Follow me on twitter @IanEsplen to chat hockey, sports and life in general anytime


The Vancouver Canucks look to keep things rolling tonight against the Calgary Flames. This is a game that Vancouver should win, as they are playing better than the Flames lately and are the more rested team. However, you can never count on anything with this Canucks club as they have a tendency to take these kinds of games off.

Tonight's effort will indicate whether this team has indeed flipped the switch and put their foot on the gas, or if they are still in that good game, bad game, good game, bad game rhythm.

I don't know if we will see Kiprusoff tonight, as the Flame all-everything netminder stood on his head last night and did everything he could in a loss to the Sharks. And even with Kipper in net, it could be a long night, as Calgary has given up 10 goals and 80 shots in their past six periods of hockey.

Vancouver on the other hand looked rejuvenated and might get Weise and/or Raymond back tonight and Ryan Kesler is close. On Thursday night the Canucks played with more jump then I have seen them play with in a long time. Roy looked good and his presence in the lineup looks to have taken a load off of Danny and Hank because they looked more relaxed.

I look for another big night out of Higgins/Roy/Hansen line.

Keys to the game

Find great deals on Vancouver Canucks Tickets at FanXchange.com

- Compete- This team has a habit of taking these types of games off. If they match Calgary's intensity they will win.

- Schneider- He in net again and he has to play well again if they want to win. In other news, he is quietly moving up the leaderboard in goalie stats— 10th GAA, T-14th wins, T-7th SV%, and 2nd in SO.

- Get the Power-Play going- Calgary is 24th in the NHL in penalty killing. They don't take a lot of penalties, but when they do, make them pay.

I believe that a load has been taken off this team's shoulders now that they know who is going to be playing the rest of the season. This team will play the rest of the year for Louie regardless of whether he is in the net or not. Give me Vancouver.

Prediction- 5-1 Canucks

Podcast Ideas

Myself and few friends are looking to start doing a weekly podcast over the summer. What kinds of thing do want to hear? Interviews, analysis, jokes (keep in mind I'm not very funny), Joey Canuck, a review of the week in sports, skits, etc…

Feel free to post all your ideas on the message boards

That's a wrap

Ian


***********


If you are interested in advertising your business to people in the Vancouver area or to hockey fans across North America, you can contact me by clicking the “CONTACT” button at the top of the page.

KINDLE USERS in the United States of America only: Sign up for Canucks Buzz; a one-stop feed for all things Canucks-related on HockeyBuzz. Content is delivered instantly to your Kindle reader whenever a new Canucks-related blog is published. For more information click here.