakout pass, eventually lost the puck in his feet and did a complete revolution looking for it before Bertuzzi tapped it home. It was Bertuzzi's first goal in 20 games.
"I don't think we sat back, they just took the game to us," said Canuck defenceman Sami Salo. "We made a few turnovers in the neutral zone and they got some chances from that. I think we want to correct that a little bit."
Maybe even a lot.
ICE CHIPS: The Canucks are not scheduled to practise Sunday and will resume workouts Monday morning before travelling to Edmonton for Tuesday night's game... The Canucks sold out for the 297th consecutive game...Tanner Glass, Andrew Alberts and Nolan Baungartner were the Canucks healthy scratches against the Wings...The Red Wings dressed eight defencemen as forwards Dan Cleary (groin) and Patrick Eaves (head) were injured Friday in Edmonton...
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